Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I know some of you are going to be shocked by this, but I'm not much of a musical guy.
I know that's shocking. I can appreciate the beauty of song and music and theater and those kind of things, but it's just not my style.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: For one, it just doesn't feel realistic.
[00:00:23] Speaker A: This is not the way life works.
You don't go to the grocery store and see folks singing over their carrots.
[00:00:34] Speaker B: But another reason I don't like it is it always seems to be in a musical.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: And it's true that the song and
[00:00:43] Speaker B: music always interrupts the story.
[00:00:47] Speaker A: You kind of get enthralled in the
[00:00:49] Speaker B: story, and then all of a sudden
[00:00:51] Speaker A: somebody is bursting out in song over
[00:00:54] Speaker B: things that don't even seem significant.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: And if it's animation or a puppet doing this, it has always bothered me.
I remember as a kid thinking, okay, Kermit, let's. Let's move along with the story.
Let's get back to what's going to happen next.
But the Bible teaches us that this sort of rejection of song amidst reality is unbiblical.
The Bible teaches us that our lives should often be interrupted by song, specifically worship. So the Book of Psalms teaches us
[00:01:34] Speaker B: how to worship in the throes of life with the people of God.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: And what we've seen in Revelation so
[00:01:42] Speaker B: far is as there are different moves
[00:01:47] Speaker A: in the story of Christ's reign, this vision that John is receiving about what is to come.
[00:01:54] Speaker B: This story, as we move along, heaven thunders in and interrupts the story over and over in song and worship.
And it is heaven looking down upon earth and telling us how to think and feel about what we are experiencing in our reality.
And we are to see into the throne room of heaven. Heaven's response to Jesus rule on earth. In chapter four, we've seen the worship of God before. We've entered into the unfolding of God's plan and the opening of the scroll where there was this interruption in the book where we were taken into heaven, and there is worship going on there, as God is the one who is ruling from the throne. There was worship in chapter five, as we've seen the Lamb who has been raised from the dead, ruling and reigning and executing this time in human history. In chapter seven, we see the interruption of a song that declares the Lord is with his people, protecting them.
And when we get to chapter 11,
[00:03:06] Speaker A: we see another interruption of song as we see God's commitment to justice. Heaven breaks out in song to declare God's justice that is coming to the earth.
And so we see first of all in our passage today that heaven's song
[00:03:25] Speaker B: declares the rule of Christ. And it is good for us to
[00:03:30] Speaker A: hear this in the throes of our life.
[00:03:33] Speaker B: But notice first verse 14, the second woe has passed. And behold, the third woe is to come and remember. This is a part of John's vision as Jesus is showing him all that is unfolding in this revelation. And we've gone through the seals which take us through the last days up until Christ come. And we're in the midst of a another cycle. The six trumpets so far have unfolded what is going to happen right up until Jesus comes again.
And in the six trumpets we've seen what are called woes or warnings of damnation upon the earth.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: And when we got to the fifth trumpet, there was the woe of these locust demons that are going to overwhelm the earth. And we talked about demonic oppression that
[00:04:31] Speaker B: is going to take place.
We talked about at the sixth trumpet even an army of demons. And some of us take that literally, some of us take that symbolically that there is going to be war unleashed on the world. These are the first two woes that
[00:04:48] Speaker A: are come along with the trumpets, these warnings.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: And here as the seventh trumpet is unleashed, we see the third and final woe. Remember in chapter 10, the break between the second woe and now this third woe was kind of an interlude. And it reminds us as all this judgment is unfolding, God has been protecting his people, and he will continue to protect his people people. He will continue to protect the church through times of persecution, through times of tribulation, right up to the final resurrection, right up to the final end move of his kingdom.
[00:05:31] Speaker A: But what happens after his kingdom moves upon the earth? We see that in the seventh trumpet and we see this woe of justice that is coming with Christ.
Notice verse 15.
[00:05:45] Speaker B: Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet. Now remember, as we've talked about in Revelation, angels and trumpets signify announcements, specifically the announcement of a king. The trumpet blares, the messenger comes out, the king has arrived.
[00:06:06] Speaker A: And so this goes on in John's vision.
[00:06:08] Speaker B: And this takes us as the Lord Jesus comes. There is a trumpet that blows. And notice there were loud voices in heaven. And so as this final trumpet blows, the last stage is upon us. Heaven breaks out, declaring, announcing the creatures, the people in heaven, they are announcing this final act of God saying this notice verse 15.
The kingdom of the world has become
[00:06:43] Speaker A: the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.
[00:06:48] Speaker B: The word kingdom just simply means sphere or rule. Of authority. It is where someone asserts their authority. It is where someone asserts their power.
But notice we see the kingdom of the world.
So who is asserting their power in the world, upon the world in this sphere?
Who rules?
Well, for the believers who are reading this letter, they would immediately thought of Rome.
Rome was said to have ruled the
[00:07:20] Speaker A: world at this time.
[00:07:22] Speaker B: They are the ones who have charge. They are the ones who have authority.
But Rome was only mimicking the rule of Satan who invaded the world from the beginning. Satan hates God.
And Satan invaded this place that God created with his word and ordered by his word. And what did Satan do from the very beginning as he hates God and he seeks to destroy God's kingdom that he had established on the in the world by his Word. He questions the Word of God. He attacks the Word of God. He lies about the Word of God and he seeks to destroy anyone who believes God's word. And that's exactly what Rome was doing for these believers as they those who are hearing this letter, they would have thought of Rome who hates the word of God, hates them for aligning with Christ, hates them for preaching the word of God. But we are to see this and understand there is a Rome behind the
[00:08:36] Speaker A: Rome, the rule of Satan.
Later we will see the beast and Antichrist who align with Satan.
[00:08:46] Speaker B: But they are those who rule in hatred of God's word and oppose God's word. This is the king kingdom of the world. But notice it has become the kingdom of our Lord. So this place that Satan in this moment, the scriptures even tell us, is the God of this age.
God has allowed him to have temporary power right now.
[00:09:13] Speaker A: Now we've talked about in Revelation, this
[00:09:15] Speaker B: is a form of judgment and warning. As you see the destruction of the evil one, it is to wake us up and we are to look to Christ as king.
But we see here this kingdom of this world. Eventually where Satan is ruling now will become the kingdom of our Lord.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: Now we go back to chapter four.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: The Lord God Almighty, who is ruling from the throne. We might say this is God the Father.
The world will become his through His Word that will be established. How will his Word be established? Notice the verse continues and of his Christ.
This is the way in which God will assert his rule again in the world. It will be through Christ.
Adam failed. Adam aligned with Satan. Hearing the word of Satan is instead of believing the word of God, he aligned himself with Satan's kingdom in the garden. But there is a day where another king will come.
Jesus, who will assert this rule in the world. Again, notice Christ.
[00:10:30] Speaker A: This word means Messiah, anointed one.
We could summarize it and say the one anointed to save or the king who saves.
Now, what's interesting is in Revelation, Jesus is called the Christ seven times.
Now, what does that tell us?
[00:10:50] Speaker B: Well, seven is the number of perfection.
[00:10:52] Speaker A: We've talked about this. He is the perfect king.
[00:10:55] Speaker B: He is the perfect Messiah who will come and establish God's rule, take over this sphere, that. That those who oppose the word of God in Satan are ruling. Now Jesus will come and reassert the rule of God through the Word of God again. Jesus will save us from this world that has been destroyed by Satan's rule.
[00:11:18] Speaker A: And he will save us from all
[00:11:20] Speaker B: of those who hate the Word of
[00:11:21] Speaker A: God and thus hate us.
We've seen Jesus's power to do this in his first coming.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: We've seen a window into what this
[00:11:30] Speaker A: will look like when Jesus comes again and rules and reigns. When Jesus first came, when, what did Jesus say about himself in its flesh and blood, the kingdom of God is at hand.
This kingdom that is coming is at hand in my person.
[00:11:48] Speaker B: And how did he show us what that looks like or what that is? He spoke.
He spoke to demons and cast out demons.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: What does that get us? Give us a picture of when he
[00:12:00] Speaker B: comes to rule on the world again and establish his authority through the Word of God. When he speaks again, the world will
[00:12:08] Speaker A: become a place with no demons, specifically, a place with no Satan who rules and opposes the Word of God.
[00:12:16] Speaker B: Jesus spoke and controlled nature.
He gave us a window into what it will look like as this king who rules by the power of his Word and establishes order in the natural world. Again, we've talked about in Revelation how there are famines, there are earthquakes, there are all of this natural disaster that's a part of the world in which we live now. And it is to remind us of the curse of sin. And it is to warn us to look to the only king who by His Word will control nature again and harness it with his rule.
[00:12:55] Speaker A: It will be a place of no natural destruction. The kingdom that is coming, ruled by
[00:13:00] Speaker B: Christ Jesus spoke to corpse Lazarus come forth.
By the power of His Word, he
[00:13:12] Speaker A: will raise the dead and he will
[00:13:15] Speaker B: rule in a kingdom where there will be no death.
What we are to see in this phrase, the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, is a kingdom without sin, without death, and all that that comes from that. Jesus spoke to people who were racked with sickness and disease, and they got up and walked. They. They began to See again why he's giving us a window into what it will be like when the kingdom of
[00:13:50] Speaker A: Christ comes to earth and he's spe
[00:13:52] Speaker B: peaks and the effects of sin and death will disappear as he asserts his rule. He will establish the Word of God contrary to those who hate the Word of God, and he will cast them out. And by His Word he will establish order again.
[00:14:11] Speaker A: And so here's a point for us.
If our greatest eternal good
[00:14:18] Speaker B: is achieved when everything is aligned by the Word
[00:14:21] Speaker A: of God, as we look to the kingdom that's coming, and we look to
[00:14:25] Speaker B: the King who, who is also called the Word in flesh because it will be the Word of God that establishes authority in the world again. And we say on that day, when he establishes his rule and his authority by His Word, that will be my greatest good. If we believe that about Christ and His Word, our eternal good is achieved by the Word of God, then we
[00:14:52] Speaker A: must believe that our immediate good is achieved by the Word of God.
[00:14:56] Speaker B: And if we believe that there is a day coming where everything will be in line with the Word of God and that's good and that's glorious and there's life and there's goodness coming through the Word of God, then we align
[00:15:06] Speaker A: our lives now according to the Word of God.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: If we believe this is our greatest hope, our immediate good is achieved by aligning to God's Word no matter what.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: No matter what it costs you.
We should say the Word of God brings my greatest hope.
[00:15:25] Speaker B: And every day, get up, no matter
[00:15:28] Speaker A: what it costs you. Maybe it cost you sleep. You say, I'm going to get before
[00:15:32] Speaker B: the Word of God, this Word that's
[00:15:33] Speaker A: going to rule forever when the Kingdom of Christ comes. And I'm going to get before the
[00:15:38] Speaker B: Word of God and I'm going to
[00:15:39] Speaker A: let him harness my heart the way he will harness the planet.
[00:15:44] Speaker B: I need to be before the Word of God.
And what I'm going to do when I hear the Word of God is I'm not going to make excuses or reasons. I'm going to confess sin and I'm
[00:15:54] Speaker A: going to obey the Word of God,
[00:15:57] Speaker B: just like the world will obey His Word. Just like in heaven, we will obey His Word. I'm going to obey His Word now because I know that is my greatest good. So when he calls me to love others, I. I'm not going to question. I'm going to love others.
When he calls me to forgive, I'm going to forgive. Because my greatest good is to be aligned with His Word.
[00:16:24] Speaker A: When I see his promises And I
[00:16:26] Speaker B: see the hope that is coming in this kingdom.
I'm going to pray.
No matter what it costs me, I'm going to pray. I'm going to figure out because I trust the kingdom coming, and because I trust the kingdom coming, the Word of God calls me to pray and not worry. So whatever it costs me, I'm going to pray. I'm going to align my life at all times with this Word of God, because this is what heaven will be like. We will all be in line with the Word of God and it will
[00:16:57] Speaker A: be our greatest joy and good. So I'm going to do that now.
But next we see heaven declares the reward of the kingdom. Notice as this declaration breaks out throughout heaven.
[00:17:10] Speaker B: Now remember, even at this point in the story, John is on earth and the visions he's seen so far are on earth. And so what has happened on earth? Heaven is responding to it. They're declaring something.
And he sees into heaven here, that not just the voices of heaven declaring the goodness of the kingdom coming, but verse six, he sees around the throne of God again.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: Remember the 24 elders there we talked
[00:17:41] Speaker B: about earlier in Revelation? This is the highest order of angels that represent the saints before the throne of God.
Notice who sat on their thrones before God. The presence of God in heaven is set apart between these creatures or amongst these creatures, the holiness of God. No one treads lightly into God's presence before his throne. They protect the throne. They represent the people of God before the throne. These massive holy creatures. Notice what they do.
[00:18:17] Speaker A: They face plant.
They fell on their face and they worshiped God.
[00:18:24] Speaker B: Powerful, majestic. I mean, they live in heaven before the throne of God.
That's how pure they are.
And they hear the gospel that the kingdom of Christ has come to earth
[00:18:41] Speaker A: and they can't help but worship the God who has made it happen.
[00:18:46] Speaker B: They fall on their face and say, you are worthy. Remember we talked about the idea of worship means to attribute worth. And it also means to say you are worth more. You hold all the worth of all the people in the world, in the universe, in the galaxies, in the cosmos.
Any created being, the God who has created them all, is worthy of all authority. And they've seen his authority unveiled on the earth as the kingdom of Christ
[00:19:19] Speaker A: has come once and for all in this vision that John sees of the future.
But notice verse 17, they fall on their face and then they declare, we give thanks to you, we praise you.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: They see the glory of God that has moved on the earth. Now think about where they live in heaven, where Everything is ruled by Christ, where everything is in order, where they are pure before God, but still they praise God for what he's doing on the planet. We praise you. Your glory is revealed in this way according to plan.
[00:20:00] Speaker A: Notice.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: Lord God Almighty. Now this is packed with sovereign rule and authority. He has. God has all power and has executed this plan. Notice it says who is and was.
[00:20:15] Speaker A: This refers to he's ruling now, but
[00:20:19] Speaker B: he has also ruled for eternity. This refers to the eternality of God. God has always existed.
Now, in three other places in Revelation
[00:20:29] Speaker A: that phrase is used who was and is.
And then what have we heard in the other three locations?
Who was and is and is to come. It's not used here. Why he's come.
He's begun his rule. This points to the time when Jesus
[00:20:51] Speaker B: has come on the earth. And notice for you have taken your great power and have begun to reign. Now what we should see here is they are praising God the Father who rules on the throne. And they are saying to God the Father, you are all powerful and you've always existed. But now from eternity past in the present, you have begun to rule on the earth. You've always ruled.
Now you're ruling on the earth.
[00:21:19] Speaker A: And they praise him for this in
[00:21:21] Speaker B: this consummated way that the kingdom of God has come. And notice we've seen here through the Lord and his Christ.
This is how God's rule on the planet will end.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Break in Christ.
[00:21:36] Speaker B: He will come and he will rule and he will reign literally on the planet. And the angels in heaven will will
[00:21:43] Speaker A: rejoice when they see it, when the rule begins. But notice what it means for the kings of the earth. Justice.
Kings will be judged when he comes and rules. Verse 18.
They declare the nation's rage. We heard from Psalm 2, the scripture.
Nations here, they rage. They're represented by their kings who we we see in Revelation, the emperors and
[00:22:07] Speaker B: kings of the world who oppose the Christ.
[00:22:10] Speaker A: But as we saw in Psalm 2, what happens when the nations rage against Christ?
God sits in heaven and he laughs because it is a futile thing to war against Christ.
But the nations and their rulers have raged against Christ and we've seen this work out as they've killed and mocked the church.
[00:22:33] Speaker B: Remember the two witnesses from last week.
The Rome will be, we will see later, governed by the beast and antichrist and so many other rulers and governments who oppose Christ and oppose his people. They rage. But notice your wrath came and the time for the dead to be judged. God will vindicate the name of his Christ and He will vindicate his people
[00:23:00] Speaker A: who stand for his word.
Every evil, tyrant, abuser will be set straight by the justice and notice, wrath of God, eventually, lake of fire, hell, forever judged by God.
You see, there's so many injustices that we see in the world.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: We see the tyranny, we see the
[00:23:25] Speaker A: abuse, and it breaks our heart and it angers us to some degree.
[00:23:30] Speaker B: But you realize there are millions and
[00:23:32] Speaker A: millions of injustices that we don't see.
[00:23:36] Speaker B: There are injustices even among rulers and
[00:23:39] Speaker A: kings and governments that we're not privy to, that are hidden.
But on the day Jesus comes, he will pull back the curtain and every evil force who has raged against Christ and his church will be judged against forever. It means justice when he comes for those who oppose him.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: But for the saints, it means reward.
[00:24:03] Speaker A: Notice the time of judgment has come,
[00:24:05] Speaker B: but the time for rewarding your servants has come.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: And notice the category of servants here,
[00:24:12] Speaker B: the prophets and the saints and those who fear your name. This just sort of summarizes those who are aligned with the Word of Christ, aligned with the kingdom, aligned with the Messiah, those who believe in Christ and the prophets, who proclaim the word of God and the saints, referring to the church, the Church that is set apart by the Word of God, and those who fear your name, those who realize you are a coming king and you will rule and you will reign forever. And as John said, when he saw Jesus, he fell before his feet as dead. Those who realize that you are king, and those who see you for who you are and tremble, tremble before the cry. This is how we have a right understanding of who Jesus is and relate to him accurately.
He is king who will rule and reign forever. And if you oppose him, you will be wiped out and destroyed and punished forever. And when we realize that, what do we do? We tremble.
Even those who are safe and secure in him and his protection.
If you don't read Revelation and you see the things that Jesus will do with this sword dripping with blood, riding on a white horse, destroying all who oppose him, so that the birds of the air begin to come down and eat their flesh, and you don't tremble,
[00:25:53] Speaker A: then you don't understand what's coming.
Then you don't understand even who your king is, who you claim to be your king.
[00:26:01] Speaker B: But those who tremble before him, rightly understanding they will be rewarded.
And notice, he says both great and small are small and great. The point here is there will be no partiality but among the saints, whether you are powerful, whether you are weak, whatever your role here on earth, Is you will all. We will all be rewarded. And what is our reward?
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Now, I am not necessarily changing my theology on rewards in heaven, but the more I study Revelation, I'm beginning to
[00:26:36] Speaker B: see that there, that what we do
[00:26:38] Speaker A: here matters when we stand before Christ.
[00:26:43] Speaker B: And I do think it will affect
[00:26:45] Speaker A: when we stand before Christ.
[00:26:48] Speaker B: But the ultimate reward for everyone who
[00:26:50] Speaker A: is in Christ is the kingdom. That's what he's talking about here.
[00:26:56] Speaker B: Those who oppose Christ will be judged by the kingdom. Those who align with Christ will be given the kingdom. So whatever else we are rewarded with, the ultimate reward is we will be in the kingdom if we are in Christ. This is our inheritance in Christ. This is what we've already read in revelation, Revelation chapter 3. They shall reign on the earth, those
[00:27:18] Speaker A: who conquer and continue to cling to the Gospel of Christ.
[00:27:22] Speaker B: In Daniel 7, verse 27, we see that the kingdoms under the whole heaven, meaning the kingdoms of the earth, will be given to the peoples of the saints of the Most High.
God will give his earthly kingdom to his saints. That will be our reward.
[00:27:42] Speaker A: But notice next, Satan will be destroyed.
Notice the time of judgment, time of reward, and then for destroying the destroyers of the earth. Now in Revelation, earth dwellers are those who oppose Christ.
But we see here also this allusion to Satan who brought sin and death to earth.
As we see the fall of Adam, sin invades the earth, but then the curse of death is upon the earth. And so what does that mean? The earth has been destroyed.
[00:28:21] Speaker B: Satan and all those who follow him
[00:28:24] Speaker A: are the destroyers of the earth and they will be destroyed.
[00:28:30] Speaker B: Those who hate the word of God.
[00:28:32] Speaker A: Satan comes in and says, God created
[00:28:34] Speaker B: this beautiful good place, full of life with his Word.
[00:28:37] Speaker A: I'm offering you a better kingdom.
Oppose his word and it's sin and led to death and destruction. And here all who follow him will be destroyed.
In numbers we see that the world, the earth is polluted with blood and violence. Imagery is used there. That the world, the earth has become unclean as the blood of men have been shed on the earth. And this comes because Satan has destroyed the earth with sin and death.
There will come a day where Jesus will enact justice.
He will give the kingdom to his saints and he will destroy Satan forever. And he will cast away all who oppose his word forever and all who oppress his church.
This morning I was reading emails and post from church planners and missionaries in Iran.
Can you imagine being a believer there today and going to church today?
In many of their minds they've spent their whole life, some of them Going to worship in fear, scared because of tyrants and oppressors who hated them ultimately because they aligned with Christ in the gospel in the church is what I'm referring to.
And there were posts today from believers all over Iran saying how great it was going to be to go to church today.
Many of them still have to go
[00:30:18] Speaker B: to church in secret, but there is almost a release.
[00:30:24] Speaker A: The one who was out to destroy us, oppressed us.
Those who were against us are gone and they're no more. And they worship freely in some sense today.
And even as we talk about that, we know that there, it's not perfect,
[00:30:41] Speaker B: it's not what it should be.
[00:30:45] Speaker A: It's only a glimpse of what it will be.
[00:30:48] Speaker B: Because the reality is there is coming a day where Jesus will literally grab the planet and shake it and all who are against him will be cast out.
And he will give that kingdom to his people.
Can you imagine on that day waking up and worshiping without your own sin, without the death that's in your own heart, without anyone seeking to stop you or distract you, without Satan himself hindering your worship? There will be a celebration, and heaven mimics that celebration here, that day of
[00:31:29] Speaker A: justice that will come when the destroying, those who destroy the earth are destroyed. But finally we see heaven declare the coming presence of God.
So we've seen the Christ will come and he will rule with his word. And that will mean justice for those who oppose him. That will be the reward for those who follow him.
And then notice what happens in verse 19, John sees God's temple in heaven was opened.
Now the temple was designed very restrictive.
[00:32:01] Speaker B: Only certain people were in the outer courts, in the inner courts.
[00:32:05] Speaker A: And then you had the Holy of
[00:32:06] Speaker B: Holies, and then you had behind the veil.
But here there is a picture as Jesus comes to earth, begins to rule and reign, that this place of restriction is thrown wide open.
It is opened.
And notice, the Ark of the Covenant
[00:32:26] Speaker A: was seen within his temple. Now it's some sort of a mystery even now where the Ark of the Covenant is, is it's hidden. But I think this is even referring symbolically to the fact that the place of worship will be ultimately opened up in the presence of God will welcome us in to worship the earthly temple or tabernacle held in the holy of holies, the innermost area, the Ark of the Covenant mentioned here.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: And it was a box.
[00:33:00] Speaker A: And in that box were the Ten Commandments.
[00:33:03] Speaker B: And that represented God's covenant commitment to his people in his innermost presence, where God's presence was in the Innermost, the Ten Commandments were there, this ark of the covenant. And it represented his covenant with his people.
[00:33:20] Speaker A: But on top of the ark of his covenant was what was called the mercy seat.
And you know what was there on the mercy seat?
Two golden angels.
And what was that symbolizing?
[00:33:39] Speaker B: The writer of Hebrews says it was
[00:33:40] Speaker A: a copy of what is in heaven. This throne room that we have seen protected by angels.
[00:33:48] Speaker B: And this was where God's presence met his people in this covenant commitment based on his word.
But only once a year, the priest
[00:33:59] Speaker A: was allowed to go in.
[00:34:01] Speaker B: And the priest would.
[00:34:03] Speaker A: At once a year, the priest was
[00:34:05] Speaker B: the only one allowed to go in.
[00:34:06] Speaker A: And once a year he would offer this sacrifice behind the veil.
He would sprinkle blood onto the mercy seat.
[00:34:16] Speaker B: And what that signified is by the blood of this animal that covered the law.
The demands of the law had been met by blood.
[00:34:27] Speaker A: God's presence could continue to rest with his people.
[00:34:30] Speaker B: But it was dependent upon that sacrifice. It was dependent upon the blood of this animal.
[00:34:38] Speaker A: And what we see with the writer of Hebrews is when Jesus died on the cross, when he met the demands of the law with his blood and his death, the writer of Hebrews says he didn't go into the earthly temple.
He went into the heavenly courts. He went into the place that this mercy seat symbolized.
And he didn't offer the blood of an animal.
[00:35:07] Speaker B: He offered his own blood. And he was declaring that his blood
[00:35:13] Speaker A: is what met the demands of the law.
[00:35:16] Speaker B: The law demanded that we die for our sin, that we are the ones who incur justice and wrath from God. But Jesus has met those demands. And so he offers his blood in the throne room in the presence of God. This place where these 24 elders are, are, are surrounding and protecting the rule and reign of God. Here Jesus walks in and offers his blood once and for all.
[00:35:43] Speaker A: This place where even Jesus now rules and reigns, he offers his blood and then welcomes us in.
See the point? Here is the Lord Almighty and the Lamb become the temple as we see at the end of Revelation.
And you can see the ark of covenant because nothing is restricting you from the presence of God.
The presence of God has come once and for all on the earth in the Christ who rules and reigns.
[00:36:17] Speaker B: And we are welcomed in by his blood.
Revelation chapter one tells us that we were ransomed. We were freed by his blood. Chapter five told us that that it is by his blood he has made us a kingdom of priests. And so everyone in the kingdom is
[00:36:35] Speaker A: a priest who can enter into the presence of God.
Actually, what we see when he comes is his presence comes down to us.
It is no longer restricted. And then we see the flashes of lightning, the rumbling, the. The thunder, the earthquake, the hell here.
[00:36:51] Speaker B: And we've said this is another cycle
[00:36:53] Speaker A: that ends, but they always end with the presence of God.
[00:36:57] Speaker B: This is the day of the Lord has come in full.
[00:36:59] Speaker A: Everything is done. This is the final coming of Christ.
[00:37:03] Speaker B: He's ruling and reigning.
[00:37:04] Speaker A: And here's the point.
When Jesus comes, the presence of God will be tangible, real at all times to you.
I mean, do you live on a daily basis going, I, I just don't feel close to God.
I wish I was closer to God.
[00:37:25] Speaker B: Do you ever feel that way?
[00:37:28] Speaker A: I don't sense the presence of God.
Oh, you won't wake up in heaven ever thinking that.
Because the presence of God will be real and it will be tangible. And your sin, nor death, nor anyone else or any other kind of barrier. Barrier will restrict you from it.
No sinful distractions.
We will walk even in a better place than Adam did with God.
Does your heart long? I notice with older saints, this becomes more of a desire of their heart.
There's just a maturity that comes along as you've done everything you can do here, and you thought this world was going to satisfy you, but you just can't hold on to it.
And there becomes a point in your life where you're like, okay, I give up chasing that here. I want to go to heaven.
That's what I want.
This chasing after the presence of God, where that will be over, because we will be in the presence of God.
And what the Bible teaches us is those who are in Christ, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit lives within us, which is the presence of God, but he lives within us in this cursed world.
But you know what that does for us? It causes that longing to be even stronger.
The believer longs for heaven because heaven
[00:38:57] Speaker B: has invaded their heart.
And the kingdom that will rule and reign forever lives within them. And say they long for this rule to be consummated.
They long for Christ to rule and reign.
[00:39:13] Speaker A: But what do we do with that longing now?
Is it just to leave us empty?
We walk around and think, I just
[00:39:21] Speaker B: want to be closer to God. The Spirit is doing that.
[00:39:23] Speaker A: But. But there's so many restrictions.
[00:39:26] Speaker B: I'm lazy.
[00:39:27] Speaker A: I'm not as committed as I should.
[00:39:29] Speaker B: I still sin and alienate myself from
[00:39:32] Speaker A: God, jeopardize fellowship with God in His word and in prayer.
But I have that desire.
What do we do with that desire?
Well, Hebrews chapter 4, verse 16 tells us as Jesus has gone through the heavenly temple, the writer of Hebrews calls us to follow him because he's offered his blood for us. And he says this, let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in the time of need. Do you need help right now?
[00:40:11] Speaker B: You don't have to go through another
[00:40:13] Speaker A: person, you don't have to go through some religious activity or you go straight to the throne room where Jesus is ruling and reigning and has offered his blood. You go straight to the place God is ruling and reigning right now, in Christ.
[00:40:31] Speaker B: We're able to go into the throne room of God in prayer and worship and devotion. The things that the only the angels can do and see. Right now we are invited in.
Why is that? Because in Christ Christ is with us.
[00:40:46] Speaker A: I read this this week that if I die tomorrow, I will be with Christ.
And if I don't die tomorrow, Christ will be with me.
[00:40:59] Speaker B: He's with you now.
[00:41:01] Speaker A: And you know where.
[00:41:02] Speaker B: You know what he wants you to experience most of all?
The love and devotion of his Father who is ruling and reigning. And so he ushers you into the throne room and he says, come by the power of the spirit, come and pray to your Father, Our Father who art in heaven. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So if you need help, come with me. Let's go to the Father who's bringing this kingdom through my rule. Let's pray if we need help.
[00:41:41] Speaker A: And so we spend time in the throne room of God by the presence and power of the Spirit with Christ. Even now
[00:41:51] Speaker B: it could be we don't
[00:41:53] Speaker A: desire heaven because we don't spend enough time there. Now consider that this world's not satisfying you. Hey, spend time in the throne room of God before the throne of grace with Christ by the power of the Spirit in the presence of your Father and see what that does for you.
Well, you will develop a holy dissatisfaction for this world and you will be longing for the next.
You see, the truth is, this was a phrase that people used to use to be heavenly minded means you're no earthly good.
That's false.
The more time you spend in heaven, the more realistic you become about this earth.
And it's true, the reality is Jesus is ruling.
And the more time you spend in heaven before God, you become more in tune with songs that will interrupt your story.
And you become in tune with the song that will interrupt all stories for all the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord in Christ.
May that be the song that echoes in our reality. Now, let's.
