The Coming King

Well, good morning to everybody. So glad that you're here. I know over these last number of weeks when we've been in an election cycle, we've heard over and over and over, seeing television ads and thinking about what's going to transpire and what's going to happen, I know it's felt for a lot of people kind of chaotic and crazy. And when I ever am in those moments where life just feels chaotic and crazy, certainly I take time to pray. But I can tell you what I also end up doing. I don't know if you do this, or maybe it's just me, but sometimes I just get sentimental. I don't know why. It's like me kind of longing for more simple times. Does anybody else ever do that? You kinda long for more simple times. Now, I'm not really sure if the times I'm looking back on are any simpler, to be honest with you. It's just that I make myself think that they probably are. But it's still something that I do. And for some reason in this past week, my mind was turned quickly on to something that I'd forgotten about. And it was a cartoon that I watched when I was little. Now, some of you are going, "You mean, that y'all had cartoons when you were little?" Yeah, we had cartoons. We had electricity, we had driving cars, like all of that stuff when I was little. So back off on your old people jokes. So this cartoon that I liked was called "Super Friends." Now, some of you that are like, "Yeah, yeah, yeah," you're giving away your age, you're old. 'Cause this came on in the mid seventies to the mid eighties. And as you can see, Superman and Batman and Robin and Aquaman and Wonder Woman, and then two people it seems like maybe slipped in from "Scooby-Doo." I have no idea who those people are. I literally don't know them, and I don't know why they showed up on the ad. But nonetheless, you had this great group of people. And some of you who are younger think, maybe, "I don't really know anything about this." But you know you do because you know the characters and you know that this was what became in the DC Universe as the Justice League, right? So some of you that are younger are going, "Oh, okay, now I figured this out." Well, yeah, I was just around a lot longer than you have been. And so I was back in the the OG Justice League days, right. Now, it was that kind of beginning. And the Super Friends were both superheroes and judges apparently. Let me see if I can explain. The show always had the same plot line, every single week it had the exact same plot line, and that was all the Super Friends were at what they called the Hall of Justice. And inside the Hall of Justice there was a computer. And the computer would show up, "Hey, there's a problem somewhere in the world." And then they would respond and they would go deal with the problem. And they would always do this basically without violence. It was amazing how they're superheroes but they didn't have to use violence when they did this. I thought it was really cool. And they would go and fix the problem. Now, as the show progressed over the years, more and more villains started showing up. And these villains collaborated together and they were called the Legion of? The Legion of Doom. Yeah, there's some people who know what's going on, right? The Legion of Doom, and they would collaborate together to work against the Super Friends. And they even had a parody of the Hall of Justice and it was called the Hall of Doom. It was like gross and ugly and dark. And the Hall of justice was actually sweet. And there was a clash of kingdoms every single week on the episodes. And in every episode, here's what would happen. Every single episode, justice would win out. I miss that. Anybody else? That's what was making me a little bit sentimental because I was thinking to myself, "Man, justice always wins out every single time, "and I kind of miss those days." But good news for you is that we're in the Book of Revelation today. We're going to be in Revelation 19. And the Book of Revelation, as we've learned, is a blessing to us to read and a blessing for us to be able to hear. And what it does is it describes the real world the Apostle John lived in. Even though the language of Revelation is symbolic and pictorial most of the time, it's still describing a real world. And it's a real world complete with a real life legion of doom. This legion of doom are villains that are pictured as beasts and prostitutes and dragons as we've seen. But the pictures that are there in Revelation, they describe reality. For instance, the Roman Empire is described as the beast. And then there's a secondary beast, which is much more describing the propaganda machine of the empire that supports the great beast. Then you've got Rome, Babylon as a city that's pictured as a prostitute because of its greed and gluttony and evil. And then you've got the animating force behind it all, which is none other than Satan himself, and he's pictured as a great dragon. So this is a world full of villains that are described in picture language but are very, very real. But it's also a world where there resides a King. And that's what we're going to get to see today, that this King is seated in the hall of justice in Heaven. And as surely as He came and dwelled among us, I can promise you there's another sure promise for us, and it's this: the King is coming. Now, I've got very little left in my voice if I'm just being honest with everybody today, so as much help as you wanna give me, feel free to do it. I don't mean you're gonna preach it for me, but if I preach something good, you can say amen. That's perfectly fine with me. And it gives me a chance to catch my breath. You see, it's a great word of encouragement in John's day that as the people of Jesus suffered under what seemed like an undefeatable empire, the Roman Empire, that he was reminding them, Jesus was reminding John and then reminding the people of God through this vision that there is a King and that King is going to come. And by the way, it wasn't just a great word of encouragement for John and for those believers during that day. It's a great word of encouragement for us in our own day because it reminds us, friends, it reminds us that our deliverance and our satisfaction and our fulfillment is not going to come from who ends up in the White House. That that's actually not where any of this is going to land. So listen carefully. If your candidate lost, let me just remind you of something, the world hasn't come to an end and the Kingdom of God has not been thwarted. If your king, listen, if your candidate won, it also doesn't mean that the world is now all set right, and the Kingdom of God has come in its full consummation. So either way, we've gotta remind ourselves that our deliverance and our satisfaction will not come because of who's sitting in the White House. They will come and they will go, but we've got a King that remains. We also need to be reminded that our deliverance and our satisfaction won't come because there's going to be systemic change that happens in our world, even though we should advocate for good and just systems. But systems are made up of people and people are corruptible. That means that there is no system that is ever going to be pure. There's no system that's ever going to be completely and totally just because there's corrupt people making up systems that get corrupted. And it's not going to come, our deliverance and our satisfaction and our fulfillment is not going to come because we get some moral legislation passed, even though we should want and advocate for good and just laws. But we know that laws can be subverted, we know that laws can be worked around, and we know that laws can be changed. That's not where our satisfaction and our deliverance will come from. It's also not going to come from making sure that we bring democracy to the whole world. Why? Because democracy can be corrupted like any other system. All I have to do is point you very quickly to a time in Jesus' life when He was before Pontius Pilate and Pontius Pilate chose to use a democratic majority vote in a binary system between Jesus and Barabbas. And you saw how that turned out. We can't put all of our hope in all of these things. We only are going to find our deliverance and our satisfaction and our joy when the King comes. Now, though we aren't Rome, but we aren't Babylon necessarily as an empire of ages past, we in the United States can still take these lessons to heart. The pictures, by the way, of Rome, Babylon, these pictures of empire, they are certainly about a place and a time, but they're also meant to be pictures that are kind of a, if the shoe fits kind of picture. In other words, if this is also true of the United States, then we might need to be people who pay attention to that and who understand that because we might be more spiritually and morally close to Babylon or the Roman Empire, so to speak, as a nation than we think we are. Because we have federal, state governments who help fund institutions of higher learning to the tune of $243 billion a year. And some, not all certainly, but some of those institutions of higher learning actively and aggressively embrace a godless worldview. And our government funds that. Our government has and does fund organizations that create cultures of death, whether for the unborn or for the physical mutilation of gender-confused kids because these institutions have thrown the divine design of God into the trash heap of history. Our government in times past has actually funded cultures of war and death, sometimes unjustifiably, in our history, and even at times has created the environment for those cultures to flourish. Now, I say all this not to suggest that government is inherently bad. It's not, it's ordained by God. But this God-ordained mechanism called government, as we see in the Book of Revelation, is actually the means through which the enemy is going to co-opt and corrupt it. And this is how we're going to see him act in the world. So if the shoe fits, we have to pay close attention to it. But we can be reminded and be people of hope. Why? Because the King is coming. In all the oppression and the chaos and the helplessness that the Apostle John must have felt as he'd been exiled to the Isle of Patmos for his faith, for the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God, Revelation, this vision that he got, was actually a promise of hope. The hope was for God's people in times of trial, but it's also hope for God's people in times of prosperity as well. I'll tell you why. Because in just a few short centuries from John's writing, from him recording the Book of Revelation in this vision, the church in a few generations would be at the center of power and be at the center of privilege and would be a protected group of people. And that, my friends, was just as dangerous as the scenario that John was in, because now that the church had power, now that the church was protected and privileged in the empire that it existed in, the church could easily move their eyes and take their eyes off of the true King and instead long for the power that exists on the Earth. And what history shows us in the history of the church is that's exactly what happened over time. Now, with all of that as introduction. How did you like that as an introduction? I just came out, right? I just came for you. Thank you, thank you. You're helping. You just gave me a breath. With all that as an introduction, what I wanna look at in Revelation 19 is the vision of this King, and what we learn. What we learn about who is this King? What's this King like? What does this King do? Let's take a look at that and let's have hope as a result of it by what we see in the Book of Revelation. So first question I asked is, who is this King? Well, in Revelation 19 beginning in verse number 11, we've got an answer to that. It says, "I saw heaven standing open "and there before me was a white horse, "whose rider is called Faithful and True. "With justice He judges and wages war." Now, this is a beautiful picture. This is none other than a picture of Jesus. Jesus is pictured as both a warrior and a judge 'cause He both judges and wages war. Now, you remember that Jesus entered Jerusalem, right? Jesus entered Jerusalem as a King while He was on Earth. You remember that, right? What was He riding? A donkey. He was riding a donkey. By the way, just as a pause right here. At the house that we now live in, in Atlanta with a 100 yards of our backyard, there lives a donkey. That is the loudest animal God ever made. It has no sense of time. It is literally my alarm. Whenever it decides we're getting up is when we're getting up. And I'm just like, "Wow, somebody feed that bad boy." Jesus came into Jerusalem on a donkey. Why is that significant? Because the donkey, listen to this, the donkey is a sign of peace. I think it's also a sign of really loud screaming as well. But the donkey is a sign of peace. But now in Revelation 19, John shows this picture of Jesus returning on a white horse. This was a sign of war and of conquest. This was a reminder, by the way, that Jesus doesn't just travel on donkeys or elephants. He didn't come to choose sides, as Tony Evans said. He came to take over. He didn't come to take a side, He just came to take over. He's coming on a white horse, a sign of war and conquest. And He's called Faithful and True. You know what's interesting is that earlier in Revelation, Jesus is called the faithful and true Witness. But here in Revelation 19, He's just called Faithful and True. No longer does it mention Him as a witness. Do you know why? Because Jesus has gone from being a witness to being the Judge. That's what's happening in Revelation 19. He is called Faithful and True. The King is a warrior and a judge. That's who Jesus is. But what's this King like? That's the second question. What is this King like? Well, verses 12 through 16 give us a really, really detailed description, and it's one we wanna pay close attention to. Listen to what it says. "His eyes are like blazing fire, "and on His head are many crowns. "He has a name written on Him "that no one knows but He Himself. "He's dressed in a robe dipped in blood, "and His name is the Word of God. "The armies of Heaven were following Him, "riding on white horses "and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. "Coming out of His mouth is a sharp sword "with which to strike down the nations. "'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' "He treads the winepress of the fury "of the wrath of God Almighty. "On His robe and on His thigh He has this name written: "'King of kings and Lord of lords.'" There's a lot in that description, isn't there? I'm gonna walk through it very quickly, and we're gonna break this apart just so that we can see this and not just walk right by it. But we're gonna take just a moment and I'm gonna move relatively quickly, as quickly as my voice will allow, as we walk through these descriptors of what this King is like. The first one that we see is that He has eyes like blazing fire. Now, this is a repeated statement because in chapter one, verse 14 and chapter two, verse 18, it tells us that Jesus has eyes like blazing fire. What does that mean? It doesn't mean that He's shooting fireballs out of His eyes. These are pictures, right? It means that nothing escapes His gaze. He sees every sin. He sees every injustice. By the way, He also sees every pure motive. He sees everything done in secret. He alone sees everything for how it actually and truly is. He burns away the chaff, and He's able to see past the outward adornment or what people might think that they see, and He sees everything for what it truly is. But it also says that He has many crowns on His head. This is an interesting picture because in ancient history, monarchs who conquered multiple countries or nations, would actually wear multiple crowns. Sometimes they would wear a fusion crown, but most of the time they would wear multiple crowns of various nations that they conquered. For instance, the Ptolemaic dynasty, the dynasty that came on after Alexander the Great, if I could put you into history for just a moment, they were Greeks, but these were Greeks who also ruled over upper and lower Egypt, the kingdoms of upper and lower Egypt, and extended their rule out even further. And they were known to have worn multiple crowns because that's exactly what they did. They ruled multiple nations. One of them, the very first one, Ptolemy I, was actually known as Savior. And he had two different titles, one that was in Greek, Basileus which means king, and one that was also in Egyptian, and he was called Pharaoh. So he was just known this way. Now, that's why in Revelation 19, when we see this picture of Jesus wearing many crowns, it's John helping us to understand that He is the ruler of every nation, everywhere. This many crowns is not meant to say He only has rulership over a nation or two, but that He is the King over every king and He's the Lord over every lord, and He wears many crowns on His head because He's the ruler of all nations. Then it tells us that He also has a name that no one knows. You're saying, "Well, Jerry, what is this name?" It's a name no one knows. I don't know if you missed that part, and I'm not here to suddenly tell you what the answer to that is. It could be an allusion to the high priest of the Old Testament in Exodus 28, who had holy to the Lord written on the engraved gold that was on his forehead. That's a possibility. Or it could simply just be an identification of Jesus' deity. Much like God's name in Exodus 3, when Moses said, "Wait, who is this?" And He said, "I Am that I Am." Moses was like, "Okay. "Okay, I--" I don't know if that's a name or if that's a description or what that is. It's just a reminder that Jesus is God in this passage of Scripture. He's also got on a robe that's dipped in blood. Now, this certainly could be referencing His own blood because in Revelation 12 we see that, right? "They overcame the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, "by the word of their testimony "and by not loving their lives "so much as to shrink from death." So it certainly could be referencing His own blood, particularly when it's described before the actual battle occurs. But I think more specifically it's referencing the fulfillment of what Isaiah 63 was pointing to in the work of the Messiah as someone who was going to be an agent for the justice and the judgment of Almighty God. Here's what it says in Isaiah 63. "Why are your garments red, "like those of one treading the winepress? "'I have trodden the winepress alone; "'from the nations no one was with me. "'I trampled them in my anger "'and trod them down in my wrath; "'and their blood spattered my garments, "'and I stained all my clothing. "'It was for me the day of vengeance; "'the year for me to redeem had come. "'I looked, but there was no one to help, "'I was appalled that no one gave support; "'so my own arm achieved salvation for me, "'and my own wrath sustained me. "'I trampled the nations in my anger; "'and in my wrath I made them drunk "'and poured their blood on the ground.'" I think that's what this is referencing. It also tells us that He has a name called the Word of God. So there's a name we don't know, but then there's a designation that we do know that Jesus is called the Word of God. Now, friends, you know that from Scripture, Jesus is referenced as the Word of God, right? "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God "and the Word was God; and the Word became flesh "and made His dwelling among us," in John 1. So John, the same writer, has told us that He is in fact the Word of God. But you and I both know that words are actually made up of letters. And Jesus has already been revealed in Revelation to be the Alpha and the Omega, the first letter and the last letter. And that's why I loved how Warren Wiersbe described this. He said that "Jesus is the divine alphabet "of God's full revelation." That everything that we want to understand and need to know about God, we see in Jesus. And John's also helping us to see that Jesus is the divine agent, both of creation and of consummation. That in the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, the Word was God. And then it says He was with God in the beginning. Nothing that has been made was made except through Him, John tells us. So He's the agent of creation. But now He's reminding us He's also the one who is going to bring creation to its consummation here in Revelation 19. Scripture also tells us that He had, Jesus had armies of Heaven that followed Him. These are at least the purified saints of God, 'cause they're wearing white garments, they're on white horses signaling their victory. But I find it interesting that what we're told is that armies, plural, of Heaven follow Him. I don't know exactly what that means, but I have a tendency to think that it's not only the army of saints, but it's also the army of the heavenly host of angels as well that are following Jesus. And then it tells us that He has a sword in His mouth. That seems an odd place for somebody who's not in the circus, right? A sword in His mouth. Remember, this is a picture. And this is likely a reference from Isaiah's prophecy about the Messiah coming from the stump of Jesse. In Isaiah 11, it says this, "But with righteousness the Messiah will judge the needy, "with justice He will give decisions "for the poor of the Earth. "He will strike the Earth," watch this, "with the rod of His mouth; "and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked." What this is reminding us of is that Jesus shows up with a sword, pictured with a sword in His mouth and that means that with His very word He will speak into existence what He desires. So just as at the beginning, the Word that was made flesh spoke everything into existence by saying, "Let there be light," now at the very end, at the consummation of history, there will be a new, "Let there be light" where Jesus separates the light from the darkness. This is what we're reminded of here. It also tells us that He will rule with an iron scepter. This is quoting from Psalm 2, and it's the third time in the Book of Revelation, chapter number 2 and chapter number 12, that Psalm 2 is actually quoted. What this references is, it references the unbreakable nature of Jesus' reign and the fact that His judgment is going to dash the enemies of God to pieces. That's what Psalm 2 actually tells us. Then it says that He'll tread the winepress of the wrath of God. This goes back to what I just read to you from Isaiah 63, where Jesus is taking up the judgment of God against evil. And then it says, lastly, there's a name on His robe and on His thigh. Now, most ancient kings, you may or may not know this, most ancient kings during that timeframe would have their titles woven into their garments. So if their title was Pharaoh, it would be woven into the garment. If their title was king then it would be woven into the garment. If the title was Caesar, it would be woven into the garment. And it would be in two places. It would be on the robe that he would wear, his regal kingly robe, and then it would be on the thigh. What was that referencing? He would either have his title on his sword or on the scabbard of his sword right there, which is where the sword would hang. What's interesting here is that Jesus has no sword on His side. He has a sword that comes from His mouth, the truth that He speaks and the way that He can do everything He wants to do. But there's no sword on His side. Why? Because His word is enough as the King. Jesus, listen to this, Jesus is a warrior without a sword who also doesn't need an army with Him. They're just following Him. Jesus is the one doing everything. This is a reminder to us that He's the King over every king and He's the Lord over every lord. And that means that there's no ruler, no empire, no government, no president, no prime minister, no totalitarian dictator in all of history that will be or ever has been that will not have to one day bow the knee to the King over every king and the Lord over every lord. That's what Jesus does. Who is this King? It's Jesus, the warrior-judge. What is this King like? Well, we just walked through a bunch of characteristics. What does this King do? That's the last question. What does this King do? Well, the first thing He does is He rules against the Legion of Doom. I just had to use that again. 'Cause there really is kind of a Legion of Doom that is described in Revelation. You remember that we read about and spoke about, Jonathan talked to us about the prostitute last week, that we were reading about, right? This was known as Rome itself. The greed and idolatry and corruption and all that was associated with that. Well, Revelation 19 begins by telling us that the prostitute is condemned. Listen to what it says. "After this I heard what sounded like "the roar of a great multitude in Heaven "shouting: 'Hallelujah! "'Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, "'for true and just are His judgments. "'He has condemned the great prostitute "'who corrupted the Earth by her adulteries. "'He has avenged on her the blood of His servants.'" You see, the great Judge is going to rule against that which has waged war against Him and His kingdom. And He also deals with the greater ones, the dragon, Satan himself, the false prophet, all of that. In Revelation 20:10, here's what it says, "And the devil, who deceived them, "was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, "where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. "They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." What we're reminded of is that King Jesus comes from the halls of justice in Heaven, and the episode ends by making sure that justice prevails. That's what's going to happen. He rules against the enemies of God.

There really is kind of a Legion of Doom that is described in Revelation. You remember that we read about and spoke about, Jonathan talked to us about the prostitute last week, that we were reading about, right? This was known as Rome itself. The greed and idolatry and corruption and all that was associated with that. Well, Revelation 19 begins by telling us that the prostitute is condemned. Listen to what it says. "After this I heard what sounded like "the roar of a great multitude in Heaven "shouting: 'Hallelujah! "'Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, "'for true and just are His judgments. "'He has condemned the great prostitute "'who corrupted the Earth by her adulteries. "'He has avenged on her the blood of His servants.'" You see, the great Judge is going to rule against that which has waged war against Him and His kingdom. And He also deals with the greater ones, the dragon, Satan himself, the false prophet, all of that. In Revelation 20:10, here's what it says, "And the devil, who deceived them, "was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, "where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. "They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever." What we're reminded of is that King Jesus comes from the halls of justice in Heaven, and the episode ends by making sure that justice prevails. That's what's going to happen. He rules against the enemies of God. But you know what else He does? He vindicates the martyrs. This is so good and so encouraging to me. In chapter 20 beginning at verse number four, watch what John relates to us. "I saw thrones on which were seated "those who had been given authority to judge. "And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded "because of their testimony about Jesus "and because of the word of God. "They had not worshiped the beast or its image "and had not received its mark on their foreheads "or on their hands. "They came to life "and they reigned with Christ a thousand years. "The rest of the dead did not come to life "until the thousand years were ended. "This is the first resurrection. "Blessed and holy are those "who share in the first resurrection. "The second death has no power over them, "but they will be priests of God and of Christ "and will reign with Him for a thousand years." You see, the primary reason that these few verses, four, five and six are even in the text itself, is to show us that Jesus has vindicated those who died as faithful witnesses. The beast appeared to win by forcing upon them his rule and then by snuffing them out. But the passage actually shows us that King Jesus vindicates them because they're alive, not dead, and they are ruling with the great Judge. This is so great. Listen, friends, when Revelation is talking about you and I, believers in Jesus, when Revelation talks about us, it's talking about our need to be prophetic witnesses in the world that we live in. I talked to you about that a couple of weeks ago. And that means that we are people who speak the truth regardless of who's operating or walking in or working in a government scenario, just like Moses spoke the truth to Pharaoh, just like Elijah spoke the truth to Ahab. And I'm concerned that the Church of Jesus is so blinded by their political tribalism that they can't hear the truth anymore. You can't even have a conversation with somebody and be prophetically witnessing to the truth about what rages against God, and you're talking about a particular political operative, and people get all freaky. They get crazy. It's pretty easy to illustrate. I could illustrate it a million ways. But it's like you're having a conversation and you say, "Hey, "the Democrats and what Vice President Harris want to do "in this way when it regards this particular thing, "it defies God." And then you get the, "Oh, I see who you are. "You're just one of those creepy Republicans "that votes for that crazy guy." Or I say, "President Trump is leading the GOP in a wrong direction "when it comes to the pro-life issue." And he is, by the way, he is. "Oh, I see what you are. "You're just one of those Democrats." You've missed the point because your political tribalism has blinded you to the truth. I'm not running for anything. I'm here to be a prophetic witness to the truth of God because that's what we need. That's what God's called us to. I'm not here trying to rustle up a group of people to vote for a certain candidate or to be a part of a certain party. You are missing the point if you think that's what I'm about. I'm not in bed with anybody. I'm here for the sake of the Gospel because I am gonna give an account for your souls. And I wanna lead you in the path of resilience that says, "I'm gonna look through the lens "of King Jesus and His kingdom "and I will speak that truth "regardless of what political party "that I associate myself with." Thank you. I can take a sip of water at that point. So this is just a reminder for us, right, that Jesus vindicates. Listen, He vindicates the martyrs. Even if it costs us heavily to be a prophetic witness, Jesus sees it. Those eyes of blazing fire, they don't miss any of it. And whatever it costs us, it costs us. That's okay, I can live with that because I know that the episode ends with justice prevailing. But you know what else Jesus does? He judges every person. He judges every single person. Watch what Revelation 20 says, beginning in verse number 11, "Then I saw a great white throne "and Him who was seated on it. "The Earth and the heavens fled from His presence, "and there was no place for them." That is an awe inspiring statement. "And I saw the dead, great and small," that means everybody everywhere, "standing before the throne, and books were opened. "Another book was opened, which is the book of life. "The dead were judged according to what they had done "as recorded in the books. "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, "and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, "and each person was judged according to what they had done. "Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. "The lake of fire is the second death. "Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life "was thrown into the lake of fire." You see, in this passage, John is using language again borrowed from Daniel 7. There are a number of places in the Book of Revelation that borrow heavily from the language and the pictures of Daniel 7. In fact, when it's talking about thrones and books, that's coming from Daniel 7. Let me show you, in verses nine and 10, it says, "As I looked, thrones were set in place, "and the Ancient of Days took His seat. "His clothing was as white as snow; "the hair of His head was white like wool. "His throne was flaming with fire, "and its wheels were all ablaze. "A river of fire was flowing, coming out from before Him. "Thousands upon thousands attended Him; "10,000 times 10,000 stood before Him. "The court was seated, and the books were opened." You see, in this passage in Revelation 19, it's borrowing from the language of Daniel 7. But what we see in Revelation 19 and then into Revelation 20 is this, that there are books and then there's a book. There's a singular book and there are multiple books. The singular book is the book of life. This is what people of that day and age would've understood as an ancient citizen registry. In other words, the names of the people that are in the kingdom in that time and place would be listed in what they call the book of life. So what are the books? Well, the books are the record of deeds of our lives. Nobody will be able to escape this all-encompassing judgment of our lives. Great and small alike, everything had nowhere to go. For those that are found to be in the book of life, there's a promise coming that we'll learn about next week. For those who are not in the book of life, they can certainly appeal for a fair trial based on their deeds. You will not be vindicated, because the books will reveal so very clearly to you that the One who has eyes of blazing fire has seen everything, knows everything, and nothing gets away from Him. In fact, even if you appeal for a fair trial, He has all the receipts of the entire totality of your life. And it will be obvious to you and it will be obvious to anyone else who may be viewing this. And the end of those people will be the same as it will be for Satan and his beasts, a lake of fire. What is that referring to? Nothing good. It's a picture, no doubt, but the picture can't even remotely describe what it means to be separated from God and consumed in your own sin forever. See, here's what we learn from this passage, in this portion of Revelation that's given to John in chapter 19 and 20. We learn that the King is coming and He's bringing justice with Him. The King's coming and He's bringing justice with Him. Listen, friends, for John's audience this was so hopeful. And for those of us who believe in Jesus and we've been transformed by Him, this is really hopeful for us as well. Evil will not get a free pass. That's great news. Wrongs will be made right? Nobody's getting away with the stuff. Justice will prevail. It's great news for those of us who know Jesus. But for those of us who have never been transformed by His grace, who've never bowed the knee to Jesus, the story ends differently. Listen to me, friends. Justice is only good news if you're on the right side of it. You see, we all begin on the wrong side of justice, every one of us, because we've all sinned. We're guilty before God, and the just punishment for our sin is condemnation from and separation from God. But this King, Jesus, He's made a way for you and I to be on the right side of justice. King Jesus actually came and saw our sin and died on a cross to satisfy and take upon Himself the justice and the wrath of God against sin. He rose from the grave overcoming sin and death. And through faith in what He has done, you and I can be spared from the wrath of God against evil. You see, His love for you, "For God so loved the world," His love for you and His sacrifice for you is something no other king has done, and no other king has the capacity to do, only the King of every king and the Lord of every lord. That King has made a way for you to be saved as an act of His divine grace. King Jesus embraced the wrong side of justice for you so that you could experience the right side of justice. His shepherding love, His mercy, His grace, His forgiveness. That's why those of us who know Him, we can celebrate His return. We look forward to it, we don't run from it. Yes, it is an awesome and overwhelming thought, and I pray that the weight of the Spirit actually allows us to get that sense of the awesome holiness and glory of God. But it's our King that's coming. Our King. The One who was, the One who is, the One who will always be, the One to come. I ask of you, if you are a believer in the house this morning, if you'd take out the elements that we gave you on the way in. If you don't have any and you wanna just put your hand up, we've got some ushers that are around that maybe can make sure that you've got them. Down here. Thank you. If you'd just take out the bread at this point. Just open it up, take out the bread, if you would, and hold it up. We're reminded that it was the broken body of our King that gave us the hope that we have to be on the right side of God's justice, only because of what He's done, what He's offered. He gave His body broken for us so that we could be made whole. That's why the Scripture tells us this, "As often as you eat of the bread, "do it in remembrance of me." Take and eat. If you'd open the cup as well. The red juice that is in the cup is a reminder for us, a picture of the blood of God's own Son who made a new covenant with us, a covenant of grace, and for that we are deeply grateful because without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. And He shed His so that we need not shed ours. And as often as we do this, we do this in remembrance of Him. Take and drink. I wanna remind you real quickly, though, about what Paul said about this ordinance that we were given by the Lord Jesus. Listen very carefully to what he said, watch. "For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, "you proclaim the Lord's death," say it with me.

- [Congregants] "Until He comes."

- Say it again.

- [Congregants] "Until He comes."

- You see, that's what we're reminding ourselves of, friends. We're reminding that we've got a King, a King who made a way for us to be on the right side of the justice of God, and a King who is coming again. And so I wanna pray for us, and then I want us to take a moment and just worship together, and then I want to come back up and close us. It's not a time to move around or get up or leave. Let the words of what we sing minister to our hearts. Father, we thank You for the gift that is ours to be in Your Word, allowing Your Spirit to direct our hearts toward You and toward the beauty of the Kingdom. I pray that we would be people who are satisfied and fulfilled in You and You alone because we recognize that in this world that we live in, everything vies for our attention. Things that can become for us beasts and prostitutes and dragons. But we know we have a King, a King who is to come. May we look at the world through that lens and be transformed as a result of it. We ask now in Jesus' name, amen