Have you ever wondered what it would be like to know the outcome of any decision you were about to make? How would your life be different if you could know the result of a decision before making it? In the trilogy “Back to the Future” this is the idea that these movies experiment with. The main character played by Michael J. Fox is Marty McFly. With the help of his scientist friend, Dr. Emmit Brown, and his time machine, Marty is able to go back in time to change decisions that he and others in his family make so that their future experiences are improved. In this scene from the third movie in the trilogy Marty, through a series of bad experiences, finally learns not to impetuously give in to jerks who challenge his courage by daring him to do dumb things, especially after calling him a “chicken”. {Back to the Future clip}
In Marty’s former reality, before he went back in time to change his future, he did race. And he did collide with the car. And that traffic accident changed the course of his life, but, by learning from his past mistake, he makes a better decision and changes his future for the better.
Wouldn’t it be great to have this ability? I know of some decisions I’ve made that I regret; for example; I’d like a do over on that 1967 Chevy Nova I talked about a couple weeks ago.
As I was reading through Revelation this week it came to me that there is one outcome that we do know for sure. We know that at some point every one will die. Every human being dies. We may not know when, or where, but we can be certain that our final breath will come. So there is one decision I can make and that I’m confident in what the result will be. I have the choice to make a decision to be a follower of Jesus. And I’m confident that as I daily make that decision to follow Jesus, to lay down my selfishness and live out his priorities, I will, at a time of His choosing, live with Him at His place. This is the central theme to the book of Revelation. It’s not an easy thing to talk about. Those who choose to live with Jesus on earth, will live with Jesus in heaven, and those who don’t live with Jesus on earth will suffer in hell.
For me the reason this is difficult to talk about, or even to accept as truth, is because many people I know, love and care deeply for, are making the choice to deny a life with Jesus. Some of these folks are religious. They even attend church sometimes, but, they don’t want the life of a follower. They’re happy with a few liturgical sentiments a couple of times a month, maybe throwing a few dollars at the offering plate, but, they just don’t want the every day life with Jesus. I’ve come to the conclusion from studying and reading the words of Jesus, that he doesn’t find a difference in the person who doesn’t believe in him at all and the person who says they do, but, doesn’t live it.
I’m not going to get into a lot of the theology of Revelation this morning, because there are so many different ways to interpret this book. We don’t have time in 20 minutes or so to discuss all the scenes, images or characters and discuss their meaning, although, I would have fun doing so. So let’s just focus on what is the most important teaching in the Bible, not just what we can learn in Revelation, but, really the whole theme of the Bible in general. For just a few minutes let’s take a look at why we celebrate Christmas, Easter, and come together as a church every Sunday.
There’s really only one reason, and Paul calls it the most important truth in the Bible.
1 Corinthians 15:1-3; 17-20 “Let me now remind you, dear brothers and sisters, of the Good News I preached to you before. You welcomed it then, and you still stand firm in it. It is this Good News that saves you if you continue to believe the message I told you—unless, of course, you believed something that was never true in the first place.I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said…if Christ has not been raised, then your faith is useless and you are still guilty of your sins. In that case, all who have died believing in Christ are lost! And if our hope in Christ is only for this life, we are more to be pitied than anyone in the world. But in fact, Christ has been raised from the dead. He is the first of a great harvest of all who have died.”
The most important truth in the world is that Christ died for our sins and was raised from the dead by the power of God. There is no other truth more important, more vital, more necessary for the world than this one. Paul teaches that if our hope in Jesus is not grounded in facts, if it’s not real, then we are pitiful for believing. But for those of us who know this as fact and place our faith and hope in this real event that took place on earth more than 2000 years ago, we should feel a strong sense of urgency to share this truth with others. I believe that the significant difference between those who really follow Jesus and his teaching and those who simply say they do, is the urgency or lack thereof, in the heart. A genuine follower of Jesus hurts and aches for those who deny him because they know the terrible, horrific result that will come.
Recently there has been a lot of talk about the Mayan Calendar. Even the U.S. Government and NASA have been in the news discussing it. Apparently scientists don’t believe the end of the world will come on December 21, 2012. I found this blurb on the U.S. Government’s blog, “False rumors about the end of the world in 2012 have been commonplace on the Internet for some time. Many of these rumors involve the Mayan calendar ending in 2012 (it won’t), a comet causing catastrophic effects (definitely not), a hidden planet sneaking up and colliding with us (no and no), and many others. The world will not end on December 21, 2012, or any day in 2012. Unfortunately, these rumors have many people frightened, especially children. NASA has received thousands of letters concerned about the end of the world. David Morrison, a planetary astronomer and senior scientist for NASA who answers questions from the public about astrobiology, says, “At least a once a week I get a message from a young person ― as young as 11 ― who says they are ill and/or contemplating suicide because of the coming doomsday.”
Well, no matter what the scientists say, the truth is, we don’t know. Maybe the end of the world is today, or tomorrow, or 50 years from now. Here’s what Jesus said about it, “However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows. When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.” Matthew 24:36-39
What we do know for sure is that Jesus is coming again to claim the faithful followers who are both alive at the time he comes and those who have died. That event will take place. But just like we don’t know when or where we will die, we don’t know the time Jesus will return. We can be sure of one outcome. Jesus is returning to claim his faithful, genuine followers.
Celebrating this truth is what Christmas, Easter and every Sunday is about for us. We celebrate Christmas because we want to give honor to the birth of the king of Kings for the life, example, and ultimate sacrifice he made for us. We celebrate Easter because on a Sunday, Jesus walked out of a tomb victorious over death, and made it possible for his followers to claim victory over death, too. And every Sunday as we celebrate our risen Savior, our King, Messiah, Lord, Master, Teacher, and Friend, we recognize his place of honor and authority in our lives and we worship him.
This is what Revelation is all about. To a group of Jesus followers who were actively being hunted down by governments and individuals this simple truth of victory over death gave them the courage and the hope to keep their faith. Revelation is a book that is difficult for us to wrap our minds around because it’s loaded with figurative language. We understand the Bible in literal and figurative terms. Often people disagree with what is literal and what is figurative, but, I don’t think it should be too difficult for us to determine. One of my professors in college, Dr. Stafford North, likes to illustrate it this way, he says, “if I tell you I’m freezing to death, do you call the ambulance? Or if I say, I’m burning up, do you call the fire department?” We seem to understand what is literal and figurative in our conversations with each other because it’s how humans communicate. We’ve always communicated in figurative and literal ways. The Bible is no different.
Revelation is a book loaded with figurative symbols, numbers, events and characters that some interpret in a literal way, and this has caused much confusion over the centuries. And will always cause confusion to some regard because people will probably never agree on what is figurative and what is literal. I have my opinions, you may have yours, or more than likely you don’t care really because you haven’t given it much thought. Again, my purpose this morning is not to get into a theology discussion on the book, but, to understand the most important truth.
Let’s take a look at Revelation 20:11-15, “ And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Wow, what a scene. Daniel saw visions like this too and he recorded what he saw in his book in the Old Testament. These visions of John and Daniel are fantastic scenes with fire, blood, angels, demons, ethereal creatures, and much more. I want to take this short passage in Revelation and show you how I walk through it. I want to discuss the most important truth, allowing the Bible to interpret itself.
The first question I ask is who would be the one sitting on the great white throne and from whom all of earth and sky have no place to hide? Psalm 139:1-3;7-10, O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do…You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord. I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave,you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.”
This kind of sounds like another guy we talk a lot about this time of year. He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake, he knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness sake. O, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout I’m telling you why, Santa Claus is coming to town. But really the truth is that Jesus Christ is the one to whom this honor and praise is due. As wonderful a character as Santa is, he’s not Jesus. Jesus is coming to town and he’s bringing the gift of eternal life to those who choose to genuinely follow him. Jesus said, “I have been given all authority in heaven and on earth” So we can discern from the Bible that Jesus is the one on the throne in John’s vision.
Then John sees in his vision all the dead standing before God’s throne, and the dead are being judged according to what they’ve done. John sees some books and one in particular called the “book of life.” He witnessed that those whose names appeared in the book of life were saved and those who weren’t were thrown into a lake of fire.
Does this “book of life” appear anywhere else in the Bible? In one of Daniels visions he sees something similar, “a river of fire was pouring out, flowing from his presence. Millions of angels ministered to him; many millions stood to attend him. Then the court began its session, and the books were opened.” In Luke 10 Jesus told seventy of his followers, “But don’t rejoice because evil spirits obey you; rejoice because your names are registered in heaven.” And Paul refers to this book in Philippians 4:3, “And I ask you, my true partner,to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life.”
So there’s something to this book of life. How do you know if your name is written there? Is your name registered in heaven? Your answer to this question is of eternal significance. Does it matter if there is a literal book or not? What matters, ultimately, is whether or not your name, your life, is registered with Jesus.
1 John 5:11-13; 18-20, “ And this is what God has testified: He has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have God’s Son does not have life. I have written this to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know you have eternal life…We know that God’s children do not make a practice of sinning, for God’s Son holds them securely, and the evil one cannot touch them. We know that we are children of God and that the world around us is under the control of the evil one. And we know that the Son of God has come, and he has given us understanding so that we can know the true God.And now we live in fellowship with the true God because we live in fellowship with his Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only true God, and he is eternal life.”
The Bible really isn’t that hard to understand. God wants us to have life. Death is God’s enemy. Jesus defeated death by raising himself from the dead through God’s power. For those who believe in this truth and live the servant example and priorities of Jesus on earth these folks are saved from God’s enemy.
During the Christmas season and through every season of your life this most important truth must be revealed every day through the way you live. Jesus Christ defeated death and has provided a way for anyone who wants to be saved to escape eternal punishment. Our sins have condemned us, so God’s grace through Jesus has saved us.
Brian Jones writes in his book Hell is Real But I Hate To Admit It, “One of the most frightening passages in the Bible is 1 Timothy 4:16: ‘Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.’ What scares me about the verse is the implication: We can be responsible for other people going to hell by how we live and by what we teach…what’s not as readily understood or obeyed among Christians is the ‘what we teach’ part….as John Mott wrote, ‘the greatest hindrances to the evangelization of the world are those within the church’. If you rob a Christian of apocalyptic urgency, you lose every single non-Christian that person could have reached in his or her lifetime. Instead of becoming a Christian who multiplies thirty, sixty or a hundred times, like Jesus talked about in the parable of the sower, this person will become a believer whose influence is metaphorically buried in the ground.”
There are a lot of folks who are concerned about the end of the world. The Mayan thing is all over the internet, but, people have always prognosticated about it. None of this talk, even if it’s about the rapture or Jesus setting up shop in Israel for a 1000 years is really interesting to me. Only one truth is important to me. Jesus Christ defeated death and provided me with a way to defeat death too. But I can only conquer death through Jesus. At some point in my life, whether I’m still alive or dead, I’m going to face Jesus. My name is in the book of life. My life is registered in heaven. I’ve given my flawed and imperfect life to the authority of Jesus Christ. My question this morning is, have you?
Colossians 2:12, “For you were buried with Christ when you were baptized. And with him you were raised to new life because you trusted the mighty power of God, who raised Christ from the dead.”
I hope and pray you give your life to Jesus today. Hell is real, and Heaven is real. The one decision you can make that you can be certain of the result, is whether you decide to give your life to Jesus or not; it’s either heaven, or hell. Your eternal future depends on your answer today.
