The end time will be one of great horror and tragedy. We have watched scene after scene of catastrophe take place. Imagine what John was going through. He had to look upon these scenes and be an eyewitness of these horrors. That is why every so often Christ gives John a scene of hope and of the glory that is to come. That is what this passage is about tonight.
John once again needs to be lifted up and encouraged. So God gives him a broad overview of what is yet to come. So John gets a sketch form of the glory with the horror. So tonight we look at the overall picture of things to come. READ 14-15.
Remember that there are only three woes, and we are told that the third woe is coming soon. As a recap:
• The first woe will be the demonic locust-like creatures that sweep the earth and torment people.
• The second woe will be demonic military horse-like creatures that sweep the earth, and kill one third of the ungodly and evil population.
• The third woe is the seventh trumpet, the judgments that result from the blast of the seventh trumpet.
But note that the 7th trumpet blasts and there is no judgment that comes forth. Why? Because there are some things that need to be seen before the judgments actually take place. What we are going to see is a continuation of a sequence of events. The judgments and woe of the 7th trumpet are actually the seven bowl judgments. The 7th trumpet will blast forth 7 more judgments. The bowl judgments will bring the climax of human history and the end of time as we know it.
Before that happens, there are some things that we need to see and understand. The first thing we see is in tonight’s passage. The present passage leaps ahead and shows us in a broad sense what is to happen over the next ten chapters. God was preparing John for the terrible events that were yet to be revealed to him. He prepared him by showing that God would triumph over evil and establish His kingdom forever. So John, and we, are given five scenes of what is yet to come.
In verse 15 we see the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord. The Greek used in this verse is actually past tense as though it has already happened. The scene jumps over all of history and shows our God and His Christ ruling over the whole world. All the kingdoms of this world are done away with, and all the people on earth live and work as citizens of God’s kingdom.
If you look at our day and time, human governments involve:
• Authority and rule and reign: some are good and some are bad.
• Laws: earthly laws favor some people and treat others unjustly.
• Work: some have jobs and others don’t.
• Economics: some earthly economics are healthy and others are bad.
• Protection: Some are protected, others are abused and enslaved.
• Provisions: some earthly governments provide for the people, others don’t.
• Services: some governments provide roads, sewage, water, jobs and health care and others don’t
The point is that earthly governments are imperfect and weak and unable to bring utopia to man. But the kingdoms of this world are going to become the kingdom of our God and His Christ. God is going to reign over the world, bringing heaven to this universe. When? During the millennium. The millennium simply means the period of time, 1,000 years, that Jesus Christ is to return to this earth and rule over the nations and people of the earth.
Now I want you to just think about that for a moment. Utopia is coming to earth. Peace and prosperity are coming. There will no longer be hunger, thirst, homelessness, disease, war, murder, or any of the evils on earth. But utopia will only come when Jesus Christ returns to rule the earth.
Man fails and fails miserably in his attempts to clean up the world and to establish peace. But God loves man and is going to help man. He is going to send His Son back to earth to establish peace and prosperity for all. This is the glorious promise of this passage. READ 16-17.
Scene two: The Lord God Almighty is acclaimed. As soon as the angel gave a glimpse that showed the victory of God, the 24 elders fell on their faces before God. They worshipped and praised Him for three things:
1. They praised God as the Lord God Almighty. He was the Ruler over all lives. He was the Creator and Maker of all and He was the only one who deserved to be worshipped.
2. They praised Him as the Lord God who “is and who was.” He is eternal. He is the One existing now, who was always existing, and is to always exist. He is forever and ever.
3. They praised Him for taking His great power back form the world and for beginning to reign in His rightful place. God has allowed Satan to have access to the world and to man. Unfortunately man has chosen to follow Satan instead of God.
But not all people. Some people have done exactly what God was after: freely chosen to believe and follow Him—freely chosen to love God supremely. So the result has been a world inhabited by a mass of people who deny and ignore God, with only a few people who choose to focus upon God.
So the result is that the selfishness and greed and lust that grips people has consumed the world. The world is wrecked with so much sin and evil that problems have become so big that they are now beyond solving.
But God is going to solve them. This is the declaration of the praise of the 24 elders. They have just witnessed the scene of the future, the scene where God has just taken back His power over the world from Satan. They have witnessed the rule of God’s love and righteousness upon earth. READ 18.
Scene 3: the nations of the world will make a final rebellion against God and will be destroyed and face the eternal judgment of God. There are five points made in verse 18 that we need to note.
1. There will be the final rebellion of the nations against Jesus at the end of the millennium (the 1,000 year rule of Christ on earth.) The devil and his followers are going to try to defeat Christ and His followers in a last ditch battle on earth.
Remember, Christ will be ruling on earth for 1,000 years. That’s a long time. Over that 1,000 years, people will do what people so often do now—become dull and lethargic to Christ and His power. So when Satan is loosed to tempt and lead them, many will attempt to overthrow Christ and His followers. The result will be quick and catastrophic for the ungodly nations and people of this earth. Read Rev. 20: 7-10.
2. The wrath of God will fall. Read Romans 1: 18.
3. The dead will be judged. Read Matthew 25: 31-32.
4. The godly will be rewarded, that is, the believers, the prophets, and those who fear God’s name. Read Luke 6:35 and Ephesians 6:8.
5. The destroyers of human life will have their own lives destroyed. Read Rev. 20: 11-15.
This is a strong warning to us all. We need to heed this warning or else be eternally doomed. Let’s break this warning down to make it plain and simple.
A. A person must not join those who rebel against God. It he rebels against God, then he must face God as a rebel who stands opposed to God and who fights against the kingdom of God.
B. The wrath of God is going to fall against all who rebel against God.
C. The dead will face God. All the dead, every single person who has lived or ever will live—all will stand face to face with God.
D. The godly will be rewarded. All who fear God’s name will be greatly rewarded.
E. The ungodly and evil will be destroyed. All who destroy human life—their own lives or the lives of others—shall be destroyed.
You can’t get much clearer than that. READ 19.
Scene 4: God’s temple will be opened. This is the picture of eternity. God will dwell with His own in His temple. His majesty will then be experienced.
There is a heavenly temple which the earthly temple and tabernacle were patterned after. The instructions for the earthly temple were given in the book of Exodus and carried out in the book of Leviticus. The heavenly temple is the master plan. It is the original set of plans.
This means something wonderful. It means that our earthly worship is patterned after the heavenly worship. But we can’t forget that the eternal, the new heavens and earth, will have no temple in them. Lehman Strauss states in more clearly:
“When the New Jerusalem comes down from Heaven, it is called ‘the holy city’ (Rev. 21:2) and John states expressly, ‘I saw no temple there” (21:22). When the scenes in chapter 21 are fulfilled there will be no need for a temple as a place of worship. It all were holy on earth now, there would be no need for a place of worship. Jesus said, ‘God is Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (Jn. 4:24). True worship is a matter of the heart.”
I will close tonight with one other interpretation of this passage. William Barclay states it this way:
“The Temple is opened, but there is more than that. The Ark of the Covenant is seen. Now the Ark of the Covenant was in the Holy of Holies, the inside of which no ordinary person had ever seen, and into which even the High Priest went only on the Day of Atonement. This vision involves the opening up of the Temple and even the opening up of the Holy of Holies. This can have only one meaning; it must mean that now the glory of God is going to be fully displayed. That which was secret is going to be revealed; that which no man has seen is going to be opened to the sight of men. The full glory of God is going to burst upon men.
Why the special reference to the Ark of the Covenant? This is to remind people of God’s special covenant with his own people. Originally that covenant had been with the people Israel; but the new covenant is the covenant in Jesus Christ with all of every nation who love and who believe in Jesus. This means that in the full display of God’s glory, in the destruction of God’s enemies, God will remember His covenant and God will be true to His own. Whatever the terror and whatever the destruction to come, God will not break the covenant that He made with His people and will not be false to His promises.
So this picture is a picture of the coming of the full glory of God, which is a terrifying threat to the enemies of God, but an uplifting promise to the people of God’s covenant.”
