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Series Code: ETM
Program Code: ETM220006S
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00:19 Welcome again and thank you for joining us for Eternal Truths 00:23 Matter. Some time ago I was talking to my friend. Now this 00:26 friend was really enamored with sports. He just loved sports. 00:29 And if we would go out to do something together he would 00:33 record the sport game. He would say to me, Mark if you're 00:37 reading the news and you happen to see the score don't tell me 00:41 because I want to be in suspense I want to come down to the last 00:45 moments of the game and I want to discover then who won. Let me 00:49 give you some good news. In the conflict between good and evil. 00:53 We already know the final score. When you take a look at the book 00:58 of Revelation here's the thing. Jesus wins and Satan loses. We 01:03 don't have to have any doubt about who is going to win in 01:08 this final conflict. That's what I'm talking about during this 01:12 program. The Winner in the final conflict. The last few chapters 01:16 of the book of Revelation. Let's pray. 01:18 Father in heaven, thank you so much for Jesus. Thank you so 01:23 much for his love. Thank you so much that as we read Revelation 01:27 we know that we can be on the winning side through Jesus 01:31 Christ our Lord. Amen. 01:32 A number of years ago when my son, Mark Jr., was just a little 01:39 tyke, my wife came home from the barber with him. That was one of 01:44 his early haircuts. My wife Teenie said Mark you need to go 01:46 down and get a haircut. I said but dear my hair is not that 01:50 bad. What do you mean I got to go down and get a haircut. I 01:52 got one a couple weeks ago. She said, But look I just took our 01:56 son to the barber and as I was at the barber, I overheard the 01:59 younger barber saying something like this: There was a man 02:03 sitting in the barber's chair and he was reading the newspaper 02:06 And the man reading the newspaper said to the barber, 02:09 You know you can't read any good news in the newspaper anymore. 02:12 Everything you read there is scary, everything you read there 02:16 you just get so frightened with it. I mean there's war, there's 02:19 conflict, there's natural disasters, there's fires and 02:21 floods all over the place. Robberies. And the barber said 02:24 if you think the newspaper is scary you should read the book 02:29 of Revelation. I tried it for the first time last night. And 02:31 all I could find were beasts and conflict and these evil 02:36 creatures. So he said, I was so scared I could hardly sleep all 02:41 night. So my wife said Mark, you got to go down there. You 02:43 need to talk to that barber about Revelation. So as a 02:47 faithful husband, I went down to the barbershop. Sat there with 02:52 three barbers. Older man came to me and I said, No, no, Thank 02:55 you. I'm waiting for that man over there. Well, do you know him? 02:57 Well no but my wife recommends him. But I'm thinking and 03:01 praying, How can I help this barber to understand the book 03:03 of Revelation. So I got an idea. I picked up a newspaper, sat in 03:07 barber chair. And as I began to read the newspaper I said you 03:12 know sir everything in this newspaper is scary. It is really 03:16 scary. I mean, you look at all that's happening and he kind of 03:21 looked at me and he said, You think the newspaper is scary, 03:24 what about Revelation? I said well maybe you haven't read the 03:26 last few chapters of Revelation. Because there it presents great 03:30 hope. And I said all through Revelation you have the hope 03:33 of Christ Jesus. He said do you know anything about Revelation? 03:36 Well, I know a little bit. You want to study it together? Sure. 03:41 So we began to study it and thank God the barber accepted 03:45 Jesus. We gave him some of my tapes while we were traveling. 03:47 And he was able to listen to them and he was baptized and 03:50 became a faithful Christian. But here's the point. The last few 03:54 chapters of the book of Revelation are really amazing. 03:58 Because they reveal the victory of Christ. Now you remember in 04:03 our previous studies we studied the fact that God has a message 04:07 for humanity at end time. That message is found in the book of 04:11 Revelation, chapter 14. It's a call to worship Christ. It's a 04:14 call to the everlasting gospel. It's a call to worship the 04:17 creator. And then we've read about in Revelation 14:8 about 04:21 this Babylon, this apostate religion that passes around its 04:25 wine cup full of false doctrines We read about that in 04:28 Revelation 17 and in Revelation 18. Now Revelation 19 comes with 04:36 a glorious climax. Revelation 19, 20, 21 and 22 bring all of 04:40 Revelation together and they're the climax of the great 04:42 controversy between good and evil. So we want to see some 04:45 wonderful things in these chapters, some encouraging 04:48 things. So Babylon falls, Christ wins, Satan loses. Revelation 04:51 chapter 19 we're starting there with verse 11: And I saw heaven 04:56 opened...John says I saw this... behold a white horse; the 05:03 symbolism of a general conquering. And he that sat on 05:06 was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness, he judges 05:10 and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, on his 05:13 head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man 05:16 knew, but he himself. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in 05:20 blood; and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies 05:23 which were in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in 05:26 fine linen, white and clean. And out of his mouth was a sharp 05:29 sword, that he should smite the nations: he should rule them 05:32 with a rod of iron: and treads the winepress of the fierceness 05:35 and the wrath of Almighty God. And on his vesture and on his 05:40 thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords. Here 05:46 is Jesus, here is the triumph of the ages, here is Christ who 05:51 triumphs over the principalities and powers of hell. But let's 05:54 look at these verses phrase by phrase. He says: I saw heaven 05:59 open, behold a white horse. When a Roman general, when a Roman 06:07 general came back from conquering a nation he often 06:12 rode on a white horse with behind him the trophies of 06:16 conquest. They would often bring captives back, they would use 06:19 them as slaves. They would bring bootie back, gold, silvers that 06:24 they had found in those places. So the symbolism of the white 06:27 horse in ancient Rome was very significant because it indicates 06:31 triumph, it indicates purity, it indicates particularly 06:34 victory is what it indicates. Now the one on the white horse 06:38 was Faithful and True. Jesus is Faithful and True. What he says 06:42 about the end times is true. What he says about his final 06:45 conflict is true. And in righteousness he judges and 06:48 makes war. Many nations don't judge in righteousness but this 06:52 war that Jesus makes is over evil. It is to destroy evil, 06:55 wickedness, sin, and suffering. His eyes were as the flame of 06:58 fire and on his head many crowns He had a name written nobody 07:01 knew but himself. He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood. 07:06 Now that is an interesting expression, vesture dipped in 07:08 blood. It could mean two things. One: That Christ comes reminding 07:12 us of the blood of Christ. We're only saved through Jesus' blood. 07:14 There's no other way to be saved His blood was shed to reveal the 07:19 character of God, the goodness of God, the graciousness of God. 07:21 His blood was shed to atone for our sins so that we can live 07:26 righteous lives. But there's another possibility for this 07:29 phrase, vesture dipped in blood. It can be a reminder of all the 07:32 martyrs who have suffered down through the ages and that Christ 07:35 is coming to resurrect them from their graves and they can live 07:38 with him forever. It says that his name's called the Word of 07:44 God. That's why we call this series the Eternal Truths Matter 07:47 series because it's based on the Word of God. But notice what 07:52 it says here down in verse 15: Out of his mouth goes a sharp 07:56 sword. What's the sword? It's the sword of the Spirit, the 07:58 word of God. And it says on his thigh is written King of kings 08:02 and Lord of lords. So one day the whole universe will bow 08:06 before his feet. One day the whole universe will sing his 08:10 praises. One day the whole universe will sing Worthy, 08:13 Worthy is the Lamb. He is King of kings and Lord of lords. 08:19 God's word is going to triumph. God's purposes are going to 08:23 triumph. God's plan is going to triumph. God's people will 08:27 triumph with him. Now Christ comes and as he comes, returns 08:34 to this earth, comes in a cloud of glory. Every eye will see him. 08:37 every ear will hear it. He comes and the righteous dead are 08:41 resurrected to receive their immortal bodies. He comes and 08:45 the righteous living are changed in an instant, in the twinkling 08:50 of an eye and the righteous ascend to heaven with Christ. 08:53 Now what happens at that point? Revelation 20 verses 1 and 2. 08:58 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of 09:03 the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid 09:07 hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, 09:10 and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. Now this 09:14 bottomless pit, what is this all about? The bottomless pit is not 09:20 some subterranean cavern deep within the earth. The term 09:26 bottomless pit comes from an expression in the Greek language 09:29 it's abusos abusa so which means this kind of dark and desolate 09:34 place. So the devil is bound here on earth with a chain, not 09:40 a literal chain, but a chain of circumstances. He's chained in 09:45 the darkness. And imagine it. The devil is here. When Christ 09:48 comes the wicked are destroyed by the brightness of his coming 09:51 the wicked living. The wicked dead stay in their graves. And 09:54 Satan is here bound on earth for that thousand years. God's 09:58 people are in heaven with him. At the end of the thousand years 10:01 according to the Bible, the Holy City descends. And as it 10:06 descends the rest of the dead that Satan and his evil hosts 10:09 rise up to take that city. They are destroyed by the fires of 10:15 God's presence, sin is destructed, sin is combustible 10:19 material and eventually the earth is made new. That leads us 10:23 to Revelation chapters 21 and 22 where I want to spend most of my 10:28 time with you during this presentation. Revelation 21 John 10:34 says: I saw...John says I saw it...a new heaven and a new 10:39 earth: the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; 10:42 there was no more sea...That's no more separation...I John saw 10:45 the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of 10:50 heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I 10:53 heard a great voice out of heaven saying, saying Behold the 10:56 tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and 10:59 they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, 11:01 and be their God. God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; 11:05 there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There'll 11:08 be no more pain: for the former things are passed away. Here 11:12 scripture makes it plain. John says, I saw it. This is no make 11:16 believe. This is not some figment of some human author's 11:20 imagination. This is not some fantasy. John says I saw it. 11:23 I saw the Holy City coming down from God out of heaven. And he 11:29 says there's a voice in heaven that said, there's a great voice 11:33 in heaven. Here's a solemn announcement. Here's a voice 11:36 that goes out to the ends of the earth. God is moving. God is 11:41 moving. Right now our planets encircle the sun. Earth and the 11:48 other planets in our orbit in our universe circles the sun. 11:51 in some great cosmic circle, but we're told that our solar system 11:56 is one of multiple solar systems that are revolving around a 12:00 cosmic center. All of life, everything animate and inanimate 12:06 all of life and all of the material world circles around 12:12 God's throne. God's throne is the cosmic control center of the 12:16 universe. God's throne is the Command Center of the universe. 12:20 And there the destiny of nations is guided by God. There although 12:26 God lets human beings make choices God is guiding and 12:31 superintending and trying to bring about the best of evil 12:35 men's choices. So that's the cosmic control center but this 12:43 announcement said: The great voice out of heaven says behold 12:46 tabernacle of God...that's the dwelling place of God...that is 12:49 with men. He'll dwell with them, they'll be his people. God 12:52 himself shall be with them and be their God. So can you imagine 12:55 the Holy City comes down and here God takes this planet in 13:00 rebellion, this war-torn, famine stricken, polluted earth. He 13:05 remakes it into the spender of Eden and as he does this becomes 13:11 the center of the universe because God's dwelling place is 13:15 here. And he takes this planet in rebellion and he makes it 13:18 over again into something of beauty. If God can do that for 13:21 this wicked old earth, he can do it for your life. He can take a 13:25 life that's rebelled against him He can take a life where 13:29 mistakes have been made, sins have been committed and there's 13:31 condemnation and guilt and shame and God can take that life and 13:37 God can make it over again my friend. If he can do it for this 13:39 planet, he can do it for you. And then it talks about the Holy 13:42 City. I do like verse 5 here though and we should pause and 13:46 just take a quick look at that. It says: And he that sat upon 13:50 the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said, 13:53 Write: For these words are true and faithful. He says I make all 13:56 things new. He will do it for the planet and he will do it for 13:59 your life. Whatever valley you're walking through this day 14:03 whatever mountain is before you this day, whatever problems with 14:09 your health, problems with your marriage, your finances, or your 14:12 kids. Jesus says I'll make all things new. Does that mean that 14:16 life is always going to be filled with health and happiness 14:20 and money and prosperity, not at all. But he gives us new 14:23 attitudes, he gives us new strength, he gives us new 14:27 ability to cope. He makes all things new today in our lives. 14:33 That's in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says: If any man is in Christ 14:35 Jesus he's a new creation. So that new creation that Christ 14:39 gives us now is a symbol of the creation that God is going to do 14:46 when he makes this earth new. Now let's look a little bit at 14:49 this. We're going to live with Christ, dwell with him like Adam 14:52 and Eve did in the garden of Eden. But as he talks about that 14:57 Holy City we want to come down to verses 12 and 13. I want to 15:00 look at some things in the city with you. It says in verse 12 of 15:05 Revelation chapter 21: And this city has a great wall, high. It 15:11 has 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels and the names written 15:15 thereon, are names of the tribes of the children of Israel. On 15:19 the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south 15:21 three gates; and on the west three gates. So let's pick up 15:25 verse 14 too. And the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and 15:29 in them the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. Now how 15:32 many gates were there? Did you get that? How many gates? Twelve 15:36 gates. Now in ancient cities you'd have one gate, maybe two. 15:40 Why one or two? Because if the enemy's going to attack you, you 15:44 don't want 12 gates. You want to protect your city, right? But 15:50 here it says 12 gates. Why? Because God is not trying to 15:51 keep people out, he's trying to get people in. Now three gates 15:56 on the north, three gates on the south, three gates on the east, 15:58 three gates on the west. Now in the Bible number is really 16:01 important. Four is a number of kind of universality so you get 16:05 the four sides. He's the universal Christ. Grace is 16:08 universal for all. It's not for one language group, one ethnic 16:12 group or one racial group. It's for all. Seven in the book of 16:16 Revelation is perfection. Six is less than perfection and triple 16:21 six is the apostasy, error. That's the number of the beast 16:23 power. But what about this number three. It's the number of 16:28 the Godhead, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. Then in 16:30 Revelation you have the false trinity, the dragon, the beast 16:32 and the false prophet. So but three gates on the east, three 16:38 gates on the west, three gates on the north, three gates on the 16:40 south. What's that all about? The Father, Son and the Holy 16:43 Spirit so to all those on the east, you can come in. You come 16:47 in. From China, you rush in. From Asia, you rush in. From the west 16:52 all those of you on the west you come in. All you up north in the 16:57 northern hemisphere, you come in All those of you in the south 17:01 you come in. So the gates are open wide. Now incidentally each 17:06 gate is made out of pearl. The Bible says 12 gates, 12 pearls 17:09 The pearl represents Jesus. So Jesus is saying with the Father, 17:14 Son and the Holy Spirit those of you who are lost and discouraged 17:18 and depressed with the sea and those here that are filled with 17:22 guilt, I want you to know that the gates of heaven are wide 17:25 open for you. Now did you notice something about what's above the 17:29 gates? In verse 12 it says that it has a wall high and had 12 17:34 gates and at the gates 12 angels and the names of the 12 tribes 17:41 of Israel. Who were these 12 tribes of Israel. They were 17:46 Reuben and Simeon and Levi. You look at the 12 tribes of Israel 17:49 and they were not any honor guard in your city. They could 17:54 be condemned for murder, adultery, bigamy, robbery, 18:00 thievery. I mean these were pretty wicked people when you 18:04 really look at them. Anger, but wait. They were saved by the 18:10 grace of Christ. What do the names above the gates say to 18:13 you and me. As we approach that city we see the names above the 18:18 gates. Names of common sinners. Names of men and women like you 18:22 and me and they say to us enter into that city. You too can 18:28 enter in. But what about the foundations of the city. Verse 18:31 And the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them the 18:37 names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. What does that mean? 18:41 The 12 apostles of the Lamb. Who were these apostles? Peter who 18:46 denied him, Thomas who doubted him, James and John the sons of 18:50 thunder. Wow! They're going to be there? They're going to be 18:55 there. And the reason God gives us 12 gates that are open and 19:01 not shut is to remind you and me that we can enter in. The reason 19:06 he puts the names of the 12 patriarchs above the gate are to 19:11 let us know that those who dwelt in flesh with common humanity 19:14 could enter in and we can enter in. The reason he puts the 19:18 apostles, there is to let us know that men and women of flesh and 19:22 blood have face trial and difficulty and temptation, they 19:25 they could get in. And so we too can get in and live in that city 19:31 with Christ forever and ever and ever and ever. But then we go 19:37 down even further. There's so much beauty in the symbolism of 19:41 this city. So much to encourage us in these symbols that it's 19:45 often to miss. Notice what are the foundations made out of? 19:50 Verse 19, Revelation chapter 21 verse 19: And the foundations 19:57 of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of 20:00 precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the 20:05 second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony, the fourth emerald; 20:08 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh chrysolite; 20:12 the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth chrysoprasus; 20:16 the 11th jacinth, the 12th, amethyst. And the 12 gates were 20:22 12 pearls. What does it mean? These different stones. When you 20:27 think of these 12 different stones, 12 is a number in the 20:33 Bible of completeness. You have the 12 patriarchs of the Old 20:37 Testament reminding us of all of the Old Testament believers. You 20:41 have the 12 apostles reminding us of all of the New Testament 20:45 believers. What about these 12 stones can you think of any 20:51 other place in the Bible that these stones were? That there 20:56 were stones like this. Can you think of any other place? 20:58 Somebody here yeah I can think of that. Weren't these stones on 21:03 the breast plate of the high priest? They were. What did they 21:06 represent on the breastplate of the high priest? Every stone 21:10 represents one of the 12 tribes of Israel, one of God's people. 21:14 And the breastplate indicated that Christ carried us as his 21:18 high priest on his heart. Hebrews the 7th chapter, the 21:27 25th verse says this to us. See these 12 foundation stones 21:33 remind us that Jesus is our high priest. That Jesus carries us on 21:38 his heart. That there's nothing more important to Jesus when we 21:43 through those gates redeemed in the kingdom of God. Hebrews 21:49 chapter 7 verse 25. Wherefore he is able also to save them to 21:58 the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth 22:02 to make intercession for them. Verse 26: For such a high priest 22:06 became one of us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate 22:10 from sinners and made higher than the heavens. Here Jesus, 22:14 our high priest is saving to the uttermost. When you become 22:17 discouraged, when the journey is long, when the mountain is high, 22:22 when the road is rough in your imagination look to a heavenly 22:27 city. In your imagination see the doors of that city open. 22:31 In your imagination of that city see the pearly gates swing wide. 22:35 Hear Jesus beckoning you. Look to the names of gates and hear 22:41 them say you can make it my brother. You can make it my 22:44 sister. Look to the foundations of that city and hear the 22:49 apostles calling you, you can make it. Look to the stones 22:53 there and remember that you are on Jesus' heart, you are on 22:57 Jesus' mind that one day you too can walk through the gates of 23:00 that city. Revelation chapter 22 comes to an amazing climax. 23:05 Revelation 22: Everything lost by sin will be restored. 23:12 Everything defiled by sin will be recaptured Revelation chapter 23:17 verse 1, 2, 3: And he showed me a pure river of water of life, 23:24 clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the 23:27 Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of it 23:31 the tree of life, which bare 12 manner of fruits, and yielded 23:35 her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the 23:37 healing of the nations. There shall be no more curse, but the 23:43 throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall 23:45 serve him: They shall see his face; and his name shall be on 23:50 their foreheads. Let's look at this verse. First the river of 23:54 the water of life. In heaven, no death. In heaven, no disease. 23:59 In heaven, no sickness, no cancer, no heart attacks, no 24:03 diabetes, no high blood pressure no paralysis, no blindness, no 24:08 mute who can't speak, no deaf who cannot hear. The river of 24:14 the water of life represents the life-giving power of God that 24:19 truth flows from God's throne. Notice it says that on either 24:24 side of the river of the tree of life, there are 12 manner of 24:27 fruits. Every month you go up and take some of the fruits of 24:31 the tree of life and new energy flows through our bodies. But 24:34 notice it says the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the 24:37 nations. What does that mean? The healing of the nations. 24:39 There's such conflict between nations today. There's such 24:43 conflict between people and you've got war all over the 24:46 place today. There are problems in the Sudan today. Problems in 24:50 between India and Pakistan. And problems between the Ukraine and 24:57 Russia today. There's war every where today. But yet there'll be 25:01 the healing of the nations. All humanity will come together 25:05 with one common worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. All humanity 25:09 will meet around the throne of God. No barriers between people 25:13 there. No conflicts there. No tension there. No ethnic 25:17 challenges there between peoples that hate one another there. 25:23 Christ is our leader. There Jesus is our peace. There Jesus' 25:29 love fills our hearts and unites all nations are healed and we 25:34 walk through the new earth hand in hand as brothers and sisters 25:39 in Christ of every nation, kindred, tongue and people. 25:42 Notice what it says, there'll be no curse there. The throne of 25:47 God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve 25:51 him. Verse 4. They shall see his face. Think of that. Adam and 25:58 Eve walked and talked with God in the Garden of Eden. Adam and 26:04 Eve had unbridled fellowship with God. There was no barrier 26:10 between. Isaiah 59:1 and 2: Your sins have separated between you 26:14 and God. We can't see his face today. It's difficult to hear 26:19 his audible voice today. But yet one day...Revelation 21:4 We 26:28 shall see his face. One day the separation by sin will be over 26:35 One day the barrier between us and him will be gone. One day 26:43 the fellowship that we had as an early race in the Garden of Eden 26:51 will be restored. One day we can live with Christ forever and 26:58 ever and ever. You can make it. You can live in that city. You 27:05 can be with Jesus forever and ever. Let's pray. 27:09 Father in heaven, how thankful we are for the eternal plan of 27:17 salvation. How thankful we are for these last few chapters of 27:21 Revelation. That we are on the winning side. That Christ will 27:30 come as King of kings. That he will come as Lord of lords. That 27:35 we can live with him forever. The gates of that city are wide. 27:40 And we hear you beckoning us to enter in. Thank you, Lord, that 27:48 one day everything lost by sin will be restored and we can live 27:53 with you forever and ever and ever. In Jesus' name Amen. 27:58 ♪ ♪ |
Revised 2025-05-27