The King Is Dead......long Live The King!

For the last week and a half, we have all been inundated through the T.V., newspapers, internet & idle chatter & gossip, of the sudden & tragic death of Michael Joseph Jackson, the King of Pop. When the news first broke on Thursday, June 25th at around 4:30 pm, all of the news media outlets were saying… “The Self-Proclaimed, King of Pop, Michael Jackson is dead!” Self proclaimed? Are you serious? Who else BUT Michael could sell over 750 million albums world wide?

Some of us can’t even pack a church for our choir’s anniversary? Who else but Michael Jackson could shut down & jam up the internet? Facebook was face down! Twitter had become bitter! Everyone everywhere was talking about it….DID YOU HEAR? DID YOU HEAR? DID YOU HEAR?

At first, I was caught up in the emotion of it all. I used to be a Michael Jackson junkie! Mike had issues just like me. Mike had drama…just like me. Mike had mess….just like me. Mike had all the fame, & fortune that some of us would love to have for 1 day….but all the money, all the fame, all the fortune, all the notoriety did not make him exempt from his appointment with death. I must tell you though, after the 1st 24 hours of the news coverage & empathizing with his kids…I was an am OVER it!

No man, especially in DEATH, should have THAT much power & air-time! Yeah, he was the King of Pop…but guess what! The KING IS DEAD!

Our text this morning is a very poignant reminder of Who the KING REALLY is! The Book of Revelation is the last book of the Bible. It IS the end of the story. It IS the end of ALL things. John the Beloved is told by God Himself to write these things….Don’t add to or take away or send for revision! Just simply…WRITE! Chapter 19 starts off with John over hearing Praise & Worship up in Heaven! He says,

1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia;

Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God.

(praise party…why)

2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did

corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her

hand.

(Rome, Jerusalem, Russia, USA – simply the evil modern society as a whole or the earth as we know it. Vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord. He WILL fight your battles & He WILL be victorious!

The Hebrew word Halleluya as an expression of praise to God as a superlative expression of thanksgiving, joy, and triumph. At the most literal, Alleluia means "All hail to Him Who is."

Anytime the Lord does something for us, we ought to be able to say Hallelujah!

So we get to verse 11…the apex of the whole bible! This is the part where you STOP eating your popcorn. This is the edge of your seat moment! This is the WILL YOU SHUT UP part of the story!

It says, 11 And I saw heaven opened…, now I understand David saying, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills… Now I understand the Angel when it spoke to John, Peter & James on the Mountain of Transfiguration. Why stand ye gazing up into the heavens….There are only about 2 other instances where HEAVEN just opened. The 1st time was when Jesus was baptized in Matthew 3:16 where it says And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him:

The other is in Acts 7:56 after Stephen has preached God’s Word and is about to be stoned. It says And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

11 And I saw heaven opened and behold a white horse (before it was on a donkey); and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, (what he personifies, adjectives, characteristics) and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. When he walked the earth as a man, Jesus was meek, humble, etc, but NOW he is not personifying any sacrificial lamb, now He is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, and he comes to judge and make war! The great whore has already been judged…now it’s time for the rest of the earth to receive their judgment! It is appointed for man to die..and after death, the judgment!

12 His eyes were as a flame of fire…He ain’t no punk, He’s coming back to set it off!...... and on his head were many crowns;