The Real End Of The World Series

The Real End of the World

(Revelation 20-22)

1. How good of an imagination do you have? How good is your long-term memory – do you remember details and what your life was like many years ago? How creative of a person are you? Are you able to trust God or do you fall apart in unusual circumstances?

2. The answer to these questions might be all the same way, positive or negative. Ramez Sasson writes, “Imagination is the ability to form a mental image of something that is not perceived through the senses. It is the ability of the mind to build mental scenes, objects or events that do not exist, are not present or have happened in the past.

“Memory is actually a manifestation of imagination. Everyone possesses some imagination ability. In some it may be highly developed and in others it may manifest in a weaker form...

“Imagination makes it possible to experience a whole world inside the mind. It gives the ability to look at any situation from a different point of view, and enables one to mentally explore the past and the future.”

3. I believe we develop the attribute of hope by focusing on our futures in heaven, the resurrection of our body, the Millennium, and in the New Jerusalem. To develop that hope, we must exercise imagination. No imagination, little interest in future details.

4. In Hebrews 11:27, the author is speaking of Moses: “By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible.”

5. How do you see the invisible? With your imagination. And that ability to imagine is a factor of faith and especially hope, which often accompanies endurance.

6. Prophecy exercises our imagination and creativity. This, in turn, increases our ability to develop hope. Hope matters and it breeds endurance, therefore it does our soul good to imagine the millennium, and today, the new heaven and earth. Today, we are going to consider the end of the world and our eternal dwelling place, the New Jerusalem.

Main Idea: The destruction of this present world will take place after the thousand year reign of Christ. Let’s preview the events that bring our new home to earth!

I. The Final REBELLION (Revelation 20:7-10)

A. Satan LOOSED

1. He does not make a prison break

2. God has him released to make the point: people are eager to rebel

3. They are deceived because they have gone along with truth, not loved it

B. Gog and MAGOG rebel

According to a widespread tradition, God and Magog represented the heathen nations or aggregate powers of evil, as opposed to Israel, the Kingdom of God…Ezekiel… pictured the final destruction of the heathen world before the city of Jerusalem…” [editor’s notes from the Socino Talmud]

• Does any of this strike you as insane?

• The relationship between insanity and evil is a close one

• Add ego/pride/arrogance/control into the mixture

C. Consumed by FIRE

D. Lesson: MANKIND rebels against God by nature

II. The Great WHITE THRONE Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15)

A. For UNBELIEVERS only

(show photo 1, white throne)

B. Cast into LAKE of fire

(show photo 2, lake of fire)

The typical Jewish belief was that hell lasted one year, except for the really bad

Perhaps the Roman Catholic belief in purgatory developed from this…

C. Lesson: Hell is real, all WORKS reviewed

1. Rob Bell and others might have a hard time with this, but hell is eternal

2. We do not have to like what we believe, but we must interpret fairly/objectively

3. We can either believe what the Bible teaches or what we want to believe

III. The New HEAVEN and Earth(Revelation 21:1-22:5)

What keeps you from being excited about heaven? Do you view it as boring, strumming a harp for eternity? Or a constant church service? First, seeing God will be amazing. He is more amazing than the sum total of his creation. Yes, we will worship God, but we will do more. Yes, we will be at peace. But we will be engaged. New heavens and new earth will be there for we creatures to explore, enjoy, and marvel.

A. DESTRUCTION of current heaven and earth (1-3)

1. Contrasts

1:1 - heavens & earth created 21:1 - New heavens & earth

1:16 - Sun created 21:23 - No need for the sun

1:5 - Night established 22:5 - No night there

1:10 - The seas created 21:1 - No more seas [exiled on Patmos!]

3:14-17 - The curse announced 22:3 - No more curse

[satan, serpent, soil]

3:19 - Death enters history 21:4 - No more death

3:24 - Man driven from paradise 22:14 - Man restored to paradise

3:17 - Sorrow & pain began 21:4 - No more tears or pain