Essentials #11: THE END (Revelation 21:1 - 22:21 (excerpts)) | 11/21/2021
Revelation 21:1 - 22:21 (excerpts) | 11/21/21 | Will DuVal
But this morning is our eleventh and final Sunday in our “Essentials” sermon series… We have considered together:
The BIBLE, GOD, HUMANITY, God’s PLAN, JESUS, the GOSPEL, the HOLY SPIRIT, the CHURCH, the ORDINANCES, MISSION…
And now, we come to THE END. Of this series, of human history; it’s the end of the WORLD (as we know it).
But before we dive in, I want to say a word about what’s come to be referred to as “theological TRIAGE”, or prioritization. We sometimes talk about “1st, 2nd and 3rd tier” issues, in the Church.
A 1st tier issue divides a Christian from a non-Christian. Our 11 “Essentials” - hence the name; If you don’t believe in GOD, that the BIBLE is His word, that man is sinful, but God had a plan to redeem us, through Jesus, HIS gospel, to indwell us through the HOLY SPIRIT, as a CHURCH, for the purpose of MISSION - if you don’t believe those things, you are not a Christian. Now, you may have noticed I left one of our “essentials” OUT again; which brings us to...
2nd tier issues: they differentiate churches and denominations from one another. Baptism, is a second-tier issue. We have Presyterian, Lutheran, Anglican… brothers and sisters who understand baptism differently than we do as Baptists; we love them, and we look forward to worshipping together in HEAVEN one day. But because we can’t both baptize and NOT baptize babies, we often congregate accordingly. Calvinism vs. Arminianism. Continuationism vs. Cessationism. Complementarianism vs. Egalitarianism. These are all second-tier issues.
3rd Tier issues are disagreements amongst individual congregants within a church. These are issues we do NOT divide and start new churches over. And ESCHATOLOGY - one’s view of the END TIMES, our subject for this morning - fits squarely within this category. And we’re going to see there are at least THREE different options open to faithful students of God’s word, for understanding Christ’s return and the “last days”. By the way, not only is one’s interpretation of how it’s all gonna END a third tier issue, but so too is your reading of how it all BEGAN - Genesis 1&2: was it 6 literal days, or 6 spans of time? 3rd tier issue.
Some pastors would add a FOURTH tier: the issues we shouldn’t even care enough about to disagree over in the first place - the color of the carpet in the sanctuary. The use of the DRUMSET, in worship.
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Now, that said, our church’s statement of faith ABOUT the last days, is debatably a FIRST tier issue, an “essential”. That’s because our stance is generic enough that all THREE of the historic, orthodox eschatological positions - PRE-millennialism, A-millennialism, and POST-millennialism (I’ll define each of those for you in a minute) - but all 3 camps would affirm our doctrinal stance. And that is purposeful; our statement of faith is meant to UNIFY us as a church. I know for a FACT that we have PRE-millennialists, A-millennialists, AND POST-millennialists here this morning, members of this church. And more than anything else, we’ve probably got a whole lot of “PAN”-millennialists, like me, who don’t have a strong opinion either way, and just trust God that it’ll all PAN out in the end.
But my goal over the next 37 min or so is very simple. Jesus said the greatest commandment is to “love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength.” In the first half of this sermon, I want to summarize the 3 eschatological views for you, and invite you to love God with your MIND, as you consider all these little CLUES He’s left us in His word about the End, and appreciate the fascinating ways Christians have come up with over the last 2,000 years for piecing all the biblical evidence together. In the second half of the sermon, I’m gonna encourage you to love God with all your HEART as well, as we consider the truths that ALL Christians agree on - deep, transformative, heartfelt truths about the climax of history and God’s plan. Then, we’re going to respond to God’s word, as we ALWAYS do on Sundays, in prayer, song, and communion, to engage our SOULS’ worship of the Lord. And finally, we’ll send you out to love God with all your strength, as you are motivated and empowered to bear WITNESS to this good news throughout your life this week.
But first, let’s stand (as you’re able), and go to God’s word together: Revelation 21:1 - 22:21 (excerpts). And after I’ve READ the passage, I’ll invite you to respond - as you feel led to - by verbally affirming your belief in these truths, as reflected in our church statement of faith.
Hear the word of the Lord: from Revelation chs21 & ch22:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.[c] 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
...20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all.[d] Amen.”
Your Response? We believe that “Jesus Christ will one day personally and bodily return to earth with his angels, exercising his role as final Judge and consummating his kingdom. There will be a bodily resurrection of the just (believers) to eternal blessedness in God’s presence, and of the unjust (unbelievers) to judgment and eternal punishment. God will establish a new heaven and a new earth, where God will dwell with his people and “will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.””
Amen. Let us pray...
Let’s start with what we DON’T know, for sure, about Jesus’ second coming; these are the things we debate and disagree over, in the Church, in THIS church, West Hills: we DO NOT know WHEN or HOW Jesus will return.
Now, in one sense, my point is biblically obvious; we don’t know WHEN he’ll return:
Luke 12:40 ““You must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.””
Matthew 24:42 ““Therefore, stay awake, for you do not know on what day your Lord is Coming.” (see also 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Pet 3:10; Rev 3:3 Rev 16:15)
So we can ALL laugh together at folks like Harold Camping, who would even ATTEMPT to predict the year, even the exact DAY, on which Christ would return. October 21, 2011. Can you imagine how HE felt on October 22?
But when I say “we don’t know WHEN Jesus will return,” I mean even more broadly that we don’t know when he’ll return in RELATION to The Millennium. You’ll notice that all 3 previously mentioned eschatological camps - PRE-millennialism, A-millennialism, and POST-millennialism - all derive their names in relation to the MILLENNIUM; the 1,000 year reign of Christ in the last days, predicted by Revelation ch20. We jokingly say that “the Millennium is a thousand years of peace that Christians love to fight about”. But let’s read that passage; the apostle John is given this vision, by God, in Revelation 20:
“Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit[a] and a great chain. 2 And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, 3 and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended. After that he must be released for a little while…. [v6] Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years. 7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle… but fire came down from heaven[b] and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”
Now, as each of their names indicate: PREmillennialists expect Christ to return BEFORE that millennium; POSTmillennialists expect him to return AFTER the millennium; and Amillennialists expect NO future, earthly millennium, because they think Christ is already presently reigning from Heaven.
So let’s zoom in on each, and it might be most helpful to do so in TIMELINE form, outlining how each view makes sense of 6 key events frequently associated with the “end times”; all 6 of these are undisputedly biblical events. The question is: WHEN and HOW each of them will take place:
1) Christ’s second coming: Rev 1:7 - “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him” (See also Matt 16:27; Acts 1:11; Heb 9:28; Titus 2:13; Rev 22:12)
2) The Rapture: 1 Thess 4:17 “we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (see also Matthew 24:29-31; (1 Corinthians 15:51-52; )
3) The Tribulation: Matt 24:21 “then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.” (also Dan 12:1; Rev 3:10)
4) The Battle of Armageddon: Rev 16:14-16 “the kings of the whole world assemble[d] for battle on the great day of God the Almighty… at the place… called Armageddon.” (also Rev 19:11-21)
5) The Millennium: Rev 20 (which we already read)
6) And finally, the Restoration of the New Heavens and the New Earth: which we ALSO already read, from Rev ch21.
Those are the 6 big puzzle pieces that all 3 eschatological views are trying to put together.
Now, PREMILLENNIALISM is tricky, because there are actually 2 separate SUB-camps.
First, there are the “historic premillennialists”, who believe that the signs of the end times that Jesus mentions in Matthew 24 - wars, false Messiahs, famines and earthquakes - all that will come first, and culminate in the Great Tribulation, which itself culminates in the Battle of Armageddon. THEN Christ will return to win that battle, rapture the believers on earth, raise the dead saints, and bind Satan, beginning his millennial reign on the earth with his people. After 1,000 years, Satan is released, defeated for good, cast into the Lake of Fire along with all those who rejected Christ, and then God will remake the new heavens and new earth, where believers will live with Him forevermore. That was the view of the early church; hence the title: “historic premillennialists”.
The second type of premillennialism, though, is Dispensationalism, developed in the mid-19th c. by John Nelson Darby, but popularized in the 1990s by the “Left Behind” books and films. Pastor Thad joked that in lieu of preaching this morning, I should have just shown you the “Left Behind” movies; I highly recommend them (NOT because I’m a dispensationalist!).
But according to dispensational premillennialists: Jesus is coming back THREE times! Once, to Rapture the Church and save us from the 7-year Tribulation period and subsequent Battle of Armageddon - Rev 16; then He’s coming back a second time - Rev 19 - to WIN that battle and reign on earth for 1,000 years; and then finally a THIRD time - Rev 20 - to win the final battle over Satan and cast him in the lake of fire, and make all things new.
For those who care: John Piper is a historic premillennialist; John MacArthur is a Dispensationalist.
The greatest strength of premillennialism, in BOTH its forms, is its commitment to a literal, plain-sense reading of the Bible, specifically, the Book of Revelation. Now, amillennialists and postmillennialists will point out that as a genre, Apocalyptic literature, like the Book of Revelation, is typically highly symbolic in nature, and not intended to be taken literally. But when in doubt, it’s better to err on the side of faithfulness to the plain sense reading of the text. Another strength of premillennialism is its concern for OT prophecies regarding the nation of ISRAEL. Premillennialists would argue that MANY of God’s promises to Israel in the OT - Isaiah chs 2, 9, 11, Zechariah 14 - not to mention some of God’s NT promises like Romans 11:26 “all Israel will be saved” - have not yet been fulfilled. So their understanding of the future Tribulation and Millennium specifically allows for the repentance and salvation of Israel.
The biggest weakness of premillennialism is that once you get OUTSIDE the Book of Revelation in the NT, there are a LOT of coming events foretold that seem to be directly associated with Jesus’ second coming, that premillennialism doesn’t account for until AFTER His 1,000 year reign.
The defeat of Death, in 1 Corinthians 15.
The renovation of the new heavens and new earth, in 2 Peter 3.
The resurrection of our bodies in Romans 8.
The judgment of unbelievers in 2 Thessalonians ch1…
ALL these various prophesies that are supposed to accompany Christ’s return, are harder to explain for premillennialists, who say that NONE of it will happen until at least 1,000 years AFTER his return.
Second, there’s POST-millennialism. As the name suggests, Christ returns AFTER the 1,000 year period, which post-millennialists envision as a kind of “Christian Golden Age”, in which the Church has successfully accomplished Jesus’ Great Commission to “make disciples of all nations”; Postmillennialists optimistically anticipate a coming day when the gospel will not only penetrate, but actually pervade every culture on earth, inaugurating 1,000 years of peace and Christ’s reign on earth through the hearts of his people. Moreover, postmillennialists read the vast majority of the Book of Revelation - most of chs.1-19 - as having already been symbolically fulfilled in past events in history. For instance, the Tribulation and all its cataclysmic events - ⅓ of the waters on earth turning to BLOOD, stars falling from the heavens; all the “signs of the times” that Jesus referred to in Matthew 24 - postmillennialists view most, if not ALL of it, as prophecy predicting the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in the year 70AD. The Emperor Nero is the Beast of Revelation ch13, etc. So all the WORST stuff is behind us already; now we’re just looking forward to the 1,000 year Golden Age, which will culminate in Christ’s return to defeat death and Satan once and for all.
Jonathan Edwards and RC Sproul were postmillennialists.
The strength of postmillennialism is that it “honor[s] the power of the gospel and the promises of the Old Testament for the triumph of God’s people over all the nations. ” (Piper, “Evening of Eschatology”, 2009, https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/an-evening-of-eschatology). Passages like Hosea 2, Isaiah 2, Isaiah 45; Psalm 72, and Psalm 2, where God promises His Son, that “I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession.” Postmillennialists will also point out that the context of Jesus’ prediction of “signs and tribulations” in Matthew 24 was his having been asked by his disciples about THE TEMPLE. So he’s specifically predicting its destruction, which - they’ll also point out - Jesus claims: “this generation will not pass away until all these things take place.” (v34) He seemed to expect an immediate fulfillment.
The weakness of Postmillennialism is that Jesus ALSO said in Matthew 24 that “this great tribulation” would be SO bad, that there “has not been [anything LIKE it] from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.” (v21) The destruction of the Temple in AD70 was bad, but it wasn’t THAT bad. Postmillennialism also requires that the Book of Revelation be written, completed, before the year 70 AD, which is historically problematic. And then there’s the issue of postmillennialism’s optimism; if I asked you: “Which is more likely, that Christianity is going to SO thoroughly take over the globe that the world will experience 1,000 years of peace… OR, that YES, the gospel will GO to every corner of the earth, as Jesus promised, but only through suffering and persecution”… which sounds more plausible to you, as you look around the world today? But that’s postmillennialism.
Finally, AMILLENNIALISM. The name is misleading, because amillennialists DO believe in a millennium; it’s just not a future, earthly, literal 1,000 years; rather, the millennium was inaugurated at Jesus’ death and resurrection, and he now presently reigns in and from HEAVEN, with saints in the intermediate state who have died and gone to be with him there. So here’s their timeline: the Millennium is already under way; has been for 2,000 years now (the 1,000 years of Rev 20 was just symbolic for “a LONG time”). But through the triumph of His death and resurrection, Christ effectively BOUND Satan, but only in a very specific sense, as Rev 20 itself indicates: “so that [Satan] might not deceive the nations any longer” (v3). So Amillennialists believe that Satan still prowls around like a lion, but he’s a lion on a leash; he can no longer keep the gospel from going forward to all nations. But because people still REJECT the gospel, persecution and tribulation still exist and increase, will culminate, in the VERY last days, in the Battle of Armageddon, at which time Christ will return, the Church will be raptured to meet him in the clouds, to welcome him down to earth, before He throws Satan in Hell for good and makes all things new.
St. Augustine and Sam Storms are amillennialists.
The great strength of amillennialism is the centrality it places on Christ’s finished work in His first coming, His death and resurrection. Jesus did what he SAID he came to do: Matthew 12, to bind the ‘strong man’, Satan;
Colossians 2:15 - God “disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in [Christ].””
Hebrews 2:15 - “through [his] death [Christ] destroy[ed] the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil...”
1 Jn 3:8 “The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”
So amillennialists aren’t sitting around WAITING on Christ’s kingdom and reign; it’s already HERE! So let’s get AFTER it!
A Premillennialist might ask: “well what about all of God’s promises to Israel, in the OT”? To which an Amillennialists would reply with 2 Cor 1:20: “ALL the promises of God find their Yes in [Christ].”
The weaknesses of Amillennialism are deciphering which passages in Revelation should be taken literally, and which figuratively. The 70 weeks prophesied in Daniel 7 becomes tricky. And in Acts 1, when Jesus’ disciples asked him before he Ascended back into heaven: ““Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?””, he didn’t reply: “You dummies - I just RESTORED it! In my death and resurrection!” Instead he responded: ““It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” (1:7)
So with ALL of that said, why does any of this MATTER? If we can’t know for sure which position is RIGHT, why even BOTHER? Very quickly, but most importantly of all, on this section; 5 reasons we ought to care about eschatology, how it’s all gonna end:
1) It ought to make us more studious. We ought to diligently devote ourselves to the study of the Scriptures, to prayerfully discern the truth. The more complex a doctrine is, the more persistent we ought to be in study. I had to confess and repent the past week, that just the OPPOSITE is true for me, personally. I’ve avoided eschatology, because I KNEW it was hairy. May it not be so of us, Church. It is ALL God’s word; blessed is He who passionately seeks to understand.
2) Studying eschatology ought to make us more HUMBLE. At the end of the day, we really DON’T know, which biblical certainty, which of the 3 positions is right - if ANY! They could ALL be wrong! If studying the end times is making you more PRIDEFUL, you’re doing it wrong. We all need a healthy dose of humility, which is a wonderful thing: God exalts the humble, but He humbles the prideful.
3) Not only do we begin to realize how much we DON’T know, but we simultaneously realize how much God DOES know, so studying eschatology makes us more WORSHIPFUL. Of just how SOVEREIGN our God is - He alone knows, and can accomplish His good plans for the end of the world. Praise Him!
4) It ought to make us more FRUITFUL. Hebrews 10:24-25 “let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works… and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” Considering the end times ought to give a sense of URGENCY, that we really DON’T know when our Owner will return to demand a PROFIT on the INVESTMENT of the gospel that He has made IN us. If He gave you 5 minas, he expects a RETURN. 2 minas? Be fruitful and multiply. If He only gave you 1 mina, but you failed to pay it forward, to “GO forward, and make disciples…”, Jesus’ response will be unambiguous: “cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness.”” (Matt 25:30)
5) Finally, it ought to make us more EXPECTANT. Anticipatory. Watchful. Alert. And we ought to PRAY along with the apostle John at the end of Revelation: “Come quickly, Lord Jesus!”
Now, for those of you who ARE conflict-averse, and you don’t LIKE church debates, let me leave you with the GOOD news this morning: that What we DO know, FAR outweighs what we DON’T know. And what we DO know, is THAT, WHERE, WHY, and FOR WHOM Jesus will return. That, where, why and for whom.
For starters, and most importantly, we know THAT Christ will return; the Bible is crystal clear about that much:
Matt 24:30 “they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ”
Acts 1:11, After Jesus’ ascension into heaven, the angels told the disciples: ““Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.””
1 Thessalonians 2:19-20; 3:11-13; 5:23, and 2 Thessalonians 2:1 all anticipate the “the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”
2 Timothy 4:1 “Christ Jesus… is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom”
1 Peter 1:13, “set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”
And the Bible ends, in Revelation 22 by emphasizing this truth not once, not twice, but THREE times: v7: “behold, I am coming soon.”; v12: “Behold, I am coming soon,”; v20: “‘Surely I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!””
So whatever your eschatological stance, or if you’re like me, and you can appreciate the strengths and be wary of the weaknesses of all THREE camps, you can sleep easy tonight in full assurance that though we might not know when or how, we do know THAT our Lord will not leave his people here, apart from him forever; Jesus is coming BACK for his people!
And that leads us to a SECOND key point that all orthodox Christians agree on: WHERE Jesus is returning. Specifically, He’s coming back HERE. To the EARTH. Some of us read passages like 2 Peter 3 “the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire… the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies[b] will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed”, we read the violent imagery of Revelation with stars crashing to earth, mountains being cast into the sea, and then we put that together with an under-informed view of the Rapture, and we can begin to think that Jesus’ return is all about rescuing us OUT OF this world, to take us UP to heaven to be with Him, when the Bible makes it clear that GOD’S aim is to redeem our world, so that HE can come down HERE to be with US. Revelation 21, the passage we opened with together: “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people”. He’s coming HERE.
Jim Reeves sang “This world is not my home / I'm just a-passing through”; like earth is just a waiting room for Heaven.
But we might even more accurately, eschatologically, sing: “HEAVEN is not my home / we’re just a-passing through.” That’s the intermediate state: when you die, you leave your physical body behind here, and your soul goes to be with the Lord in heaven... UNTIL the End Times! When Jesus comes back HERE, renews all of creation, including our physical bodies, which He will resurrect as spiritual bodies that we will RE-incarnate (bet you didn’t know that Christians believe in REINCARNATION, did you?!) and then we will reign on EARTH with him forevermore.
And that leads us to a THIRD “End Times” truth we all agree on: WHY Jesus is coming back: 3 reasons - 1) to make all things new (Rev 21:5), 2) to execute judgment against those who oppose Him and FOR those who belong to Him (Rev 19-20); and 3) to reign gloriously over ALL things forevermore (Rev 5:12-13 ““Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing… forever and ever!”” Amen!
And by the way, we not only know why Jesus is returning, but we ALSO know why he left us with these prophecies in the meantime, foretelling his return. It’s not so we could argue and debate and speculate. It’s so that we could be PREPARED, by remaining obedient, watchful, steadfast, and missional til the end.
Obedient: Rev 1:3 “ blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”
Watchful: Rev 16:15 “I’m coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake””
Steadfast: Rev 14:12 “Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus.”
And Missional: Matt 24:14 “this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations [all ethnes] and then the end will come.” We don’t know when He’s coming back, but we know it won’t be tomorrow. Because currently, there are still 7,402 unreached people groups worldwide. I think it’d be pretty cool if West Hills played a significant part in reaching just ONE of them. If we focused our missional attention and our collective resources as a church, to impact just ONE of those 7,402 people groups where the gospel has not yet taken root. And know that we were THAT much closer to Christ’s glorious return. That we helped bring salvation to an entirely new ethne! How cool would that be?!
Because lastly, we know FOR WHOM Jesus is returning: it’s for HIS BRIDE! The CHURCH!
Matthew 24:31 “he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect...”
Hebrews 9:28 “Christ… will appear a second time… to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 “the Lord himself will descend from heaven… with the sound of the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.”
But make no mistake, friend: on that day, Jesus will ALSO deal with those who rejected him: Revelation 20 “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it… And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and [the book of life] was opened… And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And… Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged… And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”
That means one way or the other, Jesus will be coming back FOR YOU. Either to eternally bless and reward you, or to eternally judge and condemn you.
So I ask you: Is YOUR name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life this morning?
Have you repented of your sin and trusted in Jesus, by faith, as your Lord and Savior, and your ONLY hope in life and in death? If not, don’t delay a moment longer.