Micah McCormick: If you would, in your Bible, Revelation chapter one, last book of the Bible.
Micah McCormick: We're in this series.
Micah McCormick: If you're visiting with us tonight, we've been going through in the evenings one book of the Bible at a time, one message per book.
Micah McCormick: So this is the last message.
Micah McCormick: We're going to have one more in the series next week where we try to wrap up and review and do the whole Bible in one message.
Micah McCormick: Yeah, wow, that was right.
Micah McCormick: And we're going to try to keep it still not, although we could do an all-night session.
Micah McCormick: I'm not opposed to that, but we're going to try to keep it the same time frame.
Micah McCormick: So we're in Revelation tonight.
Micah McCormick: Let me put in a plug while you're turning to Revelation chapter one.
Micah McCormick: After we finish with this series, we're going to be off for some Christmas events, Carolyn and the community.
Micah McCormick: In the new year, Pastor Doug mentioned he's starting up a series on the image of God.
Micah McCormick: So that's going to be great.
Micah McCormick: We're going to be hitting different themes on what it means for humans to be made in the image of God.
Micah McCormick: Another way of asking that is what does it mean for us to be human?
Micah McCormick: To be workers, to be male and female?
Micah McCormick: These are questions that our world really is concerned about.
Micah McCormick: And there's also some important questions that our world isn't concerned about, that they should be, like, how does Christ actually restore the image of God in us?
Micah McCormick: So stay tuned for that.
Micah McCormick: But we're in Revelation tonight.
Micah McCormick: I'm going to start with Revelation chapter 1, verses 1 through 6.
Micah McCormick: The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place.
Micah McCormick: He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatever he saw.
Micah McCormick: Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep what is written in it, because the time is near.
Micah McCormick: John, to the seven churches in Asia, grace and peace to you from the one who is, who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, to him who loves us and has set us free from our sins by his blood, and made us a kingdom priest to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever.
Micah McCormick: Amen.
Micah McCormick: Lord, please help us tonight.
Micah McCormick: We need your more than just your aid.
Micah McCormick: We need your illumination.
Micah McCormick: We pray this in Jesus' name.
Micah McCormick: Amen.
Micah McCormick: The book of Revelation is one of the most underappreciated books in the Bible, I think.
Micah McCormick: Sometimes people are confused by it, so they just avoid it.
Micah McCormick: But it's also underappreciated by some of the very people who seem the most excited about it.
Micah McCormick: Why do I say that?
Micah McCormick: Well, if you listen to how people refer to the book of Revelation, they sometimes call it the book of Revelations.
Micah McCormick: It's a small thing, but look again at verse number one.
Micah McCormick: The revelation singular of Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: Sometimes people get so caught up in this vision and that symbol, they lose sight of Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: And that's what the book is all about.
Micah McCormick: Yes, there are many visions and symbols, but it's meant to build one comprehensive picture of the glory of the Son of God, our Savior.
Micah McCormick: So let's look at the central place of Jesus in the book.
Micah McCormick: It begins as the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: The first voice that John hears is Jesus Christ, the faithful witness.
Micah McCormick: The first vision he sees here, if you look down in chapter one, starting in verse number 12, he turned and saw he sees these lampstands.
Micah McCormick: Then the first figure he sees is this glorious figure of the Son of Man.
Micah McCormick: And then I'm going to be hitting a lot of passages, so feel free to turn, or if you want to write them down or just listen, you can.
Micah McCormick: It starts with Jesus, then it also ends with Jesus.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 21, 22.
Micah McCormick: I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
Micah McCormick: Not only does the book begin and end with Jesus, the structure of the book points us to Christ.
Micah McCormick: So after John's opening vision of Jesus, he records seven letters to seven churches.
Micah McCormick: And then after he writes those letters, John's given seven different visions.
Micah McCormick: One of those visions is about seven seals, one is about seven trumpets, one is about seven bowls.
Micah McCormick: All right, Mike, you're already losing me.
Micah McCormick: It's too many sevens, too many weird things going on.
Micah McCormick: But all of those letters and visions center on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: Just I'll briefly survey that for you.
Micah McCormick: The very first letter, Revelation 2, verse 1, opens this way: Write to the angel of the church in Ephesus.
Micah McCormick: Thus says the one who holds the seven stars in his right hand.
Micah McCormick: That's Christ.
Micah McCormick: The last letter, Revelation 3, verse 21.
Micah McCormick: This is how the last letter is taking up.
Micah McCormick: To the one who conquers, it ends, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne.
Micah McCormick: Who is that?
Micah McCormick: It's Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: We get to the seven seals.
Micah McCormick: Who can open the seals?
Micah McCormick: Revelation 5, 5.
Micah McCormick: One of the elders said, Don't weep, the lion from the tribe of Judah, the root of David, he has conquered, so he's able to open the scroll and it seals.
Micah McCormick: We get to the seven trumpets.
Micah McCormick: What happens with the last trumpet?
Micah McCormick: Revelation 11:15.
Micah McCormick: The seventh angel blew his trumpet.
Micah McCormick: There were loud voices in heaven saying, The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign forever and ever.
Micah McCormick: The seven bowls deal with God's judgment, his wrath being poured out like a bowl of water.
Micah McCormick: Who executes God's judgment?
Micah McCormick: Revelation 19, 11.
Micah McCormick: I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse.
Micah McCormick: Its rider is called faithful and true.
Micah McCormick: That's Jesus.
Micah McCormick: With justice he judges and makes war.
Micah McCormick: So from beginning to end, the book is about Jesus.
Micah McCormick: If someone says, I don't really understand Revelation, you say, Oh, that's easy.
Micah McCormick: It's about Christ.
Micah McCormick: And they laugh at it.
Micah McCormick: No, no, really.
Micah McCormick: Like that's that's who it's about.
Micah McCormick: You've got to understand, it's all about the glory of Christ.
Micah McCormick: What is Jesus doing in Revelation?
Micah McCormick: He's reigning.
Micah McCormick: There's many things about him, but that's a main thing in Revelation.
Micah McCormick: He's reigning.
Micah McCormick: I'll give you a quick survey of that.
Micah McCormick: So he's described as the firstborn from the dead in Revelation 1.5 and the ruler of the kings of the earth.
Micah McCormick: In the letter to Smyrna, Christ offers a crown of life.
Micah McCormick: Who's giving crowns?
Micah McCormick: But rulers, kings.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 5, 5, he's the conquering root of David.
Micah McCormick: David, the king, the ruler from the Old Testament.
Micah McCormick: Repeatedly in this book, there's creatures and angels gathering around his throne.
Micah McCormick: Again, it's kings who rule from thrones.
Micah McCormick: If we fast forward to Revelation 22, verse 1, it speaks of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Micah McCormick: So Revelation portrays vivid colors, awesome symbols, the reign of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: And it also intersects with our own lives.
Micah McCormick: Not that we need more than a vision of Christ, but it intersects with our own lives because Revelation is written for suffering Christians.
Micah McCormick: If you're in chapter one, look at verse number nine.
Micah McCormick: I, John, your brother and partner in the affliction, kingdom, and endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
Micah McCormick: Your partner in, and then I'm reading the CSB, that's the Pew Bible, says the affliction.
Micah McCormick: If you've got a different translation this morning, it might use the word your partner in the tribulation.
Micah McCormick: Same Greek word is used there.
Micah McCormick: Like, are we in the tribulation?
Micah McCormick: Well, according to John, yeah, we are.
Micah McCormick: He was.
Micah McCormick: The people he's writing to were were as well.
Micah McCormick: And he could have said, Hey, I'm in exile.
Micah McCormick: I wish I had it like you guys.
Micah McCormick: You guys have it easy.
Micah McCormick: He said, No, we're we're suffering together.
Micah McCormick: Chapter 2, verse 3.
Micah McCormick: This is what John writes to Ephesus, the church, at this time.
Micah McCormick: I know you have persevered and endured hardships for the sake of my name and have not grown weary.
Micah McCormick: It's going to get better.
Micah McCormick: Well, in Revelation, it gets worse in some ways.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 6, verse 9, he opened the fifth seal.
Micah McCormick: I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the word of God and the testimony they had given.
Micah McCormick: That's intense.
Micah McCormick: So some Christians' tribulation is smaller, some is costing a life, but there's suffering for believers.
Micah McCormick: Throughout Revelation, there is this great dragon figure warring against God's people.
Micah McCormick: And the dragon has two henchmen.
Micah McCormick: He's got the beast and the false prophet.
Micah McCormick: Sometimes in the Bible, governments are compared to animals.
Micah McCormick: Nebuchadnezzar's visions compared to beasts.
Micah McCormick: One of the reasons why Christians suffer is because often governments attack Christians under under Satan's grand and wily designs.
Micah McCormick: And then there's there's the false prophet.
Micah McCormick: There's all kinds of religions in the world making all kinds of claims about truth that oppose Christ and oppose his message.
Micah McCormick: Some under the very banner of being lambs, but actually being wolves in sheep's clothing.
Micah McCormick: Are you hurting today?
Micah McCormick: Are you tired of a world that seems so opposed to Jesus Christ?
Micah McCormick: Revelations for you.
Micah McCormick: Suffering Christians, a reigning Christ.
Micah McCormick: And then there's one more major threat I want us to survey here.
Micah McCormick: It's the threat of worship.
Micah McCormick: We suffer not because we're such amazing people of stamina and ability, because if we're understanding rightly who Jesus is and we're before his throne, that's what enables us to endure suffering.
Micah McCormick: Revelation has those who worship the beast in his image, and it has those who worship the Lamb.
Micah McCormick: That's the two great categories of people.
Micah McCormick: For those who are worshiping the Lamb, we can endure suffering because of the vision we see of Christ.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 5, verse 13.
Micah McCormick: I heard every creature in heaven, on earth, under the earth, on the sea, and everything in them, saying, Blessing and honor and glory and power be to the one seated on the throne of the Lamb forever and ever.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 7, 9, after this I looked, there was a vast multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language come to Sunday school next week to hear more about that from Billy.
Micah McCormick: Side advertisement.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 14, 7.
Micah McCormick: He spoke with a loud voice.
Micah McCormick: Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come.
Micah McCormick: And then in Revelation 22, one other example of this, John falls down before an angel, and the angel says, Don't do that.
Micah McCormick: I'm a fellow servant with you.
Micah McCormick: Worship God.
Micah McCormick: So let's try and put all this together.
Micah McCormick: If you only remember one thing from tonight, if you only remember one thing from the book of Revelation, remember this.
Micah McCormick: Worshiping Christians will endure to the end because Christ is reigning to the end.
Micah McCormick: I'll say that again.
Micah McCormick: Worshiping Christians will endure to the end because Christ is reigning to the end.
Micah McCormick: Having established that, let's drop down into some further considerations about this book.
Micah McCormick: Say, wow, Micah, that was a long introduction.
Micah McCormick: That wasn't the introduction.
Micah McCormick: That was the main thing.
Micah McCormick: Like I said, if you that was the main course.
Micah McCormick: If you've got that, that you're good.
Micah McCormick: This is gonna be more like a mix of appetizers and side dishes and desserts, okay?
Micah McCormick: If we're using the the the holiday food analogy here.
Micah McCormick: So think about this maybe as an as an appetizer plate that has like four dishes on it.
Micah McCormick: Now you sample one inside what you like.
Micah McCormick: Don't just decide what you happen to like, which one best fits what God is trying to do in Revelation.
Micah McCormick: But there's four main interpretive approaches to some of the symbols in the middle of Revelation from chapter four and into chapter 20.
Micah McCormick: First approach is called the preterist approach.
Micah McCormick: That's a word that means past.
Micah McCormick: For preterists, most of these symbols deal with events from our vantage point from the past that happened around AD 70 with the fall of Jerusalem.
Micah McCormick: They would say, well, doesn't John say these things are near, it's about to take place.
Micah McCormick: He meant it.
Micah McCormick: It was like about to take place, not 2,000 years later.
Micah McCormick: I think R.C.
Micah McCormick: Sproul held that particular view.
Micah McCormick: There's a guy named Kenneth Gentry today who has some stuff on that particular viewpoint, Prater's viewpoint.
Micah McCormick: Number two is the futurist viewpoint.
Micah McCormick: John MacArthur's an example of someone who held this particular view.
Micah McCormick: Futurists would say many of these symbols are dealing with events still future from our lives right now.
Micah McCormick: So still more in the future.
Micah McCormick: They would point to, even in chapter one, verse 19, write what you have seen, what is, and what will take place after this.
Micah McCormick: This is a nice template for the book.
Micah McCormick: John sees a vision of Christ.
Micah McCormick: He writes about the churches that are happening right now, and then in chapter four, it's what takes place later, after.
Micah McCormick: Third is called the historicist viewpoint of revelation.
Micah McCormick: You hear the word history in that, right?
Micah McCormick: So for historicists, they don't think these symbols are mainly about a small window of time around 8070.
Micah McCormick: They don't think it's about some smaller window of time in the future.
Micah McCormick: They see the events as different specific events throughout history.
Micah McCormick: So the third trumpet might be the bubonic plague.
Micah McCormick: The fourth bowl might be the French Revolution, that kind of a thing.
Micah McCormick: This is not as popular today.
Micah McCormick: I've never personally met anyone that held this viewpoint.
Micah McCormick: If that's you, come talk to me afterwards.
Micah McCormick: I'd love to hear more about your thoughts on this.
Micah McCormick: It was, uh it used to be a little bit more popular.
Micah McCormick: Jonathan Edwards held this viewpoint.
Micah McCormick: Arguably the greatest American theologian.
Micah McCormick: Who am I to disagree with Jonathan Edwards?
Micah McCormick: I mean, come on.
Micah McCormick: And then the final viewpoint is called the idealist viewpoint.
Micah McCormick: And for idealists, the symbols in Revelation are not primarily about window of time in the past or the future or specific events along the way, but rather they're about the cosmic conflict between good and evil that's happening all from Christ's first coming to his second coming.
Micah McCormick: And they would say the nature of apocalyptic literature is not so much to give a timeline as it is to give surround sound speakers different vantage points on the same type of climactic events that have been taking place since Christ came into the world.
Micah McCormick: However, I think all of those viewpoints can still agree on the big idea I put forward.
Micah McCormick: Worshiping Christians will endure to the end because Christ is reigning to the end.
Micah McCormick: So let me move on here.
Micah McCormick: Let me give you some resources.
Micah McCormick: There are some great sermon series.
Micah McCormick: One sermon, I obviously can't cover everything in Revelation, but I'll give you a couple of names.
Micah McCormick: There's a man named Tom Schreiner who preached through Revelation, and you can find his sermon series online.
Micah McCormick: That's excellent.
Micah McCormick: There's another former pastor of mine named Brad Baum.
Micah McCormick: He recently preached a number of messages in his church through the book of Revelation, so you can check those out.
Micah McCormick: Commentaries, there's a guy named GK Beale.
Micah McCormick: Now, his commentary is like a thousand pages.
Micah McCormick: It's not easy to read straight through, but to dip in at a specific point and try to see what's going on, it's helpful.
Micah McCormick: If you want to look at the shorter commentary, it's still 500 pages.
Micah McCormick: But if you get one of those books and tell Kevin Cooney, I want to try to work through a little bit of this.
Micah McCormick: He'll love you forever because Kevin loves the book of Revelation.
Micah McCormick: Kevin Cooney, our missionary in Indonesia.
Micah McCormick: Why does he love Revelation so much?
Micah McCormick: Because Kevin loves to speculate about whether the coronavirus vaccine is the mark of the beast or not.
Micah McCormick: That's not true.
Micah McCormick: That's not why he loves it.
Micah McCormick: I made that up.
Micah McCormick: Kevin loves revelation because it's about suffering Christians who are enduring and worshiping.
Micah McCormick: And isn't that what he's experiencing right now?
Micah McCormick: And yet isn't Christ reigning right now in Indonesia as much as he's reigning here, too?
Micah McCormick: Next tidbit, if you want to think of this as uh the Greek salad, um, you don't have to know the Greek language to appreciate the book of Revelation, but I would plead with you as a tool, when you come to the book of Revelation, first interpret the book of Revelation in light of the rest of the Bible.
Micah McCormick: Don't interpret it first through the lens of the European Union.
Micah McCormick: You want to see what's going on here.
Micah McCormick: G.K.
Micah McCormick: Chesterton said, though Saint John saw many strange monsters in his vision, he saw no creature so wild as one of his own commentators.
Micah McCormick: This is a book that is first and foremost about Christ and his reign.
Micah McCormick: It's not first and foremost about America or Russia or Iraq.
Micah McCormick: Let's dip into chapter 12.
Micah McCormick: Let's just sample so you can just kind of see one example.
Micah McCormick: We'll try to put some of these principles into practice a little bit here.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 12, turn over there right in the middle of the book.
Micah McCormick: Verse number one a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet.
Micah McCormick: And a crown of twelve stars on her head.
Micah McCormick: What's going on there with this woman?
Micah McCormick: So you think, wait a minute here.
Micah McCormick: I remember at the last Olympics, the opening ceremony, there was some horrific, you know, scene where there was a woman that had this celestial headdress on.
Micah McCormick: Oh my goodness.
Micah McCormick: This means there it is.
Micah McCormick: Jesus is gonna come back within seven years of when the Olympics happen.
Micah McCormick: Don't do that.
Micah McCormick: Stop.
Micah McCormick: Interpret first the Bible in light of the Bible, not in light of what happens to be the current event for you, whether you lived in 1500 or today or in as long as the Lord tarries.
Micah McCormick: Where in the Bible do you see a sun and a moon and 12 stars?
Micah McCormick: Joseph's dream.
Micah McCormick: Joseph has a dream where the sun and moon and 11 stars are bowing down to him, his father, his mother, and his brothers.
Micah McCormick: There's a lot of Old Testament illusions in the book of Revelation.
Micah McCormick: So with that in mind, I think that sounds kind of like mom, dad, 12 children of Israel.
Micah McCormick: That sounds like kind of like the nation of Israel.
Micah McCormick: Hmm.
Micah McCormick: Isn't Satan often in the Old Testament attacking the nation of Israel?
Micah McCormick: Yeah, yeah.
Micah McCormick: Now let's look at verse number three.
Micah McCormick: Another sign appeared in heaven.
Micah McCormick: There was a great fiery red dragon having seven horns and seven heads and ten horns.
Micah McCormick: Well, wait a minute, that sounds a lot like Satan.
Micah McCormick: Okay, it sounds like Satan.
Micah McCormick: How do you know it's Satan?
Micah McCormick: Well, look at verse number nine.
Micah McCormick: The great dragon was thrown out, the ancient serpent who was called the devil and Satan.
Micah McCormick: So this is a little easier.
Micah McCormick: Tells you right here in the passage, hey, it's Satan.
Micah McCormick: Yep, you're right.
Micah McCormick: So Satan is persecuting this woman.
Micah McCormick: And then, verse number five.
Micah McCormick: She gave birth to a son, a male who is going to rule all nations with an iron rod.
Micah McCormick: Her child was caught up to God and to his throne.
Micah McCormick: That is language that's used in other places to speak about Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: Born, gonna come back to rule with a rod of iron, ascended to God and to his throne.
Micah McCormick: Well, wait a minute, then that's but the mother of Jesus is Mary.
Micah McCormick: But what about the twelve stars and the crown in that?
Micah McCormick: Hmm.
Micah McCormick: Let's look all the way down in the chapter, towards the end of the chapter.
Micah McCormick: Verse number 17, how the chapter ends.
Micah McCormick: The dragon was furious with the woman and went off to wage war against the rest of her offspring.
Micah McCormick: Did Satan wage war especially against Jesus' immediate family, Mary's other biological children?
Micah McCormick: Well, maybe.
Micah McCormick: Again, did Satan make war against the people of Israel?
Micah McCormick: Yeah, under Pharaoh, he tried to stamp them out.
Micah McCormick: But then look what it goes on to say.
Micah McCormick: The rest of her offspring, those who keep the commands of God and hold firmly the testimony about Jesus.
Micah McCormick: Well, that's that's sadly not ethnic Israel today.
Micah McCormick: They're not doing that on the whole.
Micah McCormick: That's the people of God, that's Christians.
Micah McCormick: So it's a it's a it's a complex symbol.
Micah McCormick: You start with Israel persecuted by Satan, to whom the promises came.
Micah McCormick: You move to the birth of Jesus Christ, who comes through the nation of Israel, through the womb of Mary, and now all of us who by faith are united to Jesus Christ are part of the offspring of God, and Satan's trying to assault God's people.
Micah McCormick: So, do you have in this chapter suffering Christians and a reigning Christ?
Micah McCormick: Yes, you've got it there.
Micah McCormick: Let's turn over to Revelation 20.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 20.
Micah McCormick: This is, if you want to think of this as uh, if you're thinking in the holiday terms, this is like the fruitcake.
Micah McCormick: What exactly is in a fruitcake?
Micah McCormick: It's hard to say.
Micah McCormick: It's a little controversial.
Micah McCormick: Um, why am I going here?
Micah McCormick: Because I have a fear of man.
Micah McCormick: And if I don't say something about Revelation 20, people are gonna pounce on me, and I just, I'm a people pleaser.
Micah McCormick: What can I say?
Micah McCormick: Uh Revelation 20, the first 10 verses, you can divide it up into three scenes.
Micah McCormick: Verses 1 to 3, John sees Satan being bound.
Micah McCormick: Then verses 4 to 6, John sees saints reigning with Christ.
Micah McCormick: And then in verses 7 to 10, he sees a final battle.
Micah McCormick: Multiple times in these verses, there's a reference to a thousand years.
Micah McCormick: That's where we get the term millennium from.
Micah McCormick: It's not the major theme of Revelation.
Micah McCormick: Christ's reign is, although this is a this is a feature of it, an element of it.
Micah McCormick: And to summarize in brief, Christians see these thousand years, and some Christians see Jesus returning to earth before these thousand years takes place.
Micah McCormick: He returns a second time, and then there's this thousand-year period of Christ's rule, and then we get to the final eternal state, new heavens and new earth.
Micah McCormick: Other Christians see these thousand years as happening in some sense before Jesus returns again.
Micah McCormick: That it might even be going on right now, and then Jesus comes back, and there's the final new heavens and the new earth.
Micah McCormick: So this is something that's our church's statement of faith intentionally doesn't take a stand on this.
Micah McCormick: It's not the easiest question.
Micah McCormick: Not all the elders even agree on this question.
Micah McCormick: And you notice, Bonner, thank you for being here tonight.
Micah McCormick: The rest of the elders fled the scene.
Micah McCormick: They didn't even want to be here.
Micah McCormick: They left me and you to face the sharks afterwards.
Micah McCormick: And, you know, but but since I'm here and I'm on the firing line, I'll give just my personal opinion.
Micah McCormick: I think that the millennium is actually going on right now.
Micah McCormick: Why do I say that?
Micah McCormick: Well, let me give you just three reasons.
Micah McCormick: Reason number one, the Bible already talks about Satan being bound before we get to Revelation 20.
Micah McCormick: Mark chapter 3, 27, Matthew 12, 29, Jesus speaks of binding the strong man in order to plunder his house.
Micah McCormick: Number two, up to this point in the book of Revelation, every scene of Christ ruling is a heavenly scene.
Micah McCormick: John's taken up into heaven where Christ is seated and ruling.
Micah McCormick: I don't find the compelling evidence to see a change of scene here.
Micah McCormick: I think what's been going on throughout Revelation is still going on here.
Micah McCormick: Christ is ruling from heaven, yet when believers die, those who belong to Christ, they're going to be right with him in the intermediate state, ruling alongside of him.
Micah McCormick: And then, third, just give one more reason, I think that viewpoint better fits with the rest of Scripture, where in other places of Scripture, it connects Christ's second coming with a final judgment, with resurrection, with the new heavens and the new earth.
Micah McCormick: There's not this specific statement of this intermediate period where there's people that are sinful, living with glorified saints.
Micah McCormick: It doesn't fit, I think, as well the rest of Scripture.
Micah McCormick: But let everyone be fully persuaded in their own mind.
Micah McCormick: All right?
Micah McCormick: Regardless of how you view that particular thousand years, do we see Christ reigning?
Micah McCormick: Yes.
Micah McCormick: Do we anticipate worship?
Micah McCormick: Yes, we do.
Micah McCormick: So let's turn to Revelation 21 and 22.
Micah McCormick: This is the end of Revelation, the end of all things.
Micah McCormick: And I really will, I think, talk about this a little bit next week.
Micah McCormick: Um, there's an image that didn't take as much time with tonight.
Micah McCormick: Revelation 19, the marriage supper of the Lamb, and then even the new Jerusalem is described as a bride adorned for her husband, where God is dwelling with humanity.
Micah McCormick: So I want to just read from you as we close tonight.
Micah McCormick: This is like, you know, this is like ice cream.
Micah McCormick: If you can't enjoy this, there's just no hope for you.
Micah McCormick: I don't know what to tell you.
Micah McCormick: But this is Revelation 22, verses 1 to 5.
Micah McCormick: Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Micah McCormick: Down the middle of the city's main street, the tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month.
Micah McCormick: The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse.
Micah McCormick: The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him.
Micah McCormick: They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Micah McCormick: Night will be no more, people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Micah McCormick: Because he reigns, we reign.
Micah McCormick: And this is so personal.
Micah McCormick: Um Christ reigns in a way that's different from the kings of the world.
Micah McCormick: That some of the kings of the world might have their own immediate personal acquaintances, but Christ invites all of his people to draw near to him and to be subjects and to be bride, to be servants and to be sons and daughters.
Micah McCormick: We get to be part of his family.
Micah McCormick: That's the glory of the future.
Micah McCormick: That's the glory that begins right now.
Micah McCormick: Worshiping Christians will endure to the end because Christ is reigning to the end.
Micah McCormick: Let's pray.
Micah McCormick: Lord God, we adore you.
Micah McCormick: We say, Lord, help us understand.
Micah McCormick: There are things in your word that at times we're perplexed by, but we want to steady to show ourselves approved.
Micah McCormick: We don't want to discount any of your word.
Micah McCormick: It's all profitable, it's all there, it's important for us.
Micah McCormick: And we thank you that we grab hold of Christ and we move from there.
Micah McCormick: We move out into the world, into the page of Scripture, into our own hearts and the hearts of others, knowing that you're reigning right now.
Micah McCormick: And though we suffer, we can endure, we must endure, we will endure.
Micah McCormick: There's joy that awaits us.
Micah McCormick: And even right now, we've experienced that joy in a significant degree.
Micah McCormick: Even right now in this life, houses and mothers and brothers multiplied to us.
Micah McCormick: And in the age to come, eternal life.
Micah McCormick: This is eternal life that we might know you.
Micah McCormick: Thank you for giving us this revelation of Jesus Christ.
Micah McCormick: What a fitting capstone to your word, the glory of our Savior on full display.
Micah McCormick: And we sing praising you for the joy that is in our hearts that cannot be taken away from us, no matter how governments or false teachers attack us, no matter what kinds of suffering that we might face in the future that we have no idea about right now.
Micah McCormick: Yet we endure all things for the sake of your chosen ones.
Micah McCormick: We endure all things, knowing that we're more than conquerors of the one who loved us and gave his life for us.
Micah McCormick: Thank you, O Lord, for your son, how we adore and worship him tonight.
Micah McCormick: May we worship him as we sing now in Jesus' name.
Micah McCormick: Amen.