WEBVTT 00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:05.599 So we are studying our way through the book of Revelation. 00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:09.439 So this is John's poetic letter at the end of the church. 00:00:09.519 --> 00:00:13.679 It can be quite a strange book, maybe a book you've avoided in the past. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:16.719 Filled with a lot of symbolic language. 00:00:16.879 --> 00:00:20.960 It has literal language, it has figurative language, makes it difficult. 00:00:21.199 --> 00:00:29.440 In Revelation 4, John began to have a vision, and he begins to write it down to the seven churches that he's writing to. 00:00:29.839 --> 00:00:37.200 Now, like so many things in the Christian faith, and like so many things in your friendships and your families, there are different views. 00:00:37.920 --> 00:00:38.880 There are different views. 00:00:38.960 --> 00:00:46.000 There's different views about the book of Revelation, and there's definitely different views as we head into chapters 6 through 20. 00:00:46.320 --> 00:00:49.520 So there is the dispensational premillennial view. 00:00:49.600 --> 00:00:50.880 There's a couple big words for you. 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:53.920 I'll give you a dollar if you use it this week in a conversation. 00:00:54.159 --> 00:00:58.399 It'll definitely up your intellectual status level and your friendships if you throw that one out. 00:00:58.560 --> 00:01:00.719 The dispensational premillennial view. 00:01:01.039 --> 00:01:02.320 You don't have to remember that. 00:01:02.960 --> 00:01:05.120 It's the left behind book series, okay? 00:01:05.200 --> 00:01:06.560 Like some of you read it. 00:01:06.879 --> 00:01:07.680 Why are you laughing? 00:01:07.840 --> 00:01:08.719 I don't know why you're laughing. 00:01:08.799 --> 00:01:09.840 It wasn't a joke. 00:01:10.719 --> 00:01:11.680 Maybe it was. 00:01:11.840 --> 00:01:13.200 Maybe the whole series was a joke. 00:01:13.280 --> 00:01:14.000 I'm not sure. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:16.560 What wasn't a joke was 80 million copies. 00:01:16.719 --> 00:01:18.560 Like some serious cash flow, right? 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:21.040 Those are the royalty checks we all wish for. 00:01:21.280 --> 00:01:22.879 80 million copies. 00:01:23.040 --> 00:01:24.799 So some of you read it, right? 00:01:25.359 --> 00:01:33.519 The Left Behind Book series is built on the dispensational pre-millennial view, which is there's a rapture. 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:48.000 Christians are taken up, sucked up to heaven, and then there's uh a horrible seven years of tribulation before Christ reigns for a thousand years, and then an eternal heaven. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:54.560 So it's a very uh literal um way to look at chapters 6 through 20. 00:01:54.640 --> 00:01:55.519 That's what that view is. 00:01:55.599 --> 00:01:56.560 Some of you hold that view. 00:01:56.640 --> 00:01:57.920 I'm not gonna belittle that view. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:02:00.319 I'm not gonna that people hold it. 00:02:00.879 --> 00:02:02.000 That's not my view. 00:02:02.159 --> 00:02:12.159 That's not the view that I'm gonna teach this morning, but that is your view, and perhaps you hold it with great conviction, and I welcome you to continue to hold it with great conviction, and you're welcome to be here. 00:02:12.479 --> 00:02:16.080 I'll be teaching what's called the Covenant Amillennial View. 00:02:16.560 --> 00:02:18.000 Covenant A millennial view. 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:21.919 Now, at this point, 92% of you wish you had stayed home and mowed the lawn. 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:26.960 Maybe I wish the same. 00:02:27.120 --> 00:02:30.159 I won't, maybe, maybe, maybe not, I don't know. 00:02:30.240 --> 00:02:31.360 You'll never know. 00:02:32.319 --> 00:02:34.000 So why does revelation matter? 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:35.360 Like, why does it really matter? 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:46.800 I mean, and that's something that I've wrestled with my whole life because this is the first time, as I've told you, this is the first time I've ever, it's the first time I've ever studied my way through this book, and it's the first time I've taught my way through this book. 00:02:47.039 --> 00:02:57.439 Um because it's just been such a crazy book at the end of the Bible that for me it just felt like, eh, uh, eh, I'll just, you know, I'll stick with Galatians. 00:02:57.759 --> 00:02:59.840 All right, but here's what Revelation gives us. 00:03:00.000 --> 00:03:05.280 Number one, the crazy book at the at the end of our Bible is not as crazy as people think. 00:03:05.599 --> 00:03:13.039 And that's really reassuring when people say, or we think, or I think, I struggle with the Bible because of Revelation. 00:03:13.280 --> 00:03:21.599 And the more we unpack Revelation, it gets less crazy as we understand John is using imagery and symbolic language. 00:03:21.759 --> 00:03:27.599 Number two, Revelation draws our hearts toward the astonishing greatness and lavish redeeming love of God. 00:03:27.759 --> 00:03:34.400 We saw that last week as we were in Revelation chapter 5, one of the most powerful chapters of the Bible. 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:43.680 And number three is that revelation helps us see God will restore the hurt and the sadness of the world. 00:03:43.919 --> 00:03:46.400 And in your hurt and your sadness. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:48.879 He will restore that. 00:03:50.319 --> 00:03:53.280 I love that word restoration or restore. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:56.000 It means to set all things right. 00:03:56.719 --> 00:03:58.879 For those wrongs to be made right. 00:03:59.759 --> 00:04:13.520 Two Saturdays ago at my U10 girls soccer game that I coach for my daughter with two other coaches because it takes three of us to handle 13 girls. 00:04:14.240 --> 00:04:18.959 We're driving, and it does, by the way, take three of us to handle the girl. 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:22.480 So we are driving the ball down the field. 00:04:23.120 --> 00:04:27.680 We get into the box, it is looking like this is gonna happen. 00:04:27.839 --> 00:04:29.279 We are gonna score. 00:04:30.480 --> 00:04:32.480 I forget which girl it was. 00:04:32.879 --> 00:04:44.240 She kicks it, and the defender puts her hand out, it hits her hand in the box, and I'm like, handball in the box, handball in the box. 00:04:44.560 --> 00:04:49.519 And because I'm thinking, penalty kick, we're gonna get a goal out of this. 00:04:50.160 --> 00:04:51.360 No whistle. 00:04:52.720 --> 00:04:54.160 I just keep yelling it. 00:04:54.319 --> 00:05:01.920 Like, hand bomb the box, hand bombing the and me and the ref, we make eye contact, handballing the box, yeah, like because he knows. 00:05:02.079 --> 00:05:03.439 I'm pretty sure he saw it. 00:05:03.600 --> 00:05:06.240 I'm pretty sure he saw it, and he just didn't want to stop the game. 00:05:06.480 --> 00:05:09.040 Because he's like, you know, let's just keep the thing going. 00:05:09.839 --> 00:05:17.120 It's nine-year-olds, and I'm like, he owes me. 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:20.160 Like, I I remember his face. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:21.600 We have a game today. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:26.079 If it's that referee, I'm just gonna walk by, look, hey, remember that handball in the box? 00:05:26.160 --> 00:05:27.120 You owe me, right? 00:05:27.279 --> 00:05:31.120 Because I want things set right. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:33.199 I want to be restored. 00:05:33.279 --> 00:05:35.199 I want I want my restoration. 00:05:36.319 --> 00:05:37.600 And you want restoration. 00:05:37.680 --> 00:05:38.959 Your heart does. 00:05:39.759 --> 00:05:41.680 Because somebody cheated on you. 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:43.199 Or you were cheated. 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:45.759 Or they hit you. 00:05:46.399 --> 00:05:53.120 Or that one friend, the one, the one friend, you didn't think it was gonna be them when they betrayed you. 00:05:54.639 --> 00:05:55.839 Or you're sick. 00:05:57.680 --> 00:06:01.120 Or you lost somebody before you thought you would lose them. 00:06:02.879 --> 00:06:12.319 Or you're uh like there's a war inside of you of fear or insecurity or anxiousness or loneliness. 00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:18.399 And you want to run or you want to medicate and maybe do those things, but we're all kind of crying out that question, J.R. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:26.240 Tolkien's question, Lord of the Rings, is everything sad going to come untrue? 00:06:26.560 --> 00:06:28.319 Will there be restoration? 00:06:28.800 --> 00:06:31.920 Now back to the soccer game, because it was such a big game. 00:06:32.319 --> 00:06:33.519 Such a big game. 00:06:33.839 --> 00:06:38.959 I mean, you two you ten girls, is where I project all of my anxieties come out on the soccer field. 00:06:39.040 --> 00:06:42.720 And so there we are, myself, Coach Grant, Coach Chris. 00:06:42.879 --> 00:06:44.879 Coach Grant is coaching the offense. 00:06:45.040 --> 00:06:47.040 Uh, Coach Chris is focused on the midfield. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:50.879 I'm kind of down by the defense and the goalie, okay? 00:06:52.720 --> 00:06:56.800 Now, I could tell you the game in a linear fashion, right? 00:06:57.360 --> 00:07:06.879 The game started, this happened, then that happened, then the girl was doing cartwheels, and the other team scored on us. 00:07:07.040 --> 00:07:11.279 Like a very linear way to tell the story. 00:07:12.079 --> 00:07:14.399 That's one way to tell it. 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:22.800 That would be a dispensational premillennial way to tell that soccer game. 00:07:23.040 --> 00:07:26.800 Now, I could tell you from a different way to tell the story. 00:07:27.040 --> 00:07:30.319 I could tell you my view of the entire game. 00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:36.879 And then I could start over and then tell you Chris's view of the entire game because he's at midfield. 00:07:36.959 --> 00:07:38.639 It's a little bit different perspective. 00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:42.160 And then I could start over and tell you Grant's view. 00:07:42.399 --> 00:07:49.680 Three different views, same game, but a way of recapping it and restarting and recapping it and restarting. 00:07:50.160 --> 00:07:53.519 So that way of storytelling is recalled recapulation. 00:07:53.680 --> 00:07:57.759 Maybe we read a novel that's done that from different people's points of view. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:08:00.240 You're recapping the same thing over and again. 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:02.160 This is what we see in the book of Revelation. 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:04.639 As we move forward from here on, this is what we see. 00:08:04.800 --> 00:08:06.879 We see seals today. 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:11.199 We're talking about five of the seven seals, then trumpets, then bowls. 00:08:11.360 --> 00:08:13.360 They all mean something, all this symbolism. 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:14.639 We're gonna unpack all that. 00:08:14.800 --> 00:08:23.279 But it's a telling of the problems and the pains of this world right now, from different angles. 00:08:24.319 --> 00:08:35.039 So, in this view that I'm kind of presenting to you, in this view, the end times are not something that will come in the future, but this is actually talking about our world right now. 00:08:35.279 --> 00:08:44.879 That the end times is something that is from the point of the resurrection and the ascension of Christ to when Christ will return and usher in eternal heaven. 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:48.080 That's an amillennial way of thinking about it. 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:50.240 So now let's look at the text. 00:08:50.639 --> 00:08:54.320 Revelation 6, 1 through 8. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:09:05.120 Now I watched when the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures say with a voice like thunder, Come. 00:09:05.360 --> 00:09:14.639 And I looked, and behold, a white horse, and its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering and to conquer. 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:22.000 When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, Come, and out came another horse bright red. 00:09:22.240 --> 00:09:30.080 Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword. 00:09:30.320 --> 00:09:38.879 When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, Come, and I looked, and behold, a black horse, and its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. 00:09:39.120 --> 00:09:50.000 And I heard what seemed to be a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine. 00:09:50.240 --> 00:09:59.679 When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come, and I looked, and behold, a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed him. 00:09:59.840 --> 00:10:08.799 And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by wild beasts of the earth. 00:10:10.000 --> 00:10:15.440 Now, that was always enough for me to not read Revelation. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:20.559 But remember, John is using imagery. 00:10:20.720 --> 00:10:25.200 He's pulling actually a lot of imagery from Zechariah chapter 6. 00:10:25.679 --> 00:10:27.919 And the Bible's filled with literal and figurative imagery. 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:29.120 We talked about last week. 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.240 I mean, even this verse 1, 6, verse 1, it says the lamb. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:33.360 So that's that's Christ. 00:10:33.519 --> 00:10:36.480 No, but Christ is not, like we said, he's not a literal lamb. 00:10:38.000 --> 00:10:39.679 He doesn't have four legs. 00:10:39.840 --> 00:10:41.600 He's not covered with wool. 00:10:41.840 --> 00:10:45.679 Just like you are called a sheep in the scriptures, but you're not a literal sheep. 00:10:45.759 --> 00:10:47.279 You don't have four legs right now. 00:10:47.440 --> 00:10:49.360 You are not covered with wool. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:50.000 Right? 00:10:50.159 --> 00:10:54.799 It's figurative language for us to discover something more. 00:10:57.279 --> 00:11:04.320 Point number one is this God will bring full restoration to all the sadness and all the brokenness. 00:11:04.480 --> 00:11:05.840 So let's go through these seals. 00:11:05.919 --> 00:11:08.240 We're gonna talk about five of them. 00:11:08.399 --> 00:11:13.120 The first seal and the first horse symbolizes conquest and victory. 00:11:13.600 --> 00:11:14.879 Conquest and victory. 00:11:15.039 --> 00:11:20.799 The second seal and the second horse symbolizes war, violence, and division. 00:11:22.799 --> 00:11:25.519 Remember, it's a description of our world right now. 00:11:26.799 --> 00:11:28.080 It's incredibly honest. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.519 The Bible's incredibly honest about our lives and our world. 00:11:31.840 --> 00:11:40.799 It doesn't find the reason to make up excuses that there's a war in Ukraine or that there's violence somewhere, there's division in families. 00:11:40.960 --> 00:11:45.279 The Bible doesn't care to sweep it under the rug. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:48.799 Romans 8, 23 and 24 says this. 00:11:49.039 --> 00:11:55.200 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together and the pains of childbirth until now. 00:11:55.519 --> 00:11:57.840 And not only the creation, but we. 00:11:58.639 --> 00:12:08.799 We ourselves who have the first fruits of the Spirit, we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 00:12:09.039 --> 00:12:12.720 Paul is saying this world isn't as it should be. 00:12:12.960 --> 00:12:19.679 Paul's admitting it, the Bible's admitting it, it's not as it should be, and God isn't finished yet. 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:25.200 That we're in the middle of the story of creation, fall, redemption, restoration. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:27.600 This week I was at a conference in New York. 00:12:27.919 --> 00:12:34.080 The title of the ministry and theological conference was Hope for a Weary World. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:38.320 Here's what I learned, summarizing. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:40.960 We hope because we are weary. 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:48.159 And we hope because we don't have yet what we need or what we want. 00:12:48.559 --> 00:12:53.840 That's why hope only exists when we don't have what we need or we want. 00:12:55.120 --> 00:13:04.080 And hope reaches into the future and it brings it brings some joy into the present groaning. 00:13:06.080 --> 00:13:08.080 The chaplain said this sentence. 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:10.559 I wrote this one down, highlighted it. 00:13:11.840 --> 00:13:20.720 Hope is gracious resignation through patient surrender to the slowness of God to restore. 00:13:21.919 --> 00:13:23.840 Hope is gracious resignation. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:25.600 That's our surrendering. 00:13:25.759 --> 00:13:29.519 Through patient surrender to the slowness of God to restore. 00:13:29.679 --> 00:13:31.279 Don't you just hate that? 00:13:31.519 --> 00:13:32.240 Like, don't you? 00:13:32.720 --> 00:13:34.960 I kind of went when I said it, you're like, eh, nah. 00:13:35.360 --> 00:13:37.279 Like, really should have mowed the lawn, right? 00:13:37.360 --> 00:13:41.039 Like, really, brunch would have been really nice. 00:13:42.240 --> 00:13:46.000 Resignation, surrender, God is slow. 00:13:47.440 --> 00:13:48.240 Like, yeah. 00:13:49.519 --> 00:13:51.279 Seems like a pretty good summary. 00:13:53.120 --> 00:13:54.960 I hope I get better. 00:13:55.440 --> 00:13:58.320 I hope my family's restored. 00:13:58.960 --> 00:14:01.120 I hope my children don't starve. 00:14:02.320 --> 00:14:04.080 I hope I get the job. 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:06.480 I hope the war ends. 00:14:09.840 --> 00:14:12.159 And hope doesn't explain your suffering. 00:14:13.279 --> 00:14:15.759 But it gives you a God that comes into your suffering. 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:19.840 A God who always came into suffering, who is visibly on the cross. 00:14:20.080 --> 00:14:22.000 And who isn't finished yet. 00:14:22.240 --> 00:14:28.480 That the story's not finished any slower than we want, and we're gonna have a bunch of questions. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:32.799 Third seal, third horse. 00:14:33.759 --> 00:14:37.279 Symbolizes economic oppression and inequality. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:41.360 Pretty good description of our world. 00:14:41.600 --> 00:14:44.879 Fourth seal, fourth horse, symbolizes death. 00:14:45.120 --> 00:14:49.440 Now that verse eight, they are given a fourth of the world. 00:14:49.759 --> 00:14:59.519 It's a way to say we we live in days, it's not an exact number, we live in days of sickness and illness, war, death. 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:04.720 But, but don't forget the first horse. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:07.279 See, John's saying something in all this. 00:15:07.440 --> 00:15:08.240 Beautiful imagery. 00:15:08.320 --> 00:15:09.200 He's a poet. 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:11.759 We have to be willing to come at this understanding. 00:15:12.000 --> 00:15:14.159 John is he is a poet here. 00:15:15.200 --> 00:15:17.360 The white horse is first. 00:15:17.600 --> 00:15:21.919 The white horse is foremost, and the other horses are following. 00:15:23.039 --> 00:15:26.559 Now, we might as well go ahead and open up the can of worms all the way. 00:15:26.799 --> 00:15:34.799 And I debated whether to open up the can of worms all the way or not, but there's two of you that actually know this fact, so I'll go ahead and put it out there so you don't have to come and send me emails afterwards. 00:15:34.879 --> 00:15:36.879 And here's the issue. 00:15:37.360 --> 00:15:38.320 The issue is this. 00:15:38.480 --> 00:15:51.679 Some people think a lesser percentage of scholars think that this letter was written in the mid-60s, like 60 AD, like 60 years after. 00:15:52.559 --> 00:15:56.080 But most scholars think it was written in about 90 A.D. 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:56.559 Okay? 00:15:56.960 --> 00:16:07.120 Now, if Revelation was written closer to the mid-60s, then many of all these judgment scenes and descriptions probably describe the destruction of Jerusalem in A.D. 00:16:07.279 --> 00:16:07.840 70. 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:10.399 And they have nothing to do with anything I've just said. 00:16:10.639 --> 00:16:12.720 Like, just you can just forget all of it. 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:13.200 Okay? 00:16:14.000 --> 00:16:21.919 But if the book was written in the mid-90s after the destruction of Jerusalem, then everything I just said has pretty good legitimacy and you should consider it. 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:30.240 All that to say, we really have to approach this with some humility and not rigid certainty. 00:16:30.399 --> 00:16:33.600 And certainly not something to argue and fight about. 00:16:34.159 --> 00:16:34.879 Verse 9. 00:16:35.039 --> 00:16:43.440 When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:46.159 So that persecution, we could summarize that. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:56.159 Verse 10, they cried out with a loud voice, O sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on earth? 00:16:56.320 --> 00:17:07.359 Then they were given, each given a white robe and told to rest a little longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brothers should be complete, who were to be killed as they themselves have been. 00:17:07.680 --> 00:17:12.880 So the fifth seal symbolizes the suffering of God's people. 00:17:13.759 --> 00:17:18.240 Point number two is this we live in the already but not yet. 00:17:18.480 --> 00:17:19.599 Say it a lot in our church. 00:17:19.680 --> 00:17:25.599 We live in the already but not yet, waiting for ultimate restoration in heaven. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:26.880 That's the story. 00:17:26.960 --> 00:17:28.160 It's our existence. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:29.759 The already but not yet. 00:17:29.920 --> 00:17:30.799 Christ's kingdom. 00:17:30.960 --> 00:17:36.880 Christ reigns, yet the world is still broken and battered. 00:17:37.200 --> 00:17:39.759 The Bible's the first to admit that. 00:17:40.640 --> 00:17:41.920 Our belovedness. 00:17:42.079 --> 00:17:55.519 We are fully loved, we are fully righteous, we are fully forgiven, we are secure with God because of Christ's work on the cross, our sin put upon him, his righteousness given to us, all of it's secure, it is already, it is secure. 00:17:55.680 --> 00:18:01.759 Yet, we don't always fully and perfectly experience that on like a Tuesday morning. 00:18:03.039 --> 00:18:04.799 It's already, but not yet. 00:18:05.039 --> 00:18:08.880 Ephesians 6, 4 through 7. 00:18:09.279 --> 00:18:15.279 But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great wealth with which he loved us, what a great phrase. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:20.000 Even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. 00:18:20.160 --> 00:18:23.359 By grace you have been saved and raised us up with him. 00:18:23.680 --> 00:18:24.880 And where are we at? 00:18:25.200 --> 00:18:33.759 Seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace and kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:47.200 So verse 6, we are already seated with him in heavenly places, yet we're here in Marietta at Redeemer Church this morning, and I'm a little bound up and anxious and not feeling perfect, just like you aren't feeling perfect. 00:18:47.599 --> 00:18:49.359 And maybe you're discontent. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:52.319 Maybe you're ashamed, maybe you're guilty. 00:18:53.359 --> 00:18:54.880 You're already, but not yet. 00:18:55.039 --> 00:18:58.079 And yet you have that seat, that already seat in the heavenly places. 00:18:58.160 --> 00:18:59.920 And so you have that already, but then not yet. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:01.200 We're not yet experiencing that. 00:19:01.279 --> 00:19:02.559 We don't know that in full. 00:19:02.799 --> 00:19:16.240 So, Romans 8.23, so we groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons or children, daughters, the redemption of our bodies. 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:26.319 In 1887, the Russian artist Viktor Vasnattsov painted the four horsemen of the apocalypse. 00:19:28.480 --> 00:19:29.599 Now maybe you're here. 00:19:29.680 --> 00:19:30.480 I mean, look at this, right? 00:19:30.559 --> 00:19:32.079 We just we just went through this, right? 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.599 First horse, second horse, third, fourth. 00:19:39.039 --> 00:19:41.039 Just look at the painting while I talk for a little bit. 00:19:41.599 --> 00:19:48.640 Maybe you're here and you know the hurt and the chaos of those horses. 00:19:49.680 --> 00:19:51.440 Maybe it's not your style of art, okay? 00:19:51.680 --> 00:19:52.240 Maybe not. 00:19:52.880 --> 00:19:54.880 But you know the hurt and the chaos. 00:19:56.400 --> 00:20:08.240 Maybe your heart breaks for the millions of people right now being genocided, exiled, raped, enslaved, starved, killed right now. 00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:14.960 Or maybe you're just lonely. 00:20:16.559 --> 00:20:19.200 Or maybe you're a survivor of abuse. 00:20:19.680 --> 00:20:21.039 You can't seem to get over it. 00:20:21.759 --> 00:20:23.200 Maybe you're being abused. 00:20:24.640 --> 00:20:28.559 Maybe the bills keep coming. 00:20:29.519 --> 00:20:30.799 And you can't cover. 00:20:32.319 --> 00:20:33.279 Oh man. 00:20:33.680 --> 00:20:35.359 And it just won't leave your mind. 00:20:36.000 --> 00:20:38.000 Like just a little financial relief. 00:20:39.279 --> 00:20:45.039 Maybe there's division in your family or in your marriage. 00:20:45.599 --> 00:20:47.039 Maybe with your children. 00:20:50.319 --> 00:20:51.599 Maybe you're sick. 00:20:52.480 --> 00:20:53.279 Maybe you're dying. 00:20:53.359 --> 00:20:54.319 Maybe you're suffering. 00:20:54.559 --> 00:20:56.400 Maybe you're suffering because you're a Christian. 00:20:56.640 --> 00:20:57.599 In some way? 00:20:58.480 --> 00:20:59.119 At work? 00:20:59.359 --> 00:21:00.400 In romance? 00:21:00.720 --> 00:21:02.240 In your neighborhood. 00:21:03.359 --> 00:21:05.200 So you know these horses. 00:21:05.759 --> 00:21:06.079 Right? 00:21:06.240 --> 00:21:07.759 We know these horses. 00:21:09.039 --> 00:21:10.799 We're worn out by these horses. 00:21:10.960 --> 00:21:13.200 We were beat down by these horses. 00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:16.319 Remember that first horse. 00:21:17.440 --> 00:21:25.279 Isn't it interesting that he he painted it with a horse and he turned around, aiming that bow backward at the other three. 00:21:27.920 --> 00:21:29.440 And then look at the top of the painting. 00:21:29.599 --> 00:21:32.000 You probably kind of discovered it at this point, right? 00:21:32.480 --> 00:21:34.240 At the top, very small. 00:21:37.200 --> 00:21:38.720 There's the lamb and the word. 00:21:39.759 --> 00:21:44.880 As if to say, all this we experience will come to an end. 00:21:46.480 --> 00:21:49.039 And we will groan, but we have hope. 00:21:49.359 --> 00:21:51.519 We are already, but not yet. 00:21:52.880 --> 00:21:55.519 Yesterday morning I woke up in New York. 00:21:55.680 --> 00:21:58.880 It was the last morning of the conference. 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:01.200 I just wanted to come home. 00:22:01.599 --> 00:22:02.880 Been up there most of the week. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:05.839 I was ready to come home and see my girls. 00:22:06.160 --> 00:22:10.480 I wanted to see trees instead of buildings. 00:22:10.640 --> 00:22:16.160 I wanted to see Zorgiagrass instead of dog urine on sidewalks. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:25.759 I wanted to walk down a sidewalk and not have the stench of the sewer come up, just up from underneath you. 00:22:28.400 --> 00:22:31.920 Toilet air just randomly hitting you at different moments. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:39.039 You think you're having a great morning, holding the hand of your wife, walking through New York, and then the toilet air just hits you. 00:22:42.160 --> 00:22:43.599 Just wanted to come home, right? 00:22:43.680 --> 00:22:45.920 I'm a resident of Marietta. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:49.599 I'm not a resident of New York. 00:22:50.160 --> 00:22:52.319 Maybe you live there, maybe you're from there. 00:22:52.559 --> 00:22:55.359 Maybe you know all about the toilet air and you like it. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:56.400 I don't know. 00:22:57.039 --> 00:22:58.400 I don't like it. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:23:00.880 Give me about two days and I'm ready to come home. 00:23:00.960 --> 00:23:03.759 I'm an alien in New York. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:06.160 It's not my home. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:12.640 So when I'm there, my residency is here. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:13.359 Right? 00:23:13.519 --> 00:23:17.680 Yesterday morning, I was groaning to come home. 00:23:18.079 --> 00:23:19.359 Already, but not yet. 00:23:19.440 --> 00:23:21.839 I'm already a citizen somewhere else. 00:23:22.480 --> 00:23:23.599 But I'm not yet there. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:30.000 And then this morning to wake up and go for a walk, and there's no toilet air, and there's grass and there's trees, like, this is it. 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:31.359 This is where we live. 00:23:31.519 --> 00:23:34.960 I mean, there's like, we made good choices in life. 00:23:36.079 --> 00:23:37.039 Amazing. 00:23:41.119 --> 00:23:42.400 Wasn't it interesting in the painting? 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:44.079 Throw the painting up one more time. 00:23:44.400 --> 00:23:50.319 It's interesting in the painting that the artist chose to make the lamb and the word so small. 00:23:53.200 --> 00:23:56.000 I don't know, I'm not an art historian. 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:01.039 But to me, it just sort of felt like, man, that's what it feels like a lot of times. 00:24:01.279 --> 00:24:04.960 Like, it feels like you really feel those horses a lot. 00:24:08.559 --> 00:24:13.039 As if to say, like, this is true, but we won't always feel this way. 00:24:13.440 --> 00:24:15.519 But it's still true. 00:24:17.359 --> 00:24:24.400 For there will be a day, and I don't know how it technically works out, but there will be a day. 00:24:25.119 --> 00:24:30.000 There will be a day when all the sad things come untrue. 00:24:30.720 --> 00:24:33.519 Creation, fall, redemption, restoration. 00:24:33.839 --> 00:24:43.200 When there will be a gentle wiping away by God, a gentle wiping away of every tear and every fear. 00:24:43.440 --> 00:24:44.880 Let's pray together. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:51.519 God, thank you that you have given us a home. 00:24:52.720 --> 00:24:55.279 You've given us a home in you. 00:24:59.599 --> 00:25:04.079 Thank you that you are the first to admit that we live in a suffering world that is broken. 00:25:05.599 --> 00:25:10.880 And that our resting place is not in this world, but our resting place is in you and in you alone. 00:25:13.200 --> 00:25:15.119 Help us to trust in you. 00:25:17.279 --> 00:25:19.039 Help us to rest in you. 00:25:19.519 --> 00:25:21.839 Help us to have hope in you. 00:25:24.160 --> 00:25:27.359 Help us to groan well. 00:25:29.440 --> 00:25:41.119 Help us to reach forward and hope for some joy, that you are a God, even though you are slow, that you are our God of restoration, and you're with us in our suffering. 00:25:41.759 --> 00:25:43.200 That you do not leave us. 00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:49.119 And I pray for those of us here this morning that these horses are all too real. 00:25:50.640 --> 00:25:52.799 I pray that you would be a great comforter. 00:25:54.240 --> 00:26:08.960 God, I pray that you would show up in the midst of their hurt and pain and woundedness in an incredibly profound way inside of their spirits and their souls. 00:26:11.759 --> 00:26:21.039 We thank you that you are a God who favors the suffering, favors the weak, favors those who come with empty hands, and says that we need you. 00:26:21.359 --> 00:26:22.640 In Jesus' name we pray. 00:26:22.880 --> 00:26:23.279 Amen.