{"id":19009,"date":"2019-11-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-11-17T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sugar-land-bible-church.local\/sermon\/revelation-060-a-party-in-heaven\/"},"modified":"2022-02-11T10:28:13","modified_gmt":"2022-02-11T16:28:13","slug":"revelation-060-a-party-in-heaven","status":"publish","type":"sermon","link":"https:\/\/slbc.org\/es\/sermon\/revelation-060-a-party-in-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"Revelation 060 – A Party in Heaven"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","book":[111],"series_event":[490],"sermon_service_type":[472],"speaker":[6],"class_list":["post-19009","sermon","type-sermon","status-publish","hentry","book-revelation","series_event-revelation","sermon_service_type-main-service","speaker-dr-andy-woods","no-post-thumbnail"],"acf":{"sermon_title":"Revelation 060 - A Party in Heaven","sermon_date":"20191117","sermon_month":"11","sermon_year":"2019","sermon_notes":7295,"sermon_slides":7296,"sermon_mp3":20457,"sermon_id":"111719125127353","series_or_event":490,"service_type":[472],"speaker":6,"books_of_the_bible":111,"chapter_and_verse":"19:1-6","sermon_transcript":"Andy Woods\r\n\r\nA Party in Heaven\r\n\r\nRevelation 19:1-6\u00a0 Lesson 60\r\n\r\nLet\u2019s take our Bibles if we could and open them to the Book of Revelation, chapter 19 (can you believe it)?\u00a0 You say well, I\u2019m sure glad we\u2019re finished with all that Babylon stuff.\u00a0 Well\u2026 not quite, almost.\u00a0\u00a0 Revelation 19, looking today as God allows it verses 1-6.\u00a0 The title of our message is A Party in Heaven.\u00a0 If you\u2019re a Christian that likes to party you\u2019ll be very happy with these verses because there\u2019s a big party in our future.\u00a0 And as you\u2019re turning there I just want to make you aware of one issue if I could.\u00a0 When I was in the Dallas area in a Sunday School class we had a gal in that particular Sunday School class that when she inhaled anything that was chemical, which would be perfume, hairspray, those kinds of things, she would literally lock up and she shad such a bad reaction to it that she had to dismiss herself from the service.\u00a0 And so that was sort of a first time I became aware that there are people that have those sort of olfactory issues, very real medical issues.\r\n\r\nAnd just like in every congregation we have a few of those in our own flock so I would just sort of ask\u00a0 you to think about this when you sort of lather up to come to church.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 You say well gee, now what are you going to do, start the perfume police?\u00a0 You\u2019ve already told us we can\u2019t have coffee in here.\u00a0 NO, there will be no perfume police but it\u2019s interesting, the New Testament is not a bunch of rules that God has given it; He\u2019s given us principles and one of those principles you\u2019ll find in 1 Corinthians 8 and 9, which I would challenge you to read this afternoon; it\u2019s about our free\u00addoms in Christ.\u00a0 As a Christian you have a lot of freedom to do a lot of things but sometimes God asks us to set aside certain freedoms that we have if it will benefit somebody else.\r\n\r\nSo if we were like a mega church we would just say okay, we\u2019re going to start a non-perfume service.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 You know, mega churches have everything so specialized, now we\u2019ve got the perfume service, the non-perfume service.\u00a0 So obviously we\u2019re not big enough to do that nor is our building big enough so when you come in here with perfume and all of those wonderful scented things, hair spray and all kinds of things, it\u2019s wonderful for me to smell it, in fact, I don\u2019t really care what you all smell like, did\u00a0 you all notice that?\u00a0\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I mean, as long as you take a shower once a week [Laughter] I\u2019m good with that!\u00a0 But for other people it\u2019s very difficult; it makes life difficult for them as a worshipper as part of our church.\u00a0 So rather than kind of get mad at the pastor because he\u2019s opposing rules just run it through you 1 Corinthians 8 and 9 grid and try to think about that as you get yourself ready to come to church.\u00a0 The less chemical stuff you have on the better.\u00a0 Some of you don\u2019t need hairspray anyway, [laughter] I\u2019m seeing a lot of heads that really don\u2019t need it.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know if that\u2019s too much of a sacrifice.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 So we\u00a0 understand each other.\r\n\r\nAnyway, what do you want to talk about today?\u00a0 [More laughter]\u00a0 Let\u2019s take our Bibles and open them to Revelation 19:1, as we learn about this heavenly party that\u2019s coming.\u00a0 Of course we\u2019re in a section of the Book of Revelation where the seventh bowl judgment has been unleashed upon earth and one of the things that happens with bowl number seven is the destruction of a city named Babylon.\u00a0 Chapter 16 verse 19 announces the destruction of Babylon.\u00a0 [Revelation 16:19, \u201cThe great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.\u2019]\r\n\r\nAnd then you get to chapter 17 and verse 1 and the angel says this: \u201cThen one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, \u201cCome here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.\u201d\u00a0 So what you have in chapter 17 verse 1 all the way through chapter 17, all the way through chapter 18, all the way through chapter 19 verse 6 is sort of an expansion on this subject of Babylon.\u00a0 This is one of five times that the chronology of the Book of Revelation stops and you\u2019re given information in something that just happened in the chronology.\u00a0 So that\u2019s what you have in this inclusio, this sort of inclusion I should say of the destruction of Babylon.\r\n\r\nChapter 17 was about the religious side of the city of Babylon.\u00a0 Chapter 18 is about the commercial or political side of the city.\u00a0 And by the time we get out of chapter 18 we learn that Babylon is going to fall just as\u00a0 a stone, actually a millstone sinks with great speed into the Euphrates River.\u00a0 So Babylon has fallen.\u00a0 The inhabitants of the earth are mourning or crying because of this, particularly the king and the merchants who have become wealthy because of Babylon, they\u2019re obviously crying.\u00a0 But heaven itself, actually beginning in chapter 18 verse 20 is celebrating.\u00a0 [Revelation 18:20, \u201cRejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her.\u201d]\r\n\r\nSo what the world mourns heaven rejoices in.\u00a0 And this celebration is so intense it continues in the form of what I would call a heavenly party, into chapter 19 verses 1-6.\u00a0 [Revelation 19:1-6, \u201cafter these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; [2] because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her.\u201d \u00a0[3] \u00a0<\/sup>And a second time they said, \u201cHallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.\u201d [4] And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, \u201cAmen. Hallelujah!\u201d [5] And a voice came from the throne, saying, \u201cGive praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.\u201d [6] Then I heard something<\/em> like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, \u201cHallelujah! For the LORD our God, the Almighty, reigns.\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd in this heavenly party, now we\u2019re in heaven, we\u2019re seeing the reaction of heaven to the destruction of Babylon, you have essentially four groups or entities celebrating.\u00a0 Number one is a group called the great multitude, verses 1-3.\u00a0 Number two is the twenty-four elders.\u00a0 And you want to know what you fit into the prophecy, that\u2019s you, you\u2019re in that group represented by the twenty-four elders.\u00a0 You have the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures celebrating, verse 4.\u00a0 And then a throne starts to talk, verse 5, it joins in the celebration.\u00a0 And then the whole thing concludes again with \u201ca great multitude, verse 6, celebrating.\r\n\r\nSo notice, if you will the \u201cgreat multitude\u201d as we start.\u00a0 We have an introduction and we have two statements called Hallelujah\u2019s.\u00a0 Notice this introduction; notice if you will Revelation 19 and notice if you will verse 1,\u00a0 \u201cafter these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying,\u201d\u00a0 you\u2019ll notice it says here \u201cafter these things\u201d meta touta<\/em> in the Greek, and then it follows by a verb of perception, \u201cI heard,\u201d so this is narrating something that\u2019s happening in this same sequence.\u00a0 It\u2019s just God is telling these different visions to John in a particular order but it all concerns this seventh bowl judgment and the destruction of Babylon.\r\n\r\nYou\u2019ll notice this expression \u201csomething like,\u201d John has said that many, many times in his book.\u00a0 In fact, down in verse 6, if we get to it, you\u2019ll see that there are three\u00a0 \u201csomething like.\u201d\u00a0 Those are what you call similes where you\u2019re comparing two things with the word like or as.\u00a0 It\u2019s a figure of speech.\u00a0 And why does God keep saying \u201csomething like\u201d \u201csomething like,\u201d \u201csomething like,\u201d all the way through the book? It relates to his assignment and I don\u2019t think I would really want this assignment that God gave to John.\u00a0 God told John back in the first century \u201cwrite in a book what you see and send it to the churches. [Revelation 1:11, \u201csaying, \u201cWrite in a book what you see, a<\/strong>nd send it<\/em> to the seven churches: to Ephesus a<\/strong>nd to Smyrna a<\/strong>nd to Pergamum a<\/strong>nd to Thyatira a<\/strong>nd to Sardis a<\/strong>nd to Philadelphia a<\/strong>nd to Laodicea.\u201d]\r\n\r\nGod says I\u2019m going to show it and write it down.\u00a0 And a lot of the things that hare happening in this book are way outside of John\u2019s timeframe.\u00a0 They\u2019re way beyond his pay grade (so to speak).\u00a0 And he\u2019s being shown things that could happen in the 21st<\/sup> century or later and he\u2019s sort of struggling with words on how to exactly fulfill his assignment and write it down.\u00a0 So he keeps analogizing it to things in his own day, \u201csomething like\u201d he says.\r\n\r\nAnd then you\u2019ll notice the subject is this is not just a multitude but a great multitude.\u00a0 And they don\u2019t just have a voice, they have a loud voice.\u00a0 [\u2026I heard something like a loud voice]\u00a0\u00a0 And this party, this heavenly party, this heavenly celebration starts there in verse 1 through this heavenly multitude.\u00a0 And they say something that\u2019s very interesting, and they say it twice, once in the middle of verse 1 and the end of verse 2; the second time in verse 3, and I think by the time we get through verse 6 the expression will be used a total of at least four times.\u00a0 It\u2019s this word here, hallelujah.\r\n\r\nNow if you\u2019re around the church world for a while you recognize the word hallelujah but most people have no idea what that means.\u00a0 We sing it all the time but what does this word \u201challelujah\u201d actually mean?\u00a0 It\u2019s very simple; it means \u201cPraise the LORD!\u201d exclamation point.\u00a0 And it\u2019s interesting that this word hallelujah, to my knowledge, never occurs in the whole New Testament except right here.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find a reference to Hallelujah all the way back in the Book of Psalms, Psalm 51:1 says \u201cPraise the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 Psalm 150:6 says \u201cPraise the LORD, praise the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 And when you study that in the original language it\u2019s the word or the expression \u201cHallelujah.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It just means praise the LORD!\u00a0 That\u2019s what it means.\r\n\r\nAnd that\u2019s largely what heaven is going to be like.\u00a0 It\u2019s going to be praise to God over and over and over and over again.\u00a0 My friend, David Hocking, puts it like this.\u00a0 He says in his Revelation commentary, \u201cThe word \u2018Hallelujah\u2019 is the same in all languages of the world, and it simply means \u2018Praise the LORD!\u2019\u00a0 And not in a quiet expression of prayer but rather the sound of a great voice of much people in heaven.\u201d\u00a0 This outburst of praise sounded like many waters (you\u2019ll see that a little later) and the voice of the mighty thundering.\u00a0 Apparently God is going to change the ability of ears to hear that which is loud because heaven is filled with the word LOUD.\u00a0 We saw it there in verse 1, didn\u2019t we, it talks not just about a voice, ph\u00f3n\u00e9, [\u03c6\u03c9\u03bd\u03ae], but it talks about a great voice, sometimes in the Book of Revelation it\u2019ll say mega ph\u00f3n\u00e9.\u00a0 What does that sound like?\u00a0 It kind of sounds like megaphone doesn\u2019t it?\r\n\r\nSo this is a large group of people, in fact, they\u2019re not just called a multitude here, they\u2019re called a \u201cgreat multitude\u201d and they just, at the destruction of Babylon they just can\u2019t contain themselves in heaven and so they shout in this loud voice, as John is trying to describe this as he\u2019s writing it in fulfillment of his job description, they just shout \u201cPRAISE THE LORD!\u201d\u00a0 And that\u2019s largely what heaven is like; it\u2019s loud voices, it\u2019s loud choruses, it\u2019s loud praise and so it\u2019s an astonishing thing.\r\n\r\nNow what exactly are they praising God for?\u00a0 You see that in the second part of verse 1 and into verse 2.\u00a0 What does it say?\u00a0 \u201cHallelujah!\u00a0 Salvation and glory belong to our God.\u201d What are they praising God for exactly?\u00a0 Basically three things.\u00a0 You say well why do I need to know these three things?\u00a0 Because these are the three things we ought to be praising God for now, as sort of a warmup act.\u00a0 I mean, if this is your future then you might as well get into practice now with worship and praise.\u00a0 And why do we do singing in the service?\u00a0 Just to kill up time?\u00a0 Right?\u00a0 NO, it\u2019s an opportunity to praise the LORD.\r\n\r\nWell, what exactly would you vocally praise the LORD for?\u00a0 Three things.\u00a0 Number one, salvation.\u00a0\u00a0 Are you happy about salvation?\u00a0 I am!\u00a0 Jonah chapter 2 verse 9 says, \u201cSalvation is from the LORD.\u201d\u00a0 [Jonah 2:9, \u201cBut I will sacrifice to You with the voice of thanksgiving.\u00a0 That which I have vowed I will pay.\u00a0 Salvation is from the LORD.\u201d]\u00a0 If God didn\u2019t orchestrate it you wouldn\u2019t have it.\u00a0 So we praise the LORD, number one, for His salvation.\r\n\r\nNumber two, you\u2019ll see the word \u201cglory\u201d there, doxa<\/em>, salvation and glory and power belong to our God., doxa<\/em>, we praise God for His glory because He deserves it.\u00a0 In fact, God is so zealous for His own glory that He will not share His glory with another.\u00a0 Isaiah 42:8 says.\u00a0 [Isaiah 42:8, \u201c\u201cI am the Lord<\/strong>, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to\u00a0 graven images.\u201d]\r\n\r\nSee, when you come into a church you shouldn\u2019t come in to praise the senior pastor, you shouldn\u2019t come in to praise a marketing strategy, or a particular church program.\u00a0\u00a0 You praise the Lord because it\u2019s all about the Lord!\u00a0 We\u2019re just servants of the Lord, as we\u2019ll see in a little bit, bondservants but the praise is always to be directed towards the Lord because He\u2019s the only one that deserves it.\u00a0 Amen!\u00a0 So we praise the Lord for salvation, we praise the Lord for glory, and then we praise the Lord for His power because if He didn\u2019t have power He could never execute salvation and He could never glorify Himself.\u00a0\u00a0 This word \u201cpower\u201d (as you probably know) is the Greek word dunamis<\/em>, where we get the word dynamite or dynamic.\u00a0 And you\u2019ll notice that they\u2019re saying now your God but \u201cour God.\u201d\u00a0 They\u2019re in heaven, they\u2019re redeemed, God is not some kind of distant removed abstract theological concept; God is something that we walk in relationship with in intimacy.\r\n\r\nSo He\u2019s not THE God or THAT God, but he is OUR God, He personalizes the whole thing.\u00a0 These folks are just getting warmed up because these praises continue on as\u00a0 you move into Revelation 19, verse 2, \u201cBecause His judgments are true and righteous for He has judged the great harlot who is corrupting the earth with her immorality and He has avenged the blood of His bondservant on her.\u201d\u00a0 We are praising the Lord there for His judgments.\u00a0 You know, there\u2019s a lot of people that read the Book of Revelation and they will not praise God for that book.\r\n\r\nThere\u2019s a lot of people that read the Book of Joshua and they see how God authorized Joshua to go into Canaan and slaughter the Canaanites and they won\u2019t praise God for the Book of Joshua because they look at it as unfair; how could a loving God do this?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 And yet it\u2019s not the reaction of heaven because heaven itself acknowledges that yes, the judgment that we studied in this book are somewhat harsh but you\u2019ll notice the adjectives \u201ctrue\u201d and \u201crighteous.\u201d\u00a0 God is true and absolutely righteous in what He has just executed.\r\n\r\nSo this great multitude in heaven is praising the Lord for these judgments.\u00a0 And more specifically they\u2019re praising the Lord not just for the judgments generically but for something that God specifically did, He just judged the great harlot.\u00a0 The great harlot or the city of Babylon is what just fell in Revelation 17 and 18, via the seventy bowl judgment.\u00a0 And Babylon needed to be judged and she deserved to be judged. Why is that?\u00a0 Because you see right there in verse 2 she was this harlot corrupting the earth with her immorality.\u00a0 As I tried to labor to show this can only be a description of Babylon because this is a fulfillment of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies against Babylon.\u00a0 Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 51:7, that Babylon, who by the way was about to take the nation of Israel into captivity, Babylon is going to be destroyed one day because she has, Jeremiah 51:7, intoxicated the nations.\u00a0 \u00a0[Jeremiah 51:7, \u201cBabylon has been a golden cup in the hand of the LORD, Intoxicating all the earth. The nations have drunk of her wine; Therefore the nations are going mad.\u201d]\r\n\r\nAs we\u2019ve studied this material on Babylon it talks about a city that has intoxicated the whole world.\u00a0 And to my mind there\u2019s only one city that could actually fit that bill and that\u2019s the city of Babylon where the tower of Babel was built originally.\u00a0 In fact, that\u2019s where we get the name Babylon; Babylon comes from that word Babel or Baybel, the capital of Babel, the power of Babel. Because what happened at Babel or Baybel exported the sins of Babylon into every culture.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because the earth, Genesis 11:1, had one language at that time.\u00a0 [Genesis 11:1, \u201cNow the whole earth used the same language and the same words.\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd when God saw this tragic that was being built, sort of a first United Nations Conference type of thing (as I like to call it), a one-world system that opposed God.\u00a0 God disrupted the language, prevented the builders from cooperating with one another, and they took a little bit of that system into every culture.\u00a0 We\u2019ve studied how the mother-child cult setup begun under Nimrod, the leader of Babylon, or Babel, was exported into the entire world, it\u2019s just the names changed from place to place.\u00a0 No other city can make this claim of corrupting the whole earth\u2014Babylon can!\u00a0 Other cities of the earth absorb the system but they were never the creators or the progenitors of that system.\u00a0 And as that system went into the whole world you\u2019ll notice that God analogizes it to immorality.\u00a0 It is so interesting to me to study how the Scripture analogizes false doctrine and embracing false doctrine to sexual immorality.\r\n\r\nJames, chapter 4 and verse 4, James tells the folks that he is writing to who are experimenting with false doctrine and worldliness, he says to them, \u201cYou adulteresses,\u201d an interesting imagery, \u201cdo you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God?\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 When the nation of Israel rebelled against God, God typically calls Israel (the Book of Hosea for example), the Book of Ezekiel, chapter 16, the Book of Ezekiel chapter 23, many places, He called Israel a prostitute or a harlot.\u00a0 Why does God analogize false living and false teaching to harlotry?\u00a0 Because God has designed us to be in intimacy with Him and when we leave Him for another gospel or another doctrine it\u2019s like one\u2019s spouse leaving her husband for another man in God\u2019s mind.\u00a0 And you think of the injury that occurs to somebody when they know that their spouse has been unfaithful.\u00a0 That\u2019s the feelings of God in His heart towards us when we embrace other gods instead of Him and so you find this analogy to sexual immorality.\r\n\r\nAs we continue on in these verses, in verse 2 it says, \u201c\u2026 For He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality,\u201d and notice what it says, it\u2019s like heaven is celebrating her destruction, \u201cand He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her.\u201d\u00a0 The word bondservants is very interesting to me, it\u2019s the Greek word doulos<\/em>; it basically means a common place.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the disciple of Jesus Christ is analogized to.\u00a0 It\u2019s interesting that when the apostles wrote letters they didn\u2019t do like we do today, to spend the first page or two touting our credentials, what school we went to, how smart we are, what our spiritual gifts are, how long we\u2019ve been in ministry for.\u00a0 I mean, that\u2019s sort of standard operating procedure within evangelicalism today.\u00a0 But it\u2019s interesting to me the apostles never did that even though they went to the greatest school that could ever be, walking with Jesus in His earthly life.\u00a0 They just simply called themselves bond-servants.\u00a0 The Greek word doulos.\u00a0 <\/em>Peter, 2 Peter 1:1, the very first verse of the book, says \u201cSimon Peter, a bond-servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ.\u201d\r\n\r\nPaul, think of his credentials, and yet what does Paul say at the beginning of probably his most well-known book, the Book of Romans, \u201cPaul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ.\u201d\u00a0 [Romans 1:1, \u201cPaul, a bondservant of Christ Jesus, called as<\/em> an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God.\u201d]\u00a0\u00a0 And what is a bondservant or a slave?\u00a0 It\u2019s somebody who exists to execute the will of somebody else.\u00a0 And if you want to become a disciple of Christ that is essentially what we are being called to.\u00a0 This is what the Lord wants out of all of us.\r\n\r\nRomans 12:1, Paul says, \u201cTherefore\u201d he\u2019s explaining to other people how they can become bondservants.\u00a0 \u201cTherefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is<\/em> your spiritual service of worship.\u201d\u00a0 Why would I do that?\u00a0 Not because my goodness, if I don\u2019t do that I\u2019m going to end up in hell!\u00a0 If I trusted in Christ as my Savior I\u2019m not going to end up in hell, I have the promises of eternal security and assurance of salvation at the point of faith alone in Christ alone.\u00a0 Well then why go into this walk of discipleship presenting my whole body unto the Lord?\r\n\r\nHe\u2019s obviously not talking to unbelievers to do this because He calls them \u201cbrethren,\u201d Romans 12:1.\u00a0 He\u2019s telling believers to do this.\u00a0 Why would I do that?\u00a0 Well, Paul says that\u2019s what\u2019s reasonable.\u00a0 I mean, look at what Jesus did for you; look at the price that he paid to redeem you to Himself.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that the reasonable act of service to therefore come to the Lord as a Christian and say you know Lord, for the rest of my life it\u2019s not going to be my will any more or my choices, or my decisions and my ambitions.\u00a0 You just do what you want in this body.\u00a0 And so we, as we take on that mindset we see ourselves as bondservants, common slaves.\r\n\r\nAnd these bondservants have been persecuted by Babylon.\u00a0 Babylon has spilled their blood.\u00a0 We\u2019ve studied that in Revelation 17:6, \u201cAnd I saw the woman drunk with the blood of the saints\u2026. Revelation 18:24, \u00a0\u00a0\u201c<\/sup>And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints [and of all who have been slain on the earth.]\u201d\u00a0 Babylon spilled a lot of blood throughout time.\u00a0 Babylon is going to spill a lot of blood throughout the tribulation period.\u00a0 And now what has happened is all of that blood that\u2019s been spilled is about to be avenged and is being avenged with the destruction of Babylon.\u00a0 Babylon is a violent city and system.\u00a0 That too is one of Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies in Jeremiah 51:49, he says, \u201cIndeed Babylon is to fall for<\/em> the slain of Israel, and also for Babylon the slain of all the earth have fallen.\u201d\r\n\r\nAnd so now those that have been persecuted by Babylon are in heaven, some perhaps still on the earth celebrating the destruction of this city because of all of the blood that she has spilled throughout the tribulation period and throughout the ages of time.\u00a0 If Babylon is in Babylon, modern day Iraq, it is interesting to me Islam\u2019s control of that part of the world and the blood, the persecution.\u00a0 I remember the old days of Saddam Hussein just taking people, dissenters, and just throwing them off multistory buildings.\u00a0 I mean, total brutality!\u00a0 Islam is just running rampant in the world.\u00a0 And I can tell you about this on CNN by the way, but everywhere Islam goes, everywhere Islam spreads it\u2019s always the same; once they get the political upper hand they begin to use believers in power to persecute those, like ourselves, that won\u2019t bow the knee to Islam.\u00a0 And fortunately we live in a country where we have some semblance of freedom remaining but I\u2019ll tell you one thing, they don\u2019t have that in Saudi Arabia, or Iran, or Iraq, or any other Middle Eastern country.\u00a0 And the moment you name the name of Christ you are immediately [can't understand word] the sum of persecution.\u00a0 Bloody Babylon!\u00a0 But now heaven is rejoicing because Babylon has fallen.\r\n\r\nWe come to this great multitude and we look at her second hallelujah.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that there in verse 3, and it says this, \u201cAnd a second time they said, \u201cHallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 Now they\u2019re not just saying \u201cHallelujah\u201d once, they\u2019re saying it a second time.\u00a0 The word second is the Greek word duetero,<\/em> and you actually might recognize one of the titles of a book in\u00a0 your Bible, the Book of Deuteronomy.\u00a0 Deutero<\/em>\u2014second, nomos<\/em>\u2014law, second law.\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Book of Deuteronomy is, it\u2019s the second law.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a new ten commandments, it\u2019s the same ones that were given forty years earlier to the nation of Israel at Mount Sinai, but it\u2019s now being reapplied to a new generation as they\u2019re about ready to enter Canaan under the conquest of Joshua and before they do that God is now dealing with the second generation that came out of Egypt.\u00a0 He gave them a book to tell them how to act in the land, restating the Law of Moses to a new generation, called The Book of Deuteronomy.\u00a0 <\/em>\r\n\r\nAnd to my knowledge that\u2019s really what ministry is.\u00a0 Ministry is not about inventing new truths!\u00a0 There are many people that think you go into ministry to give people something new.\u00a0 NO\u00a0 YOU DON\u2019T!\u00a0 You may say it a different way.\u00a0 You might do it in a slightly different way. We have all of this cyberspace technology that we can use that prior generations couldn\u2019t use.\u00a0 What we\u2019re saying is the exact same thing, we\u2019re just applying it afresh to a new generation.\u00a0 And that\u2019s what\u2019s happening in the Book of Deuteronomy, until you have this second Deutero hallelujah, they say the second time.\u00a0 I think they\u2019re going to say the total of four times before these verses are completed.\r\n\r\nAnd they say something very interesting as they\u2019re singing unto the Lord, this great multitude, concerning the destruction of Babylon, they say \u201cHer smoke rises up forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 In other words, throughout the thousand year kingdom, which is now on the horizon, there will always be a remembrance of the destruction of Babylon because her smoke just keeps going up and up and up and up for at least a thousand years, if I\u2019m reading this correctly.\r\n\r\nYou say well, you can\u2019t do that, I mean, the millennium is a new creation, right?\u00a0 I mean, you can\u2019t have smoking Babylon in the millennium can\u00a0 you?\u00a0 Well, don\u2019t confuse millennium with eternal state; they are two totally different things.\u00a0 In the millennium sin is restrained; in the eternal state sin is removed.\u00a0 In the millennium curse restrained, eternal state curse removed.\u00a0 Millennium you still have death to some extent; no death in the eternal state.\u00a0 Millennium you\u2019ve got mortals and resurrected people living together; not in the eternal state, resurrected people only!\u00a0 In the millennium there\u2019s still the need to evangelize because you will have descendants of those who survived the tribulation period who entered the kingdom in their mortal bodies having children and their children having children, so fresh generations will always need to be evangelized.\u00a0 But not in the eternal state!\u00a0 All destinies are decided.\u00a0 The millennium is a renovation of this earth; the eternal state is a new earth entirely.\u00a0 The millennium is temporary, it lasts a thousand years.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see that in Revelation 20, the eternal state is just like the word says, ETERNAL!\u00a0 The millennium is designed by God to be a transitional time period; not the eternal state, it goes on forever.\u00a0 You say well gee, pastor, you have a lot of charts up there, I\u2019m sure glad you\u2019re finished with charts because I\u2019m having a hard time absorbing that. Well, let\u2019s put up another chart.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 I mean, we work really hard on these charts, we\u2019ve got to show them to somebody.\r\n\r\nThe millennium in terms of time will be a thousand\u00a0 years; the eternal state there is no more time.\u00a0 The millennium you\u2019re going to have the sun and the moon and the stars; you\u2019re not going to have that in the eternal state.\u00a0 In the millennium you\u2019re going to have a functioning temple; not in the eternal state.\u00a0 In the millennium there\u2019s death but not in the eternal state.\u00a0 There\u2019s actually Satanic rebellion at the end of the millennium, but it\u2019s not an issue in the eternal state.\u00a0 There\u2019s rebellion in the millennium but not in the eternal state.\u00a0 And people kind of get upset when\u00a0 you say the smoke is going to keep rising and rising and rising and rising forever, how can you bring smoke\u00a0 into the eternal state?\u00a0 Well the answer is the millennium is completely different than the eternal state.\r\n\r\nOne of the things people do with the Gog and Magog battle is they place it before the tribulation period even starts.\u00a0 Some of my favorite Bible teachers, names like Arnold Fruchtenbaum, very good people, others that I could site are doing that and they do that because Ezekiel 39:9 mentions weapons being destroyed for seven years.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 39:9, \u201cThen those who inhabit the cities of Israel will go out and make fires with the weapons and burn them, both shields and bucklers, bows and arrows, war clubs and spears, and for seven years they will make fires of them.\u201d]\r\n\r\nEzekiel 39:12 talks about seven months to bury the dead.\u00a0 [Ezekiel 39:12, \u201cFor seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land.\u201d] \u00a0If you put the battle, at least chapter 39, somewhere in the tribulation period mathematically you\u2019re going to have weapons burning and burial happening in the millennial kingdom\u00a0 and they say there\u2019s no way that can happen.\u00a0 My response to that is why can\u2019t it happen?\u00a0 Babylon is going to burn throughout that whole thousand years.\u00a0 Do you think burning some weapons for seven years and burying folks for seven months is a problem?\u00a0 Now that would be a problem in the eternal state but not the millennium because the millennium is just sort of a renovation of this earth, it\u2019s not the eternal state yet.\u00a0 So I don\u2019t have any problem putting Ezekiel 38 and 39 in the tribulation period on that basis alone.\u00a0 And yet it\u2019s interesting that that\u2019s the primary objective people give and I\u2019m not sure they are under\u00adstanding or we are all understanding the differences between the millennium and the eternal state.\r\n\r\nYou see, the big trend today is just to make it all one big thing at the end, right?\u00a0 The ram, jam and cram method of interpretation; let\u2019s just glob it all together!\u00a0 Well, the Bible doesn\u2019t read that way.\u00a0 If you\u2019re interested in the Bible you are interested in the details and the details of the two chapters, chapter 20 and then chapters 21 and 22 are entirely different.\r\n\r\nSo Babylon keeps burning for the thousand years.\u00a0 Now people say well, wait a minute pastor, it says Babylon is going to burn forever and ever.\u00a0 Well, it\u2019s interesting, when you look at Revelation 21:8 it talks about people going into the Lake of Fire.\u00a0 [Revelation 21:8, \u201cBut for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.\u201d]\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\nThe smoke of her torment rises up forever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0[Revelation 14:11, \u201cAnd the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.\u201d] And maybe that\u2019s the way to understand this language \u201cforever and ever.\u201d\u00a0 First Babylon itself burns for a thousand years and then those that orchestrated this horrific system are in the Lake of Fire and the smoke of their torment continues on.\u00a0 Just some things to think about.\r\n\r\nNow one of the things that I\u2019ve been trying to steer us away from is the view of,\u00a0 in the Charles Ryrie Study Bible, which is my favorite study Bible, the view as disclosed by the way Dr.\u00a0 John Walvoord who\u2019s probably my favorite theologian, but those folks emphasize and most Christians in our camp think this way, that there\u2019s actually two Babyons.\u00a0 Walvoord, in his Revelation Commentary talks about Babylon ecclesiastical, chapter 17, and then Babylon literal, chapter 18.\u00a0 So chapter 17, when it mentions a city it\u2019s not literal but in chapter 18 when it mentions a city of Babylon it is literal.\u00a0 So chapter 17 is ecclesiastical Babylon, chapter 18 is literal Babylon according to this view.\u00a0 The city is not literal in chapter 17 but the city is literal in chapter 18.\u00a0 The city is destroyed according to this theory halfway through the tribulation period, the harlot anyway.\u00a0 But commercial Babylon isn\u2019t destroyed until the end of the tribulation period.\r\n\r\nThe emphasis in chapter 17 is religion; the emphasis in chapter 18 is commercial and politics.\u00a0 So what people say is well, there\u2019s obviously two Babylon\u2019s here, one spiritual, one literal.\u00a0 And those are destroyed at different times.\u00a0 But when you look at these hallelujah\u2019s very carefully what you\u2019ll see is heaven is praising God for the destruction of Babylon and in their praise to God they\u2019re drawing information from both chapters.\u00a0 In other words, both chapters\u00a0 are talking about the same city and the same event and the same destruction, if I\u2019m reading this carefully.\u00a0 For example, they\u2019re praising God through the destruction of the harlot, verse 2.\u00a0 The harlot is in chapter 17.\r\n\r\nBut then these same people are praising God because Babylon is burning forever and ever.\u00a0 You\u2019ll find a description of her burning in chapter 18, verse 8 and verse 18.\u00a0 They\u2019re praising God for the destruction of Babylon because she has exported immorality throughout the world. \u00a0[Revelation 18:8, \u201cFor this reason in one day her plagues will come, pestilence and mourning and famine, and she will be burned up with fire; for the Lord God who judges her is strong.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 18:18, \u00a0\u201cand were crying out as they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, \u2018What city is like the great city?\u2019\u201d]\r\n\r\nAnd yet when you read Revelation 17:2 it talks about Babylon\u2019s immorality, just like it does in Revelation 18:3.\u00a0 [Revelation 17:2, \u201cwith whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 18:3, \u201cFor all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.\u201d]\r\n\r\nI don\u2019t think there are two Babylon\u2019s here; I think it\u2019s a single city, single destruction and I think that becomes evident when you start paying attention to a lot of these details.\u00a0 Remember chapter 16 verse 19, the destruction of Babylon.\u00a0 [Revelation 16:19, \u201cThe great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered before God, to give her the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath.\u201d]\u00a0 And what the angel said to John, I\u2019m going to show you what just happened in detail.\u00a0 All of that is an expansion of bowl number seven.\u00a0 It\u2019s not going back three and a half years earlier to something that happened way in the past.\u00a0 And you recall when Babylon was first announced, all the way back in chapter 14,\u00a0 you may not remember back that far we\u2019ve been studying Revelation for so long.\u00a0 This is the first introduction to Babylon ever in Revelation 14:8, it says, \u201cAnd another angel, a second one, followed, saying, \u2018Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.\u2019\u201d\r\n\r\nNotice her title, \u201cBabylon the great.\u201d\u00a0 That\u2019s a title you find in chapter 17:5 and it\u2019s also a title that you find of her in Revelation 18:2. [Revelation 17:5, \u201cand on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, \"BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 18:2, \u201cAnd he cried out with a mighty voice, saying, \"Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great! She has become a dwelling place of demons and a prison of every unclean spirit, and a prison of every unclean and hateful bird.\u201d]\r\n\r\nThe announcement of Babylon is drawing from both chapters.\u00a0 Revelation 14:8 says, \u201c[And another angel, a second one, followed, saying, \u201cFallen, fallen is Babylon the great,] she who has made all the nations drink of the wine of the passion of her immorality.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll find that in Scripture in chapter 17 verse 2 and chapter 18, verse 3. \u00a0[Revelation 17:2, \u201cwith whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.\u201d\u00a0 Revelation 18:3, \u201cFor all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.\u201d]\r\n\r\nYou see, whenever Babylon is introduced it\u2019s connected to the seventh bowl and it draws information concerning her destruction\u00a0 from both chapters.\u00a0 When we, as part of this chorus, are praising the Lord in heaven for the destruction of Babylon it\u2019s drawing information from both chapters, therefore I conclude that both chapters are speaking of these same events.\u00a0 Now if you brought your Egghead hat with you today look at this chart.\u00a0 And by the way, don\u2019t celebrate when we finish those three points because we have three more.\u00a0 I\u2019ll do these fast though.\u00a0 But there\u2019s a total of six arguments that are used to drive a wedge between these two chapters.\r\n\r\nNumber one, people say well, there\u2019s a chapter division there in chapter 18 and as we pointed out the chapter division was not inspired by the Holy Spirit.\r\n\r\nNumber two, people say it was after these things at the beginning of chapter 18 therefore it\u2019s got to be something totally different.\u00a0 Not necessarily, when it says meta tauta<\/em> was a verb of perception, that\u2019s why I made a point of that earlier, in chapter 19 verse 1, it\u2019s not necessarily talking about something that happened eschatologically later but it\u2019s talking\u00a0 about the next thing John saw.\u00a0 People say well, here\u2019s another angel in chapter 18 verse 1, so it must be a new vision. Not necessarily.\u00a0 I can show you many examples in the Book of Revelation where an angel is inserted into the exact same vision without starting a new vision.\u00a0 People say well, she\u2019s destroyed differently, I mean, she\u2019s destroyed by kings in chapter 17 and she\u2019s destroyed by God in chapter 18.\u00a0 Not necessarily, because who put the desire to destroy Babylon into the hearts of the kings in chapter 17?\u00a0 God did !\u00a0 In both chapters God is destroying Babylon, it\u2019s just chapter 17 adds a little nuance, God is using human beings for His purposes.\r\n\r\nBut number five, there\u2019s totally different reactions.\u00a0 The kings hate Babylon in chapter 17 verse 16 and yet in chapter 18 the kings are weeping over Babylon.\u00a0 So obviously two different events.\u00a0 Not necessarily when you understand you\u2019re dealing with two separate sets of kings.\u00a0 The kings in chapter 17 are connected to the antichrist; the kings in chapter 18 are connected to the city of Babylon.\u00a0 That\u2019s why they react different and have different emotions.\r\n\r\nWell wait a minute, she\u2019s called a city in chapter 18 but she\u2019s called a woman in chapter 17.\u00a0 Not necessarily when you read the last verse of chapter 17 which says \u201cthe woman that you saw is a\u201d what? \u201ca city.\u201d\u00a0 So every single argument that people give related to the fact that these are two different Babylon\u2019s I don\u2019t think holds up under careful scrutiny; I think what you\u2019re dealing with is the destruction of the exact same city at the exact same time.\u00a0 The forces, we\u2019ve gone through this chart way back here many times that unite these chapters as great as anything that drives those chapters apart.\r\n\r\nSo the praise then continues and now we get some praise from the twenty-four elders.\u00a0 The multitude has praised the Lord because of Babylon\u2019s destruction, but notice the twenty-four elders.\u00a0 Notice, if\u00a0 you will, Revelation 19 and notice if\u00a0 you will verse 4.\u00a0 It says, \u201cAnd the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, \u201cAmen. Hallelujah!\u201d \u00a0So the multitude praised God, now we get praise from (A) the twenty-four elders and (B) the four living creatures.\r\n\r\nNow who are these twenty-four elders?\u00a0 You\u2019ll remember that we carefully worked our way through Revelation 2 and 3, the letters to the seven churches, we looked at how they were described, and when we got to the twenty-four elders in heaven, Revelation 4 and Revelation 5, we noted the fact that my goodness, those twenty-four elders seem to be described very similarly to the way the seven churches were described.\u00a0 So what I think is this: the twenty-four elders is the church that has been taken from the earth to where?\u00a0 Heaven!\u00a0 Before the tribulation period even starts.\u00a0 Now how did the church get up there?\u00a0 She was translated into heaven via the rapture of the church which takes place before the tribulation period even starts.\u00a0 That\u2019s why the twenty-four elders are portrayed in heaven as the events of the great tribulation period are getting ready to start.\r\n\r\nAnd so it\u2019s sort of interesting to look at this and sort of track through this.\u00a0 Now as you go through the Bible you\u2019re going to find many examples of what is called the heavenly scene.\u00a0 You\u2019ll see it in Isaiah 6, what [can't understand word] folks in heaven are doing.\u00a0 But in every single heavenly scene that you study in the Bible, Isaiah 6, the Book of Ezekiel has a lot of them, but no twenty-four elders.\u00a0 It mentions the four living creatures, and it mentions the great multitude, it mentions myriads of angels, but no twenty-four elders EVER, until you get to Revelation 4 and you see another heavenly scene but you see a totally different group inserted and that\u2019s the twenty-four elders.\r\n\r\nHave you ever asked yourself that question, why no twenty-four elders anywhere else until you get to the time of the tribulation period as described in the Book of Revelation and suddenly these twenty-four elders appear and they sound an awful lot like, and they look an awful lot like the seven churches that were described in Revelation 2 and 3.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Because the translation of the church has occurred and the church is in heaven fulfilling its function of praising the Lord. And one of the things the church is praising the Lord for, amongst these other entities in heaven, is finally Babylon has gotten her due, her destruction has come.\r\n\r\nWell, gee, pastor, I wish you could get off this theology stuff and I wish you could preach something more practical and more relevant.\u00a0 Let me ask you just a real simple question; is there anything more relevant than understanding your future in God?\u00a0 This is your future!\u00a0 This is what God has in store for you!\u00a0 This is what He is going to have us doing in the future, in heaven praising the Lord!\r\n\r\nNot only are these twenty-four elders praising the Lord but these four living creatures are praising the Lord, I really have a difficult time with the four living creatures, to me the twenty-four elders are easy, but who are these four living creatures?\u00a0 For reasons we\u2019ve said earlier in our study, probably\u00a0 a specialized group of angels, but what is the church and the four living creatures doing?\u00a0 As they\u2019re praising the Lord by falling down?\u00a0 \u00a0That is a physical reaction.\u00a0 It is a time of worship that is so intense that it even causes a change in one\u2019s bodily position and posture.\u00a0 Wow, that certainly brings out a dimension of worship that we don\u2019t think much about.\u00a0 It says \u201cthey worshiped,\u201d the verb here is proseuneo,<\/em> \u201cthey worshipped,\u201d now who are they worshipping?\u00a0 It has a direct object, they are worshipping God.\u00a0 Verse 4, they\u2019re worshipping the one \u201cwho sits on the throne.\u201d\u00a0 [Revelation 19:4, \u201cAnd the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, \u201cAmen. Hallelujah!\u201d]\u00a0 Now who would that be?\u00a0 Jesus said in Revelation 3:21, \u201cHe who overcomes I will grant him to sit down with me on My throne\u201d that\u2019s future, it hasn\u2019t transpired yet, \u201cas I also have overcome and sat down with My Father on His throne.\u201d\r\n\r\nWho\u2019s on the throne?\u00a0\u00a0 The Father!\u00a0 Who\u2019s on the throne with Him?\u00a0 The Son!\u00a0 Before the millennial kingdom comes to the earth and this multitude and these four living creatures and twenty-four elders, they\u2019re so enthralled by the destruction of Babylon that they\u2019re praising the triune God.\u00a0 They\u2019re praising at least two members of the Trinity who are orchestrating these things.\u00a0 And what are they saying?\u00a0 It\u2019s very interesting when you look at verse 4, they\u2019re saying \u201cAmen.\u201d\u00a0 Now there\u2019s another word that needs\u00a0 unpacking, we say it all the time don\u2019t we?\u00a0 Most of us have no idea what it means.\u00a0 Jesus would say this, \u201cTruly, truly I say to you,\u201d that\u2019s in the Greek amen twice, it means verily, verily, or it means it is certain.\u00a0 In other words, it is certain two times amen, amen.\u00a0 That\u2019s what this throng, four living creatures, twenty-four elders are doing and great multitudes doing in the presence of the Lord.\r\n\r\nAnd notice what else they\u2019re saying here, [6] \u201cHallelujah!\u201d which means what?\u00a0 Praise the Lord! Exclamation point.\u00a0 Why?\u00a0 Because they just can\u2019t believe that their sons, they\u2019re happy, they\u2019re elated, that this wicked city and system has been brought down through bowl judgment number\u00a0 seven 7.\u00a0 Now we\u2019ve got talking furniture, look at this, Revelation 19:5.\u00a0 Now isn\u2019t it interesting, what did the Lord say as He was coming into Jerusalem and the apostles and the crowd was sort of praising the Lord and the Pharisees said shut these people up, and what did Jesus say?\u00a0 Well, if I shut them\u00a0 up the rocks will start singing.\u00a0 Isn\u2019t it interesting how God is going to get works one way or another.\u00a0 He\u2019s going to get it from a rock or He\u2019s going to get it from a chair, or maybe someone even dumber than both,\u00a0 us, but He\u2019s going to get His praise.\u00a0 And so now this chair is sort of personified as praising the Lord.\r\n\r\nLook at Revelation 19:5, \u201cAnd a voice came from the throne,\u201d now what throne would that be where two members of the trinity are seated?\u00a0 \u201c\u2026 saying, \u201cGive praise to our God, all you His\u201d what? \u201cbond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.\u201d \u00a0They\u2019re praising the Lord it says.\u00a0 Just like it said that back in verse 1, \u201cA loud voice praising,\u201d praising who?\u00a0 \u201cpraising our God.\u201d Not that god or any god, our God, the\u00a0 One that they\u2019re walking in a relationship with!\u00a0 \u201cPraise the Lord\u00a0 you\u201d and it says it a second time, \u201cHis bondservants.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s the same word, doulos<\/em>, the common slave.\u00a0 So they\u2019re fighting these bondservants that praise the Lord, \u201cAnd a voice came from the throne saying, \u2018Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants,\u201d look at this now, \u201cyou who fear Him.\u201d\u00a0 The smartest thing a human being can ever do with their life is fear the Lord.\u00a0\u00a0 What I mean by \u201cfear the Lord\u201d is you respect His ways, and His principles and His statutes.\u00a0 The moment you do that you get smart.\u00a0 If you don\u2019t do that you get dumb.\r\n\r\nYou say well, does the Bible actually teach that?\u00a0 Read Romans 1, humans wouldn\u2019t do it so their own mind became darkened.\u00a0 But those that did do that the brain or the mind is functioning the way God designed it and suddenly the level of intelligence or the level of understanding begins to accelerate dramatically.\r\n\r\nProverbs 1:7 says \u201cThe fear of the Lord,\u201d this is very misquoted, listen to this very carefully, Proverbs 1:7 says, \u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.\u201d\u00a0 Most people misquote this to say \u201cThe fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.\u201d\u00a0 Now the Bible does say that later but not the Book of Proverbs as it opens up because you can\u2019t have wisdom, application, without what?\u00a0 Knowledge, and you\u2019ve got to have something to apply, right?\u00a0 So knowledge is not a last step but it\u2019s always a first step.\u00a0 And how do you get knowledge?\u00a0 How do you get understanding?\u00a0 Proverbs 1:7, you fear, respect, the Lord.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0All of this talk today by the secularist, progressives, saying we want evolution taught in the schools because we\u2019re on the side of science.\u00a0 They don\u2019t even know what they\u2019re saying.\r\n\r\nI spend so much time, you can ask my wife about this, it shows you how smart I am, yelling at the television.\u00a0 [Laughter]\u00a0 And what I yell is \u201cread the book by Henry Morris, entitled Men of Science and Men of God<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 If\u00a0 you have fallen for this idea that Christians are somehow anti-scientific read that book, because Henry Morris documents how the historical leaders of every major field of science, every single one of them had in their background a fear of God, or a knowledge of the Bible.\u00a0 Isaac Newton, for example, you know Isaac Newton, most people know him for his scientific advancements, the discovery of the law of gravity.\r\n\r\nWhat most people don\u2019t know is Isaac Newton wrote two commentaries on two books of the Bible, the Book of Daniel and the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 And you should hear the humanist gripe about that one, boy, if he had just really applied himself fulltime to science think what more he could have discovered, not understanding that it was his knowledge of the Bible that gave him an incentive to study science.\u00a0 He believed in God and he believed that God has released into nature certain laws, like the law of gravity, and it was his knowledge of the Creator that gave him an incentive to study science.\u00a0 See, the whole thing today is upside down.\u00a0 The Biblicist is always portrayed as non-scientific and yet the exact opposite is true.\u00a0 That\u2019s why this heavenly throng is saying fear the Lord.\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve used this statistic many times, buy you\u2019ll notice what happens to SAT scores in the United States in 1962.\u00a0 It took a real nosedive and you look at that and you say well, what happened in 1962, did a meteor hit the planet or what?\u00a0 NO, that was the year that the Supreme Court, in its infant wisdom (using that language sarcastically) decided it was unconstitutional to have prayer and the Bible in the public schools. Oh, it\u2019s been constitutional for two hundred years but you know what, today it\u2019s unconstitutional.\u00a0 You know what the United States should have done when that ruling was handed down?\u00a0 The United States should have said to the Supreme Court stuff it, we\u2019re going to do the Bible and prayer in public schools anyway because the ruling is illegitimate, because a ruling only has legitimacy if you can find it supported in the text of the United States Constitution.\u00a0 But the Christians of the United States have been told you\u2019ve got to submit to authority no matter what, Romans 13.\u00a0 Even I can tell you examples in the Bible where people, men and women of God did not submit to authority.\r\n\r\nAnd I think if every public school had ignored the ruling and laughed the whole thing off and said make your ruling, now try to enforce it, this whole country would be completely different.\u00a0 But this is what happened, the ruling came out, the Bible is removed, the Bible says \u201cthe fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,\u201d and look at what happened to knowledge, it\u2019s just disintegrated.\u00a0 People today\u00a0 think they are the smartest ever and yet we\u2019re probably the dumbest generation that ever lived.\r\n\r\nAnd I don\u2019t mean to get too much on a rant here but these things haven\u2019t helped much; have you ever tried grading papers from college students, where they write their paper and they put lol in the paper, and rof, and all this stuff, because that\u2019s how they communicate on Facebook.\u00a0 That\u2019s language to them that\u2019s normal, so why not put it in a paper?\u00a0 I\u2019m not the oldest person in this room but I was around before all this stuff even came into existence.\u00a0 I think we all collectively were a lot smarter without all of this stuff than we are with it.\u00a0 And as I said, my phone will go off probably.\r\n\r\nSo they\u2019re praising the LORD and they\u2019re exhorting people to fear the Lord and they\u2019re exhorting people to fear the Lord, and again you\u2019ll see the reference to bondservants and you\u2019ll notice in verse 5, at the end, it talks about bond-servants\u00a0 small and great. [Verse 5 \u201cAnd a voice came from the throne, saying, \u201cGive praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.\u201d]\u00a0 You\u2019ll notice that there are small bond-servants and there are great bond-servants, because a lot of times it\u2019s very discouraging in the Christian life and you have some little ministry over on the side that\u2019s certainly not as big as the ministry down the street, and you begin to think that your ministry is less significant.\u00a0 And yet the reality of the situation is God has both kinds of ministries, small and great.\r\n\r\nAnd the only thing God really asks of us in accomplishing what He has given us is not even success, but it\u2019s faithfulness.\u00a0 What does the Bible say?\u00a0 Well done My good and successful servant???\u00a0 It says \u201cWell done My good and faithful servant.\u201d\u00a0 1 Corinthians 4:2 says, \u201cIn this case moreover it is required of stewards\u201d that\u2019s who we are, stewards, we\u2019re not owners but we\u2019re managers, \u201cit is required of stewards that one is found trustworthy.\u201d\u00a0 Are you trustworthy in what God has given you to do?\u00a0 Rather than get into the comparison team which won\u2019t be the issue in the day of reward, it\u2019ll be faithfulness with what God has given us.\r\n\r\nSo verse 5 has an awful lot in it, doesn\u2019t it?\u00a0 \u201cAnd a voice came from the throne, saying, \u201cGive praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great.\u201d And then finally we wrap it up with verse 6, \u201cThen I heard something<\/em> like the voice of a great multitude and like the \u00a0sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying,\u201d what does it say here? \u201cHallelujah!\u201d I think that\u2019s number four, \u00a0\u201cFor the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns.\u201d\u00a0 Now we\u2019re exactly back to where we started with the great multitude.\u00a0 The great multitude starts this paragraph, the great multitude ends this paragraph.\u00a0 And tucked in-between is the twenty-four elders, the four living creatures and the voice of a throne.\r\n\r\nYou\u2019ll notice it says \u201clike\u201d here three times.\u00a0 \u201cLike the voice of a great multitude,\u201d \u201clike the sound of many waters,\u201d that\u2019s Revelation 1:15 being repeated, \u201clike the sound of mighty peals of thunder,\u201d that\u2019s Revelation 8:5 repeated.\u00a0 Why does he keep saying like, like, like, like, like, like, as, as, as, as, as, as, as?\u00a0 Because of his job description.\u00a0 He was just told to write it down. Aren\u2019t you glad he did that and didn\u2019t get editorially creative?\u00a0 He gave us exactly what God showed him, he\u2019s in his humanity struggling, as you might imagine, but he\u2019s thankful, he\u2019s doing what God said.\r\n\r\nI don\u2019t think John would have ever thought that we would be proclaiming this book on a different continent two thousand years later.\u00a0 And yet because he was faithful in something that seemed odd or small look at the botanic truth that God passed down.\u00a0 In the same way whatever God has called you to do, you probably don\u2019t even see what God wants to do through that tiny work you\u2019re doing.\u00a0 And in fact, one of these days in heaven you\u2019re going to look back and you\u2019re going to be dumbfounded at what God did through such a minor effort that you put in, a small task that you were faithful in.\u00a0 And they\u2019re saying \u201cHallelujah,\u201d verse 6, \u00a0praise the Lord.\u00a0 [Verse 6, \u201cThen I heard something<\/em> like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, \u201cHallelujah! For the LORD our God, the Almighty, reigns.\u201d]\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s talking about the \u201cLORD our God,\u201d not that God or the God, our God. They\u2019re in a relationship with Him and they call Him there almighty.\u00a0 That\u2019s who God is; that\u2019s why He deserves praise.\u00a0 He\u2019s omnipotent, He\u2019s all powerful.\u00a0 And then I love how verse 6 ends here because I think this really becomes the point of the book, \u201cHallelujah, for the LORD our God, the Almighty, reigns.\u201d\u00a0 Isn\u2019t that the whole point of the book?\u00a0 Isn\u2019t this book about how an unlawful usurper gets evicted and his authority over the earth is replaced by the authority of Jesus Christ.\u00a0 We\u2019ve used this slide many times but that\u2019s the purpose of the parallels between the Exodus judgments and the judgments in the Book of Revelation.\u00a0 It sounds so similar.\u00a0 In the Book of Exodus God is bringing Israel out of 400 years of Egyptian bondage and what He\u2019s doing in the Book of Revelation is He\u2019s bringing the whole world out of the satanic bondage that it has been in ever since the fall of man.\r\n\r\nAnd finally His long standing one thousand year kingdom is manifested, about to manifest on the earth. And so rejoice!\u00a0 Because the kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our LORD and that\u2019s His Christ.\u00a0 [Revelation 11:15<\/strong> (NASB) The Seventh Trumpet\u2014Christ\u2019s Reign Foreseen.] \u201cThen the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, \u201c The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord \u2026\u201d]\r\n\r\nYou say well how does this relate to me?\u00a0 Very simple, you\u2019re a kingdom of priests, Revelation 1:6.\u00a0 And part of the privilege of being a kingdom of priests, Revelation 5:10, is reigning (future) upon the earth.\u00a0\u00a0 Your destiny in God is to reign under His delegated authority on planet earth.\u00a0 I mean, what a tremendous future.\u00a0 In heaven praising Him for what He did, and is doing, but then it continues where we\u00a0 return to the earth one day functioning under His delegated authority as a kingdom of priests and reigning.\r\n\r\nAnd so I can\u2019t think of really a better or easier way to transition into the gospel than that; I mean, do you want to be part of it?\u00a0 I do!\u00a0 How do I get involved with this?\u00a0 Well, you don\u2019t become an over-comer through your own power; you don\u2019t do it that way.\u00a0 You attach yourself by way of faith to the One who is an overcomer.\u00a0 You receive what He has done for you in your place, which not only eradicates the division between sinful man and a holy God but it also ties\u00a0 you into this glorious future that is yours for the taking simply by responding, by way of faith to what Jesus has done for you on the cross.\u00a0 The gospel is not a twelve step program, it\u2019s a one step program, where you actually receive what He has done by way of faith and that\u2019s the only way to receive a gift from God.\r\n\r\nYou know, we\u2019re coming up into what we call the holiday season, lots of gifts, lots of presents.\u00a0 How do you receive a gift from someone? You just receive it.\u00a0 And from God you only receive a gift through faith. \u00a0Hebrews 11:6 says, \u201cWithout faith it is\u201d what? \u201cimpossible to please God.\u201d\u00a0 Faith is another way of saying trust, where you\u2019re convicted that you\u2019re not going to save yourself but you trust in Him and what He has done for you on the cross and through His resurrection two thousand years ago.\u00a0 And through that nanosecond of faith you receive everything that we talked about, a future that we talked about and presently the forgiveness of your sins.\r\n\r\nSo as the Spirit of God is convicting men and women of this as I am proclaiming this on this particular Sunday, our exhortation is to respond to that convicting ministry of the Holy Spirit and trust or believe or rely upon what Jesus has done for you.\u00a0 It\u2019s not a matter of joining a church, walking an aisle, giving money, filling out a card, it\u2019s a matter of privacy between you and the Lord where you receive what He has done for you on your behalf.\u00a0 You can do it right now,\u00a0 you can do it even as I am speaking.\u00a0 And as we reconvene the next Lord\u2019s day the celebration of the destruction of Babylon is completed; the very last encumbrance preventing the establishment of God\u2019s kingdom on the earth has now been removed; it has now been toppled.\u00a0 And now we move into a very exciting part of the Book of Revelation, where we will see when and how that kingdom will come and what exactly it will look like.\r\n\r\nLet us pray.\u00a0 Father, we\u2019re grateful for this ancient book and\u00a0 You have given us so much hope for our world and our future.\u00a0 Make us people of hope as we leave today under your grace. We\u2019ll be careful to give you all the praise and the glory.\u00a0 We ask these things in Jesus\u2019 name, and God\u2019s people said\u2026 Amen!","series_sermon_number":""},"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t