Asbury Church

As we wrap up our Revelation series, here’s why it matters now more than ever, and also why I love this book so much.

Revelation is very clear about how history ends: Jesus returns, rights all the wrongs, and renews all things.

But John is given two conflicting and contradictory images about the direction history go BEFORE Jesus returns:

1. On the one hand, John sees an amazing harvest as the rebellious world TURNS BACK TO GOD!

2. On the other hand, John is shown a terrible scene of judgment as the rebellious world refuses to repent and persists in idolatry and wickedness.

What John doesn’t see is which version of reality it will be:

Will the world turn back to God, or will the world refuse to repent?

What’s the role of the church in God’s plan for history?

n Revelation 13, John sees a series of monsters—“beasts”—that conquer and kill God’s people.

And he gives us an important insight: in Revelation 13:11 he tells us that one of the beasts “looks like a lamb, but sounds like the dragon.”

In other words, evil often masquerades as good, so you have to pay attention to really know it for what it is.

Preacher: Andrew Forrest

Date: Sunday, February 26 [11:00 AM service]

Scripture: Revelation 13

Why doesn’t God just bring the end now? If God has a good end planned for history, what is he waiting for?

If judgment alone won’t bring the rebellious world to repentance, what will?

The answer to both those questions is the secret that John’s Revelation reveals.

It is the church’s suffering witness that will lead the nations to repentance!

Martyrdom. This is the way.

Preacher: Andrew Forrest

Scripture: Revelation 11:3-13

Date: Sunday, February 19, 2023 [11 AM service]

References:

Book on the 21 Coptic Martyrs

https://amzn.to/3SfMgAM

Article on the the 21 Coptic Martyrs

https://www.christiantoday.com/article/the-21-the-story-of-the-coptic-christian-martyrs/131772.htm

Coptic Christian Tattoos

https://egyptianstreets.com/2022/02/28/the-story-behind-the-coptic-cross-tattoo

What if the judgment of God were actually something *good*?

When most folks think of the Book of Revelation, they think of fiery judgments, the horsemen of the apocalypse, the stars dropping from the sky, etc.

All of that kind of thing is there in John’s vision. Definitely.

And yet I think we ought to see the judgment in Revelation as a good thing, as a kindness from God!

Judgment is good news, because judgment is just the Lord trying to get the attention of a lost world.

And the good news is that it’s not too late to change course.

Let’s talk about it.

Preacher: Andrew Forrest

Scripture: Revelation 9:1-21

Date: Sunday, February 12 [9 AM]

John sees an army, but it’s the strangest army you’ve ever heard of.

And just exactly the kind of army our world needs.

Everyone wants to win, but lots of folks aren’t playing by the right rules.

What if you climbed the ladder, only to find out that it was leaning against the wrong building the whole time?

In Revelation 5, we’re told that Jesus has “conquered,” that is, he won.

But how?

I think comparing Jesus to James Bond will get us to the right answer.

I have a “plan" to defeat the pornographers and the fentanyl dealers, to empty out the family law courts and the prisons, to fill up the churches and the seminaries.

(I’m serious.)

It all starts with the way Jesus describes himself to John before the vision of the Revelation begins.

This aspect of Jesus’s identity is fundamental to our faith and at the same time often forgotten about (or at least overlooked) in the modern church.

To the early church, on the contrary, it was central.

To paraphrase C.S. Lewis:

We need to remember Jesus as the Pearl Diver.

As we begin a new sermon series on Revelation, I want to begin at the end of John’s vision, namely with what he sees after evil has been defeated:

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” [Revelation 21:1]

It’s the mention of the “sea” that really got me, and once I understood that, the rest of the book opened up to me.

In the Jewish imagination, the sea is chaos and disorder and entropy, and in the New Creation, that is no more.

But we’re not there yet, which means we have work to do.

It turns out Kevin Garnett was right: anything *is* possible.

After all, no one had ever walked on water before Jesus called to Peter from the waves.

After winning the NBA Championship in 2011 Kevin Garnett bellowed, “ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE!” That may not be true when it comes to ordinary people playing in the NBA, but it is definitely true when it comes to the kind of life Christ has for his people. Abundant, full life is actually possible NOW, if only you’re willing to listen to the voice of the Lord and take that first step out of the boat.

As we begin a new year, many of us are listening more to our past experiences than we are to the Lord’s promises.

But God’s not done with us yet, and in Christ, amazing things are possible.

Let’s go.

Preacher: Andrew Forrest

Date: Sunday, January 1, 2023 [10:00 AM]

Scripture: Matthew 14:22-33