Redeemer Fellowship Johnson County

We all worship something. When John falls down before the angel in Revelation 19, he rebukes him, saying: “Worship God!” Worship isn’t just the songs we sing at church but the deepest longings of our hearts - where we go in disappointment, triumph, fear, and instability. God’s glory is revealed in salvation and in judgment, one seen in the image of a wedding and the other in the image of war. We worship God for his salvation and his judgment and long for the day when he will make everything right and we will be with him forever.

As John continues to help Christians see the world as it really is, he shares the vision of a great harlot and a powerful beast. These images personify pleasure and power in our world. The vision serves to both unmask the intoxicating nature of sin so that we see it for what it really is and offers hope as we see the sure defeat of any evil power that would make war against the Lamb of God. This a hope filled call for repentance and perseverance.

How do you stand when the power of evil seems to be so strong in the world? In Revelation, we see that throughout history, the power of evil has always been at war with God and his people. The dragon and his beasts rage (Rev. 12-13), but Revelation 14-15 shows us that Jesus Christ, the lamb of God, is stronger than the dragon and won the battle. Jesus protects and seals his people, and calls us to stand firm in the face of evil because it has already been defeated. God has always protected his people, and he will protect and vindicate them by one day ridding the world of evil forever.

John is writing to a group of overwhelmed and persecuted Christians. Threatened by political, cultural and social forces many were tempted to give up. So John offers these overwhelmed Christians a peak behind the curtain - a glance at the spiritual powers behind the powers that they could see and touch. John wanted them to know that there's a larger spiritual battle taking place, and the good news for both John original audience and us, is that battle has already been won.

What does it mean to be the church? That is the question that gets answered in Revelation chapter 11. It the vision of the two witnesses we see that the church is to be God's faithful prophetic witness to the world. This vision helps us understand that this faithful witness is ironic in the sense that it both powerful and vulnerable - the same kind of power displayed on the cross where life comes through death.

God never promises to deliver us from suffering. In fact, the Bible is clear that we will suffer in this life. The book of Revelation calls this the great tribulation. Through the last two thousand years, the church has suffered and been persecuted, but Revelation 7 shows the end of this tribulation in two stunning visions of the church. As John sees the vision of the 144,000 and the great multitude, one of the elders explains to him that they are the ones who have been sealed by God, protected from his wrath by his presence. This is the promise for every believer; not that God will take our suffering away, but that he will be with us through it. God is so committed to keeping this promise that he shed his own blood. As Christians, we can trust that God has sealed us with his Spirit, that he will be with us, and that he will bring us safely to himself in the end.

In Revelation 5, we are brought face to face with the hinge of human history, when the crucified Savior of the world takes his place at the right hand of God the Father as the Lord of history. In this passage we are invited to behold the only one found worthy to fulfill God's redemptive purpose, and invited to respond with the hosts of heaven, that he alone is worthy to receive everything.

There is a fascinating contrast we live in that begins with a pervasive cultural aversion to judgment. In every area of modern society we have been taught to resist judgementalism in the name of tolerance and not offending people. But at the same time, we all have this innate and powerful desire for justice. Judgement is simply to say that something is wrong and to work to make it right! We know that things are not the way they should be. Everyone wants the world described at the end of Revelation characterized by peace and flourishing. Because that’s what we were made for.

The way God accomplishes the goal of making all things new is by judging the world and refashioning it into what he intended it to be. A temple to dwell in. And the Good News is that since the Fall in the garden, God has been working as the ultimate remodeler towards the crescendo of history when he will once and for all bring this reality of him dwelling fully with his people in perfect peace to fruition.

This was written to Christians in distress not to hide buried treasure for numerologists to find like but to make things clear for everyone. The four horsemen, the seals, the trumpets, and the bowls have often been read as the distant future, but God’s judgment here is the story of his activity in the world between the Resurrection of Christ and his Second Coming.

Ultimately, the only refuge we will ever find from the judgment of God is himself. That’s the point. This passage encourages us to run to him for rescue and to stir longing in our hearts for the Day when he will make all things right.

One day the door of grace will be closed forever and the opportunity to repent of sin and turn to God will end. Therefore the reality of coming judgment is evangelistic fuel for Christians as God patiently waits and restrains his wrath so more might be saved.

In Revelation 4 we read about the gravitational center of the universe - God himself, the creator of everything, enthroned in beauty, power, holiness, and worth. We are invited to see what the heavenly beings see and we get to watch their response of worship and devotion. Their response solicits our own and causes us to answer the question of how we will respond to the King of the Universe.

Psalm 90 speaks to the longing of every human soul for a pace to find true rest and security. To find home. God designed us to only be able to find our dwelling place in him alone, and yet we spend so much of our time pursuing false dwelling places like our bank account or the approval of other people, we need to be shaken awake from these foolish pursuits to follow the living God and experience his satisfying love. The great news is that we don't earn our way into the house of God and nothing can threaten its stability.

The point of Psalm 90 is to re-size us and re-orient our perspective. To emphasize the eternality and immensity of God as well as our own weakness and frailty. With a big view of God, the worldly trials and struggles we face shrink in the face of his kindness toward us. But with a small view of God, we are exhausted trying to make ourselves bigger and protect our tiny kingdoms.

This Almighty God rightly holds wrath toward our sin which is the most terrifying problem humanity faces, and the cause of our mortality. But the Good News is that God himself provides the majestic solution to our plight in sending the Son, Jesus to die in our place as penalty for our rebellion. Only He can absorb so great a blow, pay so high a cost, and is gracious enough to do such a scandalous work. This is the Favor of the Lord upon his people is a way that purchases our everlasting joy.

What we have always longed for can only be found in the Triune God and it is better than we can even imagine.