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Unpacking...

Revelation, The Rapture & Hell

By Remy Diederich Cedarbrook Church

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This document contains four message:

Part One: How to Read Revelation

Part Two: We Were Made to Worship

Part Three: Judgment is a Good Thing

Part Four: The Rapture & Hell

Bonus: The End of the Story

Part One: How to Read Revelation

This series will tackle the most difficult book in the Bible. The book of Revelation. It’s a book

that is full of bizarre visions – some of them about the end of the age. A lot of people don’t even

bother reading the book because they just assume they won’t understand it. But I want to get you

to read the book. It’s a fascinating and encouraging book. Do you realize that Revelation is the

only book of the Bible that promises a blessing to those who read it? (see Revelation 1:3)

Now, here’s the first thing you need to know about the book of Revelation; it’s not all about the

future. It was written for a very practical reason. It was written to encourage people who were

being persecuted and even killed for their faith. God wanted to keep people from giving up

during hard times. Now, my guess is that there are at least a few of us here who feel like giving

up.

You might feel like giving up on your faith.

You might feel like giving up on your marriage.

You might feel like giving up on your job.

You might even feel like giving up on your life.

When life is difficult…when the pain is too great it’s tempting to give up.

In fact, someone just wrote me yesterday frustrated at all the evil they see at their job. They said

it gets discouraging. They work in social services where they see a lot of people. Most of the

people they deal with are great but the bad ones get them discouraged. They try to be a good

influence but some days it’s feels like a drop in the bucket compared to all the evil they face and

they wondered what good they are really doing. They wanted to give up.

Well, this book was written for people like that, to give them perspective. So, don’t ignore this

book and think that it’s just about the future...or too complicated to understand. God gave this

book to the church to encourage us.

Okay, so, let me give you a number of things to keep in mind while reading this book. First, keep

in mind what I’ve already been saying…that Revelation was written to encourage Christians

facing persecution and the temptation to give up. Let me give you a little bit of the background

history so you can appreciate what was going on at the time. Once you understand the historical

context this book makes a lot more sense.

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Now most scholars think that Revelation was written at the end of the first century during

the reign of the Roman Emperor, Domitian. (A.D. 81-96). Throughout the ages emperors liked to

be thought of as gods. It always helps to push your political agenda through if you have some

divinity in your blood! But Domitian took emperor worship to a new level. He was obsessed

with people worshipping him. One history website said this about Domitian...

Demanding that people worship him as a god, Domitian insisted on being called “Lord”

and “God” by everyone, including his wife. FollowtheRabbi.com

And a historian of the time said this...

For he [Domitian] ... insisted upon being regarded as a god and took vast pride in being

called ‘master’ and god. These titles were used not merely in speech but also in written

documents. (Cary 1995: 349). Dio Cassius, in his Roman History

Domitian had temples built throughout the Roman Empire to worship him. He set it up as a

competition. Whichever city had the most temples got the title “neokoros” or “keeper of

worship”. And with that title came all kinds of tax dollars and benefits for the city. He was a

smart guy. He used the economy to get people to worship him.

The city of Ephesus won the contest. They were designated the “neokoros” of the Roman

Empire. Let’s take a look at a couple maps. Note map of Asia. Ephesus. Domitian Temple. Look

at the columns. Each column has a god carved into it and signified that Domitian was greater

than all the gods combined. On the top was a twenty-seven-foot-tall statue of Domitian. (Show

Statue)

Let me read from followtherabbi.com again...

Anyone approaching the city by sea or by land could see the temple and its statue and

know that the Ephesians as a whole believed Domitian to be king of the gods. Along the

city streets, altars reminded the people of Domitian’s lordship and their allegiance to him.

Once a year, the people had to say publicly in front of the altar, “Caesar is Lord”. Anyone

who didn’t recognize Domitian’s lordship, including no doubt the early Christians who

acknowledged the lordship of God alone, was subject to death. FollowtheRabbi.com

This is how one man described Domitian at the time...

He [Domitian] was a madman, blind to the true meaning of his position, who used the

arena for collecting charges of high treason, who felt himself slighted and scorned if we

failed to pay homage to his gladiators, taking any criticism of them to himself and seeing

insults to his own godhead and divinity; who deemed himself the equal of the gods ... In

Panegyricus (33.4), Pliny the Younger (ca. AD 61–113)

Some have said that in order to be able to either buy or sell food or goods that a person was first

required to offer incense to Domitian and then they got a mark on their hand allowing them to

buy and sell. And there was a large water fountain in Ephesus dedicated to Domitian. Anyone

who drank from the fountain was acknowledging that Domitian was the source of life.

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As you can imagine, there was tremendous pressure to comply both politically and socially. If

Domitian wasn’t happy, no one was happy. Tax dollars wouldn’t come your way. Businesses

wouldn’t prosper. And people were killed. So it didn’t matter if you believed that Domitian was

god or not. If you were smart, you said “Caesar is Lord” and burned incense whenever you were

asked. If you didn’t you were considered an atheist and a traitor and subject to death.

But even though people worshipped Domitian they hated him. The minute he died everyone

celebrated, including his wife. And they went about removing his name from every statue and

temple in the kingdom or just tore them down altogether.

Because of the hatred felt for Domitian, his images, many of which were of silver and

many of gold, were melted down: and from this source large amounts of money were

obtained. The arches, too, of which a very great number were being erected to this one

man, were torn down (Dio Cassius, Cary 1995: 361).

It was recorded that the Roman Senate, at his death, was:

overjoyed . . . and [assailed] the dead emperor with the most insulting and stinging kind

of outcries . . . Finally they passed a decree that his inscriptions should everywhere be

erased, and all record of him obliterated (Rolfe 1992: 385).

So, I hope you get my point. This guy was not a nice man. He made life miserable for thousands

of people, especially Christians. One in particular was the pastor of the Ephesian church by the

name of John. It’s thought that Domitian exiled John to the island of Patmos, just off the coast of

Ephesus. And it was from that island that John received a message from Jesus that he wrote

down and sent to the mainland. (see map)

So, that is the context into which this book was written. Christians were being killed. They were

prevented from buying and selling. They were discriminated against. And many of them were on

the verge of giving up their faith or at least altering their faith to somehow justify worshipping

the emperor. John says this in the opening lines of his letter...

I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance

that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the

testimony of Jesus. Revelation 1:9

Do you see what he says here? John considers himself a companion in three things; suffering,

the kingdom of God and patient endurance. To early believers...the kingdom of God not only

meant knowing God it meant knowing suffering.

You see, following Jesus wasn’t the quick road to an easy life and happiness. It wasn’t a ticket

to the good life. So often today the “pitch” to follow Jesus is that becoming a Christian will help

your marriage and your finances but that’s not what the early church preached. Following Jesus

meant suffering. It meant endurance and sometimes death. So, number one...keep in mind that

Revelation was written to a persecuted people on the verge of giving up.

Second, keep in mind that the revelation is given by Jesus through John. The revelation isn’t

something that John cooked up on his own. It’s not like a letter that the apostle Paul wrote to

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different churches. This was something that came straight from Jesus. Let’s look at the opening

line...

The revelation (apocalypse) of JESUS CHRIST, which God gave him to show his

servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant

John,... Revelation 1:1

The Greek word for revelation is “apocalypse”. Now, when we hear the word “apocalypse” we

think of a major calamity, especially related to the end of time. But that’s not what it means. The

word means an “unveiling of something hidden”. A “revealing” or “revelation”. The word

apocalypse took on the meaning of end time calamity because it was associate with the book

about end time calamity.

But remember that John is just a mediator passing the message on to God’s people. This is a

message straight from Jesus.

The next thing to keep in mind is that the revelation was written in "code" for those who knew

the code. And that only makes sense. If Domitian was killing people who spoke against him you

had to be really careful about what you said and what you put in print.

People got very good at speaking in coded messages... messages that THEY would understand

perfectly in the first century but are lost to us today. So don’t expect to understand everything

that you read in the book. Sometimes the code is obvious. But others times it’s not.

Be careful of people that act like they have the book of Revelation all figured out. There are all

kinds of crazy things written about the book of Revelation. A lot of it is pure speculation and I

personally think you are wasting your time trying to figure it out because some of the code

wasn’t ever meant for us. If people still disagree after 2000 years about what the book means it’s

pretty safe to say that we were never meant to have all the answers.

Fourth, keep in mind that Jesus is being contrasted to Domitian. Jesus is revealing that HE is

God, not Domitian. For example, John opens the book by saying…

John, To the seven churches in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from him

who is, and who was, and who is to come, and from the seven spirits before his throne,

and from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the

ruler of the kings of the earth. Revelation 1:4,5

Or, in chapter five it says that every angel and person in heaven surround Jesus and say…

"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and

strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on

earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits

on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and

ever!" Revelation 5:12,13

Jesus deserves all the worship! And notice where it comes from; heaven, earth, below the earth

and the sea. John includes every level. ALL worship is his!

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Next, keep in mind that Jesus communicated to John with symbols and symbols are never meant

to be taken literally. For example, in chapter five Jesus is revealed as a lamb with seven horns

and seven eyes.

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne,

encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. He had seven horns and seven eyes,

which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. Revelation 5:6

Now, does that mean that when we get to heaven, that’s what Jesus will look like? Of course not.

The lamb reminds us that Jesus conquered through weakness not power. The seven horns

represent perfect power, as in, the Almighty God. And the seven eyes mean that he is all

knowing. First century believers knew this without having it spelled out.

Sixth, keep in mind that Revelation is not written in chronological order but is a collection of

images written from differing perspectives. They don’t happen one after another. It’s more like

a burst of images that create a collage of thought and feeling but not a detailed linear account of

the end times.

It’s more like John is given a number of visions of things that have happened, that are happening

and will happen and you are never quite sure what he’s seeing or in what order. But overall the

images communicate a message that God has a plan and he knows what he is doing. He’s in

control and everything will work out.

Finally, keep in mind that the goal of Revelation is to encourage people, not scare or confuse

them. If you are a sincere follower of Jesus then this letter should encourage you in your faith. It

should help you keep Jesus first in your life and continue to endure the hard times because you

see that everything is going to turn out. You understand that you will come out on top in the end.

The book of Revelation was written so no one would be a victim of their circumstances but

rather overcome their circumstances.

So let me present the same challenge to you today. Who is on the throne of your life? What is

dictating to your emotions? If Jesus is on the throne then you can have peace and joy even in the

midst of a crisis. But if your circumstances are on the throne then you will eventually feel like

giving up. You don’t want to go there. Whatever you are facing today Jesus wants you to hang

in there. You can do this. You can make it if you keep him on the throne of your life.

Now, here’s your assignment for the next two weeks. Read the first twelve chapters of

Revelation. And see if God doesn’t speak to you through this book. My guess is that if you read

these chapters you will find a number of things that relate to your life right now...things that will

encourage you and challenge you in your faith.

Prayer;

Jesus, thank you for giving us this revelation through John. Forgive us for ignoring it and letting

people rob the book from us by wild speculation and even scare tactics. Use this book to comfort

us and challenge us in our faith. And I pray especially for people here today who are on the

verge of giving up; giving up on their faith, giving up on their marriage. Maybe even giving up

on life. Might you show up strong in their life right now, even today, and show them the value

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in persevering and trusting you for one more day, one more week and one more month. Help

them to see that you are with them and will help them to overcome whatever they are facing

today. Amen. (FEEDBACK)

Going Deeper:

Use the following questions for personal reflection or to discuss with family, friends or small

group.

1. Discuss a time when you were prevented from achieving something because some

person or group stood in your way. How did that feel? What were the temptations that

you dealt with?

2. Read the following passages in Revelation: 1:9, 2:8-10,13, 3:8-10, 17:6 to see the

persecution that was going on at the time.

3. Read chapter one. The book is said to be “the revelation of Jesus Christ”.

Primarily it means that Jesus is revealing something hidden. But it is also a revelation of

the person, Jesus Christ. What do you learn about Jesus in chapter one?

4. Read Revelation 5:4-14. Emperor Domitian tried to rule with power, might,

intimidation, and threats of violence and death. How is Jesus pictured in contrast to this?

5. The book of Revelation is full of symbols. They were meant to evoke an idea

and/or a feeling, not necessarily carry a literal meaning.

a. In the image above, Jesus is symbolized as being a lamb with seven horns and

seven eyes. This sounds grotesque. But what do the horns and eyes symbolize?

b. Read Revelation 21:10-27 as it describes the New Jerusalem. Is it really a cube?

If we aren’t to take this literally, then what does this image represent? What does Jesus

want to reveal to us?

6. What other things strike you about Revelation? What questions do you want

answered? Be sure to email Remy any stumpers!

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Part Two: We Were Made to Worship

Notes:

1. Revelation was given to encourage believers to not give up.

2. The central visions are of the Father and Son on the throne.

3. Beyond all else, Revelation is a book of worship.

4. You were made to worship.

5. We don’t worship because everything is right.

We worship because God is the ONLY thing that is right in our lives.

6. Three things that will help us worship;

Be thankful

Be generous

Be respectful

A couple weeks ago I started a brief three week overview of the book of Revelation. It’s the most

difficult book in the Bible to understand but also the most fascinating book. But what’s made it

even more fascinating, if not more confusing, is a series of books that was written a few years

ago called Left Behind. How many of you have read at least one of them? They were all the rage

not too long ago. They made a few of them into movies.

But to be honest with you, I’m not a big fan of the books or movies. My concern with that whole

series is that it is hard for people to distinguish between which part of the story is in the Bible

and what part is made up. It’s easy for people to take the whole story as true...as in...“this is

what WILL happen in the end” but it’s very questionable.

For example, a main tenet of the Left Behind story hinges on the rapture...that is...God’s people

being taken away to heaven before the judgment of God. But did you know that the word

“rapture” isn’t even in the book of Revelation? And it’s only mentioned in one place in the New

Testament. In fact, the idea of the church being raptured prior to God’s judgment of the earth

wasn’t a teaching in the church before the 1800’s. A couple pastors created the idea and then in

1920 the idea was adopted by the Schofield Study Bible. As people read the notes in their Bible

they assumed it must be true! Then Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye built the Left Behind series

around the idea of the rapture. So, the theory is questionable at best. And yet many people accept

it as fact.

I mention this just to caution us about what we read or who we might listen to concerning the

end times and specifically the book of Revelation. Much of it is speculation. You see, as I said a

couple weeks ago, Revelation wasn’t written to give people a detailed map of how the end of

time will play out. It was written to encourage Christians who were being persecuted for their

faith. Christians were suffering so much that they were giving up on God or at least altering their

faith to accommodate emperor worship. So Jesus gave John a revelation...a series of visions to

encourage Christians to not give up.

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And so, when we come to this book we have to always keep that in mind; Revelation was written

to encourage people to not give up. And that’s what I want you to walk out of here with today. I

don’t want you to leave with “facts” about how the world will end. I want you leave here

confident that following Jesus is the best thing for your life. You see, what makes this book

relevant to us today is that it’s so encouraging. You may not be concerned about the end of time

but some of us here might be on the verge of giving up. For whatever reason your faith isn’t

working for you.

You wanted God to miraculously save your marriage, but he didn’t.

You wanted God to heal a loved one. But he didn’t.

You wanted him to give you a better job. But he didn’t.

And that confuses you. You thought God was going to make everything bad in your life good. So

you feel let down. Abandoned. Rejected. You aren’t facing persecution for your faith or death

but you still feel like giving up.

Revelation was written to encourage people like you. And so I don’t want you missing the

message of Revelation just because someone made up some farfetched end-time theory. That

might sell books but that’s not going to help you through your faith crisis right now.

So what is it that Jesus wants John to tell the church? What is it that Jesus shows John that gives

him perspective in the midst of his suffering?

Well, there are all kinds of dramatic visions that John sees; visions of judgment and wrath.

Visions of beasts and demons and dragons. Visions of scrolls and horses and angels. But two

visions stand out above everything else. I want to read them to you.

The first one is in chapter four. I’ll start in verse two...

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone

sitting on it. Revelation 4:2

Now notice that John is careful to never describe human features of who is on the throne. This is

in contrast to the human portrayal of gods like Zeus. Notice how Zeus was shown to be like a

super macho/buffed out man. Great abs! But Christians and Jews were careful not to reduce God

to merely a better version of us. As the song says, God is “uncontainable”. So it is blasphemous

to tried to envision him as a better version of ourselves.

And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian. A rainbow,

resembling an emerald, encircled the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four

other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. Revelation 4:3,4

Now, inquiring minds want to know who is seated on these thrones. But here’s a key to

understanding and interpreting Revelation; it doesn’t really matter. John would have

told us if it mattered. What matters is what is implied...that every power submits to the

God of heaven. They were dressed in white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From

the throne came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Revelation 4:4,5

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If you know your Bible what do you associate with thunder and lightning? Mt. Sinai where God

gave the Ten Commandments.

Before the throne...was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal. Revelation 4:5,6

There was water but it was perfectly calm...not a ripple of disturbance. That’s a picture of what

happens to everything before God...perfect peace. That’s what happens to us when we put

ourselves before God.

Then John sees a vision of angels worshipping God...

In the center, around the throne, were four living creatures... Each of the ... creatures

had six wings ... Day and night they never stop saying: "HOLY, HOLY, HOLY IS THE

Lord GOD ALMIGHTY, WHO WAS, AND IS, AND IS TO COME." Revelation 4:6-8

Whenever the living creatures give glory, honor and thanks to him who sits on the throne and

who lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who sits on the throne,

and worship him who lives for ever and ever. They lay their crowns before the throne and say:

"You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all

things, and by your will they were created and have their being." Revelation 4:9-11

So John’s vision is a vision of worship. Isn’t that interesting? Why do you think Jesus gave

John a glimpse of worship to the persecuted church? If I’m suffering I don’t know if that’s what

I want to see. I think I’d like to have a vision of angels coming to my rescue and solving my

problems. But that’s not what John got. He got a vision of the eternal God on his throne being

worshipped by elders and angels...seemingly unrelated and indifferent to their pain and suffering.

Well, God isn’t the only one being worshipped. Chapter five introduces another vision...

Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing in the center of the throne,

encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. ... [they] fell down before the Lamb.

... And they sang a new song: "You are worthy ..., because you were slain, and with your

blood you purchased people for God from every tribe and language and people and

nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will

reign on the earth." Revelation 5:7-10

So, clearly, this lamb represents Jesus and Jesus, like God, is being worshipped. This is

important to note because sometimes people think that Jesus was just a prophet or a good person

or somehow less than God. But these visions show God, the Father, and Jesus, being worshipped

equally.

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands,

and ten thousand times ten thousand. Revelation 5:11

Ten thousand times ten thousand...that is Johns way of saying that every angel in heaven was

there and what did they do?

They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they

sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and

strength and honor and glory and praise!" Revelation 5:11,12

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But Jesus’ worship wasn’t limited to the angels.

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea,

and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise

and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" The four living creatures said,

"Amen," and the elders fell down and worshiped. Revelation 5:13,14

Do you see how John’s words are trying to communicate the all-inclusive worship of Jesus? The

point is...everything that has breath, in heaven, on earth or even under the earth, praises Jesus.

Now why would these visions be so meaningful to a persecuted church? If you are suffering

here on earth, who really cares about what’s going on in heaven? Well, think about it. The

church was under attack. People were dying. The emperor, Domitian, claimed he was god and

that he ruled the world. He demanded every citizen to worship him.

But these visions show that that’s not true. Domitian was a liar. The Father and the Son are the

ones on the throne. THEY are in control. And they are the only ones worthy of praise. You see,

one brief vision put everything in perspective. It probably didn’t feel like God was on the throne.

My guess is that John and the churches felt like they were on the verge of extinction. They were

about to be snuffed out. But this vision helped people see things as they really were. We need

that because our faith is often week.

But the vision of the lamb reminded people of something else. It reminded them that Jesus, just

like many of them, died...yet he lived. His suffering didn’t extinguish his life. His suffering is

what led to his exaltation. The people needed to know that. They needed to be reminded of that

because they too would be given new life. You see, the kingdom of God operates on different

principles than the kingdom of this world. In this world suffering is meaningless, even evil. But

in God’s world suffering has a purpose. Revelation tells us that God, in his wisdom and

goodness, is able to take terrible things...even evil and demonic things...and use them for good.

I was talking to someone the other day about why they didn’t believe in God. They said that as

long as suffering exists they can’t believe in God because in their mind God would never allow

suffering. I wasn’t in a context where I could talk about Jesus, otherwise I would have. So I said,

what if suffering was a part of who God was? What if suffering, rather than being a strange

aberration, was somehow a part of the wisdom of God...that suffering is a path to something

greater?

The person looked at me like I was from Mars...like I was speaking another language. Suffering

made no sense to them...especially as it related to God. But read anything by the martyrs in

church history, the people that have suffered for their faith, and they will tell you how their

suffering drew them into a relationship with God that they never had outside of their suffering.

So a vision of a lamb that was slain wasn’t irrelevant to the persecuted church. It was very

relevant. And maybe, if you are suffering through something right now, it has meaning for you

too. Maybe if you can see that suffering is a part of God himself you can find some meaning in it

or at the very least, trust that God will use it for good.

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Well, in my opinion, these two visions define the book of Revelation. Everything else hinges on

these pictures of the throne. Rather than being a book of end time calculations the book of

Revelation is primarily a book of worship. The book of Revelation reminds us to put God first in

our lives no matter what we are going through.

Now, you might disagree with this. In fact, when things go bad...worship might be the last thing

on your mind. When things are bad maybe your only thought about God is ...

Why me, God? Why are you letting this happen to me?

And that’s when people often give up on God.

But Revelation tells us to do just the opposite. When things go bad that’s when you should

worship. Worship is what grounds you. It’s what gives you perspective. Worship gives you a

point of reference to judge everything else in your life. So when your life gets turned upside

down the first thing you want to do is worship.

You were made for worship. So, we don’t just worship God when things go right for us. We

worship God when everything goes wrong for us too. We turn to God and say...

God, everything is wrong right now.

My relationships are wrong. My finances are wrong. My health is wrong.

My behavior is wrong but I thank you that YOU are right.

In fact, YOU are the only thing right in my life.

YOU are the only thing that makes sense.

Thank you that you are in control even though I’m out of control.

Thank you that you have a plan even when all my plans have gone wrong.

Thank you that you have a plan for evil even though right now evil seems to have the

upper hand.

I think we have a tendency to only worship God when everything in our life is going well. When

everything is fixed. As long as something is broken or not working in our lives we are ill-at-

ease. If our marriage isn’t right we want to fix our spouse. If our kids have a learning disability

we can’t rest until we take them to every doctor and/or educator. If our church is lacking we

insist on things being the way we want them to be. Everything needs to be fixed for us to be at

peace and happy in life. Now, it’s only normal to fix what is broken. But sometimes we take it

too far. We need to be able to find peace and worship God even when everything is going wrong

for us and can’t be fixed. Do you see that?

Now, practically, what does worship look like? I think people hear the word “worship” and it

seems so irrelevant. They think of standing around singing songs or sitting in church. They say,

I’ve got big problems. What good is singing songs to Jesus? I’ve got more important things to

do.

But worship is ANYTHING that acknowledges God. The Bible says...

Trust in the LORD with all your heart...in all your ways acknowledge him. Proverbs 3:6

Acknowledging God in all your ways...that’s worship.

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I put three things down in your notes to consider. Be thankful. Be generous and be respectful. I

could spend a lot of time on these three words but for now simply consider these things.

When you go through hard times it’s easy to turn inward, isn’t it? Instead of being thankful - you

feel entitled and complain that you don’t have enough. Instead of being generous - you start to

live in fear that the pie is getting smaller and you need to get your slice before it runs out and so

you become greedy and possessive. Instead of being respectful you start seeing the bad in

everybody and criticize them.

But worshippers are convinced that Jesus is on the throne and so they refuse to live in fear and

reduce themselves to just a shadow of who God created them to be. Instead, they acknowledge

God through thanksgiving, generosity and respect. They don’t act like victims...powerless over

their circumstances. They live like overcomers...giving things away when others are running for

cover. And with the apostle Paul they make this declaration...

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution

or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: "For your sake we face

death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered." No, in all these things

we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither

death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any

powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to

separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:35-39

You see, that’s the message of Revelation...God is for you so don’t give up! It’s not trying to tell

us who the Beast is or when the rapture will happen or how we will get the number 666 stamped

on our forehead. Revelation is meant to help us stand strong in the face of the worst trials by

worshipping the One who sits on the throne in front of a sea of glass. And that’s what I want for

all of us here. I want worshippers who overcome every trial that we encounter.

Prayer: Father, our faith is often so weak and we so easily give up. Thank you for this revelation

that shows us who is on the throne. Help us to live our lives based on this reality rather than the

fears that face us every day. Infuse us today with the faith we need to overcome and might our

first response to hardship be worship and not fear. Amen.

Going Deeper

Use the following questions for reflection or to discuss with your family, friends and small

group.

1. Reflect on a time when you gave up on God, faith and church. What made you do that? If

you’ve never done that, think of someone you’ve observed who did. Did it have anything to do

with their personal suffering and feeling abandoned by God?

2. Read Revelation 1:4-8. John barely starts his letter and quickly falls into worship of the

Father and the Son. List each thing he mentions. Why does he mention what he does? Which

aspects come directly from his vision in chapters four and five?

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3. How might the things that John lists encourage someone who is enduring a time of

suffering?

4. Read Revelation 1:12-18. What is it about this vision that would encourage a person who

is suffering?

5. How can worship help bring perspective to you when you are going through a hard time?

6. Have you ever worshipped anything besides God...that is...has your life ever revolved

around something other than God? What was that like?

7. Read Colossians 3:12-22. What do thankfulness, generosity and respect have to do with

worship?

8. What can you start doing to make yourself more of a true worshipper?

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Part Three: Judgment

Notes:

Judgement...

1. often evokes fear and anger.

2. is a major theme of Revelation and the entire Bible.

3. is seen as a good thing.

4. brings closure to a story gone wrong.

5. leads to us to the glory that we all long for.

Today is part three in my series on the book of Revelation and today might be the toughest

message of the three. There is a great big elephant in the book of Revelation that you have to

deal with and that is God’s judgment or what is often referred to as God’s wrath.

You get about a third of the way into the book and it becomes clear that God will judge the earth.

And the imagery that is used to convey judgment is nothing short of terrifying.

This angel called to the angel with the sharp sickle, saying, "Take your sharp sickle and

gather the bunches of grapes from the earth's vine, because its grapes are ripe." The

Angel swung his sickle, harvested earth's vintage, and heaved it into the winepress, the

giant winepress of God's wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city,

and blood flowed out of the winepress as high as horses' bridles for a distance of about

one hundred eighty miles. Revelation 14:18-20

Then the evil spirits gathered the kings together to the place that is called Armageddon in

the Hebrew language. The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air. Then a loud

voice came out of the temple from the throne, saying, "It is finished!" followed by

lightning flashes and shouts, thunder crashes and a colossal earthquake - a huge and

devastating earthquake, never an earthquake like it since time began. Revelation 16:16-

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The Great City split three ways, the cities of the nations toppled to ruin. Great Babylon

had to drink the wine of God's raging anger - God remembered to give her the cup! Then

every island ran away, and mountains disappeared. Giant hailstones, each weighing

about a hundred pounds, fell from the sky upon people. People cursed God for the

disaster of the hail, because this disaster was so terrible. Revelation 16:16-21

But, you know, the idea of judgment isn’t unique to the book of Revelation. All through the

Bible God spoke about a coming day of judgment. It was called The Day of the LORD. The

prophet Isaiah said...

See, the day of the LORD is coming --a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger-- to make

the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. Isaiah 13:9

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The prophet Ezekiel said this...

Their silver and gold will not be able to save them in the day of the LORD's wrath. They

will throw their silver into the streets, and their gold will be an unclean thing. Ezekiel

7:19

In the last book of the Old Testament Malachi said...

"Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer

will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD

Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them. Malachi 4:1

Jesus put it in terms of a shepherd...

When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his

glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the

people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. Matthew

25:31-32

The apostle Paul put it this way...

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive

what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. 2

Corinthians 5:10

And finally, Peter said...

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the

elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare. 2

Peter 3:10

So...we can’t escape this idea of judgment. Throw out the idea of judgment and you might as

well throw out the whole Bible. Actually, that’s what many people have chosen to do. They

can’t believe in a God who would judge people.

But short of throwing out the Bible and giving up on God, what do we do with what it says?

These images clash with our idea of a loving God, don’t they? So what do we do?

Well, one thing that helps right away is to remember what I told you three weeks ago and that is

that Revelation is symbolic. So you can’t read it literally. It describes judgment in dramatic

ways to get your attention and to make a point. But don’t expect to literally see a winepress on

the Day of Judgment or an angel with a big sickle or a city splitting into three parts. That’s all

symbolic.

But even though THOSE things won’t literally happen - judgment will. We can’t be sure what it

will look like but we can be sure that it’s coming.

Let me ask you this...What comes to mind as I talk about God’s judgment? When I sent out our

newsletter this week through email the subject line read, “Revelation 3: Judgment” and someone

wrote back, “Sounds Scary”. And I thought...isn’t it interesting how the word “judgment” evokes

fear in most people. Or it might evoke anger. Why do you think that is?

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I think it’s because most of us have been exposed to unjust judgment at some point in our lives.

Either the person judging was wrong which caused a lot of hurt...or, their judgment was right but

it was without mercy. And because of that...the word “judgment” became a bad word. We

assume the worst. We don’t think of judgment in positive ways. And so we naturally project that

negative view of judgment on God, right? We read about God’s judgment and we assume it can’t

be a good thing. We assume that there’s nothing good about judgment.1

But I want to challenge our thinking on that this morning. I want to show us that in contrast to

our initial knee-jerk reaction against the idea of judgment God’s judgment is actually a good

thing. In fact, God’s people throughout the ages have looked forward to it. God’s judgment was

the day that God would rid the earth of evil and free his people from oppression. That’s why in

Revelation 6 the martyrs ask God...

How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and

avenge our blood? Revelation 6:10

You see, there is something wired into us that demands justice. We want bad guys punished and

good guys rewarded. My guess is that most of the top selling movies in Hollywood have

something to do with bad guys losing and good guys winning. We don’t pay money to see the

bad guys win, do we? Why is that? Because we are wired for justice.

N. T. Wright is a theologian who has written on this idea of judgment. He said...

God’s coming judgment is a good thing, something to be celebrated, longed for, yearned

for. It causes people to shout for joy and the trees of the field to clap their hands. In a

world of systematic injustice, bullying, violence, arrogance, and oppression the thought

that there might come a day when the wicked are firmly put in their place and the poor

and weak are given their due is the best news there can be. Faced with a world in

rebellion, a world full of exploitation and wickedness, a good God must be a God of

judgment. P. 137, Surprised by Hope2

Let me bring this discussion of judgment down to our level so we can get a better grip on it. How

many of you work at a place where management is slow to judge and the company is suffering?

You know that certain people need to be fired. Certain products need to be improved or dropped.

Certain policies and procedures need to be changed for the company to achieve greatness but no

one is willing to make the tough call.

The reason everyone complains to each other in the breakroom is because you all long for

judgment. You want things to be put right so your company can succeed and you can succeed as

well. You see, judgment is a good thing. A little judgment would turn things around for your

company. But when management refuses to judge they are actually condemning your company

to chaos and failure. Judgement is a good thing.

1 To be fair, the Bible brings some of this on itself with its “over-the-top” judgment imagery. It’s unfortunate that

the apocalyptic language used in biblical times – that was accepted and understood – today strikes many as offensive and leads people to draw conclusions that were never meant in the original text. 2 For more from Wright on judgment go to the end of this document

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Whether we realize it or not, we judge things all day long. We constantly analyze what we like

and don’t like. What will help us and what will harm us. And then we make choices based on our

analysis. Judgment is a process we use to eliminate the inferior and harmful things from our lives

in an effort to achieve what is good and right and best for us. Let me give you a few simple

examples.

When you go to make dinner and you rummage through the refrigerator you are judging. You

choose the freshest ingredients and throw out the vegetables and leftovers that have been in there

for a few weeks and have turned brown and mushy, right? Your judgment eliminates the rotten

food allowing you to make something excellent with the good food.

For you sports fan, judgment is what training camp is all about. NFL football teams start with

100 players or so every summer. Every day players are evaluated for who will help the team and

then each week the coaches cut a few more players, eventually cutting their team in half to make

sure that they only have the best.

Or think about a broken relationship. If two people want to restore their relationship they need to

first judge it. The couple needs to judge harmful behavior as wrong and then eliminate that

behavior in hopes of saving the relationship.

You see, my point here is that judgment doesn’t destroy things. Judgment actually enables

something good to be released. Judgment isn’t de-structive. It is con-structive. Given my

examples, judgment gives us a good meal, a good team and a good relationship.

But, on the other hand, when you fail to judge THAT’s when you can have problems. You make

a meal with rotten food. You launch a team with mediocre players and you have a relationship

that is doomed to fail.

Let me give you a very current example of what happens when you fail to judge. Some of you

tracked with me on Facebook a couple days ago on a little adventure Lisa and I had in

Minneapolis. About four times a year Lisa and I take a 24 hour vacation in Minneapolis. We go

for a play or a concert and then spend the evening in a hotel. It’s a nice little get away for us.

So Thursday night we drive in and park just down the street from our hotel. I never park in the

hotel parking lots because they are a total rip off. They charge you like $25 when I can park on

the street for free. So Lisa and I get this primo spot just a block away from the hotel. And I’m

feeling pretty smart. Free parking instead of paying $25. But Lisa and I failed to judge. We were

in a hurry. We wanted to check in and get dinner. We weren’t careful to read the sign. And I

think we just really wanted free parking.

Now, we were partially right. It said, NO PARKING 9AM – 6PM. So we thought we were good

until 9AM. But it also said NO STOPPING 7-9AM.

So, the next morning I wake up at 7am and I read a little. We exercise a little. We shower. It’s all

very relaxing...meanwhile, the City of Minneapolis is towing our car across town.

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Now you can imagine how I felt when I went down to our primo parking spot and found our car

gone. Have you ever had that happen? It’s kind of eerie. It’s like the Twilight Zone because I

knew that I parked it there. It was like the opposite of the rapture; my car was gone and I was

left behind!

Well, we finally got our car back. But it cost us. We had to pay $138 for the tow. $32 for the

parking ticket. And $10 for the cab ride over to the impound lot. Plus we missed breakfast and

just had time for a cup of coffee before our concert.

Not a big deal really, but my point is that it was our FAILURE to judge that caused the problem.

Do you see that? It was our failure to reject that parking spot that got us into trouble. Judging

didn’t cause the problem. NOT judging was the problem. If we had done a good job of judging

our morning would have gone off without a hitch. And that’s what judgment does. Judgment

eliminates what is bad so you can experience what is good.

And that’s why God must ultimately judge all things. God must eliminate everything that is

harmful and evil and undermines his kingdom so that we can experience everything that is good

and right and just and beautiful and full of glory.

In Revelation, once judgment has been delivered...that’s when it says...

I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among

the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be

with them and be their God. 'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no

more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Andy why is that? Because judgment came and made this possible!

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Revelation 21:3-5

One of the seven angels ... carried me away ... and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its

brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. Revelation

21:10,11

This is beautiful but...in order for all of this goodness to be revealed, judgment had to come first.

Judgment is what releases beauty from the grip of evil. It’s what leads us to the glory that we all

long for. So judgment isn’t a bad thing. It’s a good thing.

Now I’ve described judgment as the elimination of what is inferior and harmful. And that’s a

scary thought if you don’t trust the person judging you. But thankfully judgment isn’t being

handled by some egotistical human ruler. Judgment will be done by Jesus himself. Jesus said that

the father gave him authority to judge...

...the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may

honor the Son just as they honor the Father. John 5:22,23

I like what N.T. Wright says about Jesus judging the earth...

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...the one through whom God’s justice will finally sweep the world is not a hard-hearted,

arrogant, or vengeful tyrant but rather the Man of Sorrows, who was acquainted with

grief; the Jesus who loved sinners and died for them; the Messiah who took the world’s

judgment upon himself on the cross. N.T. Wright, Surprised by Joy, p. 141.3

Imagine a world where there was no judgment. Your first thought might be that that would be a

great place to live. A place of love and hugs and peace. But not so fast. A world without

judgment would actually be cruel and chaotic, wouldn’t it? We see countries like that today. We

see families like that today. We see churches and businesses like that. No one judges. No one

confronts wrong. And as a result you are left with chaos, corruption and sometimes outright evil.

If you think about it, religions that deny a day of judgment relegate humanity to an unending

cycle of futility and despair where life just goes on and on without ever getting any better. But

the Bible presents a story that has a beginning (where everything is good), a middle (where

something goes wrong) and an end (where everything is put right again). The injustices that we

see in this world will not go on forever.

Again, N.T. Wright says that the Bible brings closure to a story gone wrong. It brings closure to

the problem of sin and evil with the idea of judgment.

Not to have closure at the end of the story – to be left with a potentially endless cycle,

round and round with either the same things happening again and again or simply

perhaps the long outworking of kharma – would be the very antithesis of the story told by

the apostle. P. 143. Surprised by Joy

So, I hope this makes you feel better about the idea of judgment in the Bible. Judgment is a good

thing. But don’t miss the application to your life today. I’m not just talking theology today. What

I mean is that for some of us, the reason your life isn’t what you want it to be is because you

haven’t judged it. You are afraid to make hard decisions. You are afraid to eliminate what you

know is hurting you; things that you are doing and things that people are doing to you.

You think that somehow, in some magical way, everything is going to work out for you without

any hard decisions on your part. You think that’s how God works. You think God is nice and he

never makes anyone uncomfortable.

But the Bible tells a different story. Judgment is very uncomfortable. There is a separation. A

tearing. And it’s painful. You might even describe it like a winepress crushing grapes or a sickle

cutting wheat. But it’s the only thing that will bring you into the place that God wants you to be.

So I want to leave you with a very practical and personal question. What is it that is hurting you

today that you need to first judge and then eliminate so you can become the person God has

called you to be? You see, if judgment is a good thing and we know that God will ultimately

judge all things then it only makes sense that we are people of judgment now.

3 Far be it from you to do such a thing--to kill the righteous with the wicked, treating the righteous and the wicked

alike. Far be it from you! Will not the Judge of all the earth do right? Genesis 18:25

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Prayer: Father thank you for judgment. Thank you that evil will not go on and on but a Day will

come when you will cleanse this world from evil and reveal your glory...the glory that we all

long for. Thank you that we can trust your judgment. Now, help us to judge ourselves well and

model kingdom values for this world. Amen.

Going Deeper

Use the following questions for personal reflection or to discuss with your family, friends or

small group.

1. What is your personal response to the word “judgment”? How does it make you feel?

What images does it bring to mind?

2. Read Daniel 7 and Revelation 1:12-16, 4:2, 5:11, 13:1-10, 20:11-5. How do they

compare? How do they differ?

3. Daniel 7 is a condensed version of the book of Revelation. What is the big picture

message of Daniel 7? (Hint: see 7:26,27)

4. The entire Bible looks forward to “The Day of the Lord”, the day of God’s judgment.

Why was this seen as a good thing?

5. Give examples of judgment being good in everyday life.

6. Why has judgment gotten a bad name...both with God and humans?

7. Read Genesis 18:25 and reflect on it.

8. Read Revelation 21 and 22. Judgment allows for the new heaven and earth to be

revealed. What is it about this picture that strikes you the most?

More from N.T. Wright on judgment...

God is utterly committed to set the world right in the end. This is doctrine, like that of

resurrectioin itself, is held firmly in place by the belief In God as creator, on the one side,

and the belief in his goodness, on the other. And that setting right must necessarily

involve the elimination of all that distorts God’s good and lovely creation and in

partifular of all that defaces his image-bearing human creatures. ...there will be no barbed

wire in the kingdom of God. And those whose whole being has become dependent upon

babed wire will have no place there either.

Faced with the Balkans, Rwanda, the Middle East, Darfur, and all kinds of other horrors

that enlightened Western thought can neither explain nor alleviate, opinion in many

quarters has, rightly in my view, come to see that there must be such a thing as judgment.

Judgment – the sovereign declaration that this is good and to be upheld and vindicated,

and that is evil and to be condemned – is the only alternative to chaos. There are some

things, quite a lot of them in fact, that one must not tolerate lest one merely collude with

wickedness. We all know this perfectly well, yet we conveniently forget it whenever

squeamisheness or the demands of current opinion make it easier to go with the flow of

social convention. N. T. Wright, Surprised by Hope

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Part Four: The Rapture & Hell

In July I did a three week series on the book of Revelation. But before I move on from that

series I want to look at two words that everyone thinks are in the book of Revelation but

aren’t and those words are “rapture” and “hell”.

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on either word. I just want to bring what might be new

thinking to some of us. There is strong teaching on both these words in the church at large

and I want to bring some balance to the discussion. Hopefully it will help you as you

consider these two topics.

Let’s start with the word “rapture”. I talked about this briefly a few weeks back. The word

“rapture” is often used to refer to the idea that Jesus will come and pull believers off the

earth and then send judgment on the people that remain. It’s an interesting theory but you’d

be amazed at how that idea is based on such little biblical data.

You won’t actually find the word “rapture” in the Bible. It comes from a Latin word that is

in the Latin translation of the Bible in 1 Thessalonians. Let me show you…

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice

of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up (Latin: raptus) together

with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord

forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words.1 Thessalonians 4:16-18

So, there it is. That’s the one verse that talks about the rapture. Now notice, it doesn’t say

anything about being caught up to save us from judgment. The point here is not that we will

be caught up in the air and taken to heaven. Paul was talking to Christians who were afraid

that the people who had already died would miss out on the Lord’s return.

Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in

death, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus

died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have

fallen asleep in him.

This is interesting. People often ask me what happens when you die. Where do you go?

What does it just say? That people who have died will come WITH Jesus. So that tells me

that they are with Jesus now.

According to the Lord's word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the

coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. 1

Thessalonians 4:13-15

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So Paul isn’t talking about escaping judgment. That’s not the point here. His point is that

when Jesus comes back to earth he will come back with all the believers who have

previously died. Jesus is not coming back to take us away to heaven. He is coming back to

earth. He’s coming back to rule and reign the earth. It says the exact opposite of what the

rapture theory teaches!

So then, what’s Paul saying about being caught up in the air? Good question. The reason we

will be caught up in the air to meet Jesus is because that’s what you did when a king came

into your town. You went out to meet him. You didn’t wait for him to enter the city. You

went out of the city to welcome him and then returned with him to the city.

If you know the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem you’ll remember that the crowds went out

to meet him and walked with him back into the city...

The crowds that went ahead of him and those that followed shouted, "Hosanna to the Son

of David!" "Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!" "Hosanna in the highest

heaven!" When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who is

this?" Matthew 21:9,10

You can see the same thing in the story of the Prodigal Son. The father went out to meet his

son and walked with him back into the city. So...believers are welcoming Jesus to earth NOT

being taken away to heaven. I’m sorry to burst the rapture bubble...but someone in the

1800’s misread 1 Thessalonians, created a whole theology around their idea and then the

Left Behind series took the idea and ran with it- it went viral - and now millions of people

have the wrong idea of the end times!

Okay...that was all I have on the rapture. Now let’s turn to the word “hell”. The word hell

isn’t found in Revelation either but something like hell is referred to. The devil and his

angels are thrown into what’s called the Abyss. So that might be the same thing. But the

word “hell” isn’t used.

I don’t know what you’ve heard about hell or what you expect me to say. Someone told me

once that the only thing they were ever taught about hell is that they were going there if they

didn’t straighten up! But let’s start with a video that has gotten a lot of church people riled

up over the last few months. The video features Rob Bell. Rob is a pastor in Grand Rapids,

Michigan and this video is promoting a new book of his that talks about hell.

Video. Go to www.robbell.com/lovewins

Pretty provocative. You’d be amazed at how much flack Bell has gotten for that video and

his book. Some people think he is a heretic. They want to burn him at the stake! But I

appreciate what Rob had to say. People say that Rob doesn’t believe in hell. That’s not true.

If you read his book he believes in hell, he just believes that we shouldn’t talk about it with

such certainty; what it is or who’s going there. He says that is arrogant and toxic and keeps

people from the faith and I agree. I highly recommend that you get his book. It raises a lot of

good questions.

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I don’t have the time for a full discussion of hell. That would take weeks. I simply want to

give you the four ways that people have thought about hell through the years and I’ll let you

process it. But the thing I want to emphasize is that when we talk about hell it should be in

humility and with compassion and not absolute certainty.

FOUR VIEWS OF HELL

First the Traditional View: the traditional view is that hell is an eternal place of torment for

those who do not confess Jesus as their Savior. If you don’t hear the message of Jesus and

confess him as your Savior, you are doomed. It’s very cut and dried. Black and white.

There’s no wiggle room.

Well, let’s look at where they get this. The Bible uses the word “hell” 14 times. Of those

times, Jesus mentions it 12 times. So Jesus talks about hell more than anyone. Matthew has

Jesus talking about hell in four settings. Mark mentions one of the settings in Matthew. And

Luke mentions one of those settings and includes another one too. John doesn’t have Jesus

using the word hell.

So, in the gospels...there are five different settings where Jesus talks about hell and it is

always in passing. In other words, Jesus never stops and gives a clear teaching on hell. He

just assumes that everyone knows what he is talking about. For example…

If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to

lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. Matthew 5:29

Jesus does tell a story about a rich man and a beggar by the name of Lazarus.(Luke 16). The

rich man goes to hell and the beggar goes to heaven. But you have to be careful about

drawing conclusions from that story about hell.

This story was primarily a wakeup call to rich people because at the time the thought was

that people were rich because God loved them and people were poor because God didn’t

love them. So, Jesus is exploding that idea...that myth. It’s not a teaching on hell. It’s more

of a teaching on the dangers of wealth.

Now, some people try to minimize the doctrine of hell because it’s mentioned so little. They

say, look, it’s only mentioned fourteen times in five settings. That’s not really enough to

build a theology on. But to be fair...I think when you are studying hell you need to include

other words that might be referencing hell, words like; Hades, the Abyss, judgment,

condemnation, wrath, punishment, weeping and gnashing of teeth and destruction. So if you

do a word study on hell be sure to include those words.

For example, Jesus talked about his return and how he will judge all people. He never says

the word “hell” but he says that the unjust...

"they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life." Matthew

25:46

I think it’s obvious that “eternal punishment” is term for “hell”.

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If you study all the words that relate to the idea of hell you come up with closer to a hundred

words instead of just fourteen. So, don’t be too quick to dismiss the idea of hell. It’s in the

Bible. We have to own it and deal with it and not just explain it away.

The second view of hell is that of Annihilation: a place where body and soul are destroyed.

The word “destroyed” is too strong. “Eliminated” is better. “Destroyed” sounds too

aggressive, like God is out to get somebody. But the idea is that hell, in reality, is that you

simply cease to exist when you die. That’s your judgment. A number of well known

theologians believe in this view. John Stott is one of them, if you know who he is.

A lot of verses in the Bible talk about people being destroyed/eliminated in judgment. The

word means to completely eliminate something. For example...

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of

the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Matthew 10:28

By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the

day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. 2 Peter 3:7

Another reason for this idea is that Jesus often used the word “Gehenna” for hell. Gehenna

was literally the local garbage pit where there was a fire that continually burned. The

purpose of the fire wasn’t to torment the garbage but to destroy it. That’s what fire does. So

then maybe hell is a place of destruction more than torment.

The third idea of hell is called Universalism: meaning that hell, if it exists, is only

temporary and a cleansing process that leads to heaven. Everyone will eventually end up in

heaven, even the devil. It’s an attractive idea for people who can’t live with the idea of God

tormenting people for eternity. It’s become very popular in the last decade.

This is based on many verses that address God’s unconditional love. There’s nothing we can

do to earn God’s love.

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this not from yourselves, it is

the gift of God-- not by works, so that no one can boast. Ephesians 2:8

And their best proof text is probably in Colossians where it says...

For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile

to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace

through his blood, shed on the cross. Colossians 1:19,20

They would say...there you have it in black and white...Jesus will reconcile ALL things to

himself.

The last view of hell is that hell is merely a Metaphor: Hell is only used to contrast with

God’s kingdom and what life is like without God. For example, here’s a verse that doesn’t

use the word hell but the concept...

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There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and

Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. Luke

13:28

The person who believes that hell is a metaphor would say...Jesus isn’t talking about a

physical hell. He’s just talking about the pain of being separated from God. It’s hyperbole.

It’s exaggeration. It’s a warning. We do that all the time...we overstate things to make a

point.

Imagine that I write a letter to a friend and I mention that I’m so stressed that I’m “tearing

my hair out”. Then imagine someone finds that letter five hundred years from now and

assumes that I must have been bald because I tore my hair out. That seems silly but you can

see how that might actually happen if people can’t perceive my figurative language.

So, those are the four views. I’m not going to tell you what to believe. I really think there is

room for different views of hell. One of us may be right or we may all be wrong. But let’s

talk about it. Let’s dialogue and not polarize.

I may not agree with every view but I think there is value in having each view represented in

a discussion. For example, I want the Universalist to remind me of God’s unconditionial

love. I want the Traditionalist telling me about the holiness of the sovereign God who has

the right to do whatever he wishes without fear of his creation criticizing him. I appreciate

the creativity of the Annihilist who is trying to find a solution that will solve a puzzle that

seems to be missing a few pieces. And I want to be reminded that the Bible often uses

metaphor so I am careful to not always take it literally. Instead of calling each other heretics

I think we need to be listening to each other.

Now, you might wonder what I believe. My general stance on scripture is to take the more

conservative view but I really try to understand and appreciate alternate views. (Reality

check. Most conservatives probably wouldn’t embrace me as a fellow conservative. I’m

more of a “modified conservative” because I tweak most things a little bit.) So you never

have to fear disagreeing with me. I’m not going to label you a heretic and throw you out the

door! I learn a lot from hearing what other people think.

So I agree with the traditionalists in that there must be something to the idea of hell

otherwise Jesus would have corrected the false idea. I think it would be reckless to use the

image of hell if it didn’t exist in some form or fashion.

But, unlike the Traditionalist, I don’t think God will just save a few people. I think we will

be surprised at how many are saved. And so I appreciate what Universalists say although I

can’t fully agree with them.

Like a said a couple weeks ago, if God is truly good he must judge evil and so it seems like

there must be a consequence for that judgment. Whatever hell is...I think it’s where evil is

sent after judgment. But the thing I really trip over with the traditional view...and I think it’s

hard for most people...ist the idea of eternal torment. It just doesn’t seem to jive with

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everything else Jesus teaches. We seem to be missing something. And that’s when I wonder

if hell, at least the torment part of it, is a metaphor.

As for annihilation; I wouldn’t be surprised if hell is a state of destruction. That makes sense

to me in some way. A lot of verses talk about destruction.

But if hell is an actual place, it helps me to see hell as more of a choice than a place you are

sent. What I mean is...if you don’t want to worship God now, why on earth would you want

to spend eternity in a place where worshipping God is the top priority? Talk about a fish out

of water. So, it actually makes sense to me that there should be a place for people to go who

don’t love God. They wouldn’t like heaven and heaven wouldn’t want them there. So their

godless life now is their way of choosing a godless eternity. It seems like the right thing to

do.

As far as hell being a metaphor... I think hell is often used as a metaphor... I’m just not sure

when it is being used that way and when it’s depicting a real place. I don’t know what you

do but when I read the Bible I have best case and worst case interpretations. So when I read

about hell I think about it as if it were literally true and I think about it as just a metaphor. I

keep it all in my mind and hold it loosely. Bottom line; I trust God to do the right thing. I

don’t think anyone will get to heaven and criticize God. I think we will be shocked to learn

how it all fits together and makes sense.

Well, even though the Bible isn’t crystal clear on hell it is clear on what keeps us out of it.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in

him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to

condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not

condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have

not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. John 3:16-18

If you declare with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God

raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and

are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As

Scripture says, "Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame." Romans 10:9-

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You see. Jesus came to save us from being separated from God. That’s the good news. We

don’t have to wonder what’s going to happen to us. No one has to worry about hell. I’m

always surprised when Christians tell me that they worry about hell. I’m like...if you are

going to hell then why did Jesus die? The Bible tells us that by one sacrifice God has made

us perfect in his eyes. We all stand perfect in God’s eyes because of what Jesus did for us.

So don’t lose one minute of sleep worrying about hell.

But more than being saved from hell (I hate reducing our faith to simply being saved from

hell!)...Jesus came to give us a new life. A new life NOW that continues on into the next life

when we die.

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My guess is that there are at least a few people here that would like to have this life. You

want to know God but no one’s every told you how that happens. So let me give you a

prayer to pray right now that might help you make that connection. It’s not a formula. It’s

not magic. It won’t save you from hell or make you a Christian. It’s just a guide to help you

draw close to God.

Jesus, thank you that you came to save me, not condemn me.

I want this new life...not only when I die but today.

Breathe your Spirit into me.

Renew me. Restore me. Redirect me toward you.

Might you be the new center to my life.

Give me ears to hear your voice and eyes to see you.

And send me people to encourage me along the way. Amen.

Let me pray for you.

Father, we don’t understand hell. It’s beyond us. Help us to talk about it with humility and

compassion. And I hope we are all motivated by your great love more than a fear of hell.

Amen.

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Bonus Message: The End of The Story

This message capped off a 31 week study of the entire Bible and closed with an overview of

the book of Revelation.

The Story

Chapter 31 - The End of The Story

By Remy Diederich

Cedarbrook Church

5.22.11

This document contains:

• Sermon notes

• Sermon text

• Chapter Summary

• Small group questions

• Journaling questions

Sermon Notes

1. How we distort the return of Jesus:

a. focusing on the negative vs. the positive

b. talking about going to heaven vs. heaven coming to us.

2. A better picture of Jesus’ return is that of renewal and restoration.

• Isaiah 65

• Revelation 21

3. Our role is to enter The Story and model renewal and restoration now.

Last Saturday Lisa and were waiting in the airport to come home from our family reunion in

Florida and I picked up a USA Today newspaper. To my surprise I learned that the world

was going to end on Saturday (yesterday). By now, it’s been all over the news but last

Saturday was the first I heard of it.

I showed Lisa the full page ad and I said “Look, I don’t have to preach next Sunday!”

Maybe I could even get in a game of golf. But Lisa thought I might want to prepare a

message anyway just in case. I am so glad that I listened to her!

In addition to the newspaper ads they had billboards all across the country. And they had

teams of people in vans going from city to city.

It’s interesting that they predicted the end of the world the day before I close out our

yearlong series on the Bible. Good timing for me. If you are joining us for the first time

today ends a 31 week study of the entire Bible and so we are looking at how this story ends.

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Let me read to you how this group I just mentioned thought the story was going to end.

By God’s grace and tremendous mercy, He is giving us advanced warning as to what He

is about to do. On Judgment Day, May 21st, 2011, this 5-month period of horrible

torment will begin for all the inhabitants of the earth.

Somehow horrible torment for everyone on earth doesn’t sound very merciful to me.

It will be on May 21st that God will raise up all the dead that have ever died from their

graves. Earthquakes will ravage the whole world as the earth will no longer conceal its

dead (Isaiah 26:21). People who died as saved individuals will experience the

resurrection of their bodies and immediately leave this world to forever be with the Lord.

Those who died unsaved will be raised up as well, but only to have their lifeless bodies

scattered about the face of all the earth. Death will be everywhere. Ebiblefellowship.com

This is so distorted.

There are actually a couple ways that people distort the end time message…and this group

did both. One is that they focus on the negative more than the positive. Whenever I hear

about the end times it’s so often framed in such dark terms

I saw one guy being interviewed this week and he was asked how many people would make

it into heaven and the guy said only 1%...that 99% of humanity will be killed. How have we

turned the second coming of Jesus into such a bad thing? A thing to dread?

If you were Jesus…wouldn’t you hope that people were excited about your return and not

dreading it? I’m sure some of you parents here must travel for work. When you come home,

do you want your kids hiding under their beds in fear of you or waiting in the driveway

because they know you will bring them something? My guess is that Jesus wants the same

thing.

You see, the “end times” aren’t as much and end ad they are a new beginning. It’s God

hitting the “reset” button. Jesus is coming back to fix what’s been broken so we can start

over. And that’s a good thing. That’s something to celebrate…something to look forward to.

But we often focus on the judgment aspect of the story.

Now, it’s important to understand why end time prophecy in the Bible often does focus on

judgment. So, imagine that you lived in the first century as a Christian. All you’ve ever

known for decades is persecution. Your dad couldn’t get a decent job because of his faith

and now you can’t either. If it wasn’t for the church helping out you wouldn’t make it. Plus,

your church meetings are in secret so as not to be discovered by the police. But all this isn’t

even the worst off it. In addition to all of this some of your closest friends and family

members have been brutally tortured and killed for their faith.

There is something in you that wants justice. It’s like what we saw when we heard that

Osama bin Laden had been killed. There was a variety of emotion but some people had

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longed for that moment and it was highly satisfying to hear that news. And so, if you are

persecuted you long for justice in the same way. You wonder if that justice will ever come.

You see, end time prophecies of judgment were written to encourage people about two

things: one, that God was in control and two; that the bad guys would get their just desserts.

The book of Revelation is a vision that the apostle John had. This is what he saw…

I saw … the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the

testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign

Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?"

Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until

the full number of their fellow servants and brothers and sisters were killed just as they

had been. Revelation 6:9-11

You see, these people wanted to know if their tormentors would get away with this. So John

says first, “Don’t worry. God is on the throne, not Caesar.”

At once I was in the Spirit, and there before me was a throne in heaven with someone

sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow

that shone like an emerald encircled the throne… From the throne came flashes of

lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. Revelation 4:2,3,5

It’s a vision of God. God is on the throne and he’s in control. And the second thing John saw

was that everyone was indeed judged.

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. And I saw the dead, great and

small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened,

which is the book of life. …and everyone was judged according to what they had done.

Revelation 20:11-13

So, yes…judgment is a part of the end of time. But judgment isn’t the only thing happening

when Jesus comes back. There are a lot of good things that will happen that I’ll talk about in

a minute. So I think it’s a distortion to focus on the negative.

The second thing we do to distort the end times is when we talk about how we will be taken

off to heaven. Let me show you some of the words we sang this morning when we sang How

Great Thou Art …

When Christ shall come,

With shouts of acclamation,

And take me home,

What joy shall fill my heart!

Have you ever thought about these words? Here’s what I want to know. Where is “home”?

Where is Jesus taking us? It implies that we are leaving this earth behind. I know that’s

what many people think. There’s another hymn that says, “I’ll fly away”.

Some glad morning when this life is over. I’ll fly away.

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To a home on God’s celestial shore. I’ll fly away.

Where are we flying to? Inquiring minds need to know. It’s interesting how over time

doctrines can develop that have no bearing in scripture.

Let’s take a look at what the Bible says. In the book of Isaiah God speaks about the end of

time and he says…

Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah 65:17

Now, this is very important. There are two words for “new” in the Bible and which one you

pick will determine your theology of the end times. There is “new” in the sense of “brand

new”, that is, you throw out your old tennis shoes and get a new pair. That’s not what it’s

talking about here.

The other kind of new is when you change something that already exists into something

entirely different. It’s so different from what it was that we say that it’s “new”. We call that

a transformation or renewal. We call it restoration. And that’s what God is talking about here

in Isaiah.

When Lisa and I bought our house it was one of the cheaper ones on the market. It was an

old house that needed a lot of updating. So, over time we changed every room in the house.

We ripped out walls. We put in new windows. We resided it and put in new flooring and

sanded the wood floors.

You might say it’s a new house. It’s nicer now than it was when it was first built in 1939.

We restored it beyond what it was. We transformed it. And that’s what this word “new”

means here. God isn’t going to destroy the earth and create something brand new. He’s

going to change our present earth, restore it, transform it.

Isaiah continues on to describe what this new earth will look like.

The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and

rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its

people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of

weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.

"Never again will there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who

does not live out his years; ... They will build houses and dwell in them; they will plant

vineyards and eat their fruit. Isaiah 65:17-21

Those of you that have moved a lot know what he’s saying here. You will build a house and

never have to move. You will plant grapes and apple trees and actually be there long enough

to get a harvest.

No longer will they build houses and others live in them, or plant and others eat. Isaiah

65:22

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In essence, God is saying that a day will come when he will put everything back the way it

was meant to be. Sin distorted and perverted the Garden of Eden. It’s been crooked ever

since. But when Jesus comes back he’s going to make everything right again.

And so, rather than focusing on judgment…I think a better picture for the end of time is to

talk about renewal and restoration. We don’t live in a time of persecution like the early

church did at least here in the United States. But we do live in a time when everything is

broken. Everything is falling apart. From the government to the economy to the family. We

need restoration and that’s the hope of Jesus’ second coming. That’s the message that we

should be telling people.

Now, Isaiah wrote his prophecy 700 years before Jesus lived. But the book of Revelation

was written about 50 years after Jesus died/resurrected. He had a vision almost identical to

Isaiah’s in the closing chapters of the Bible.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had

passed away, … I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven

from God, Revelation 21:1,2

Look at what it says here… it doesn’t say that we go to heaven but heaven comes down to

us. And when heaven invades earth some amazing things happen.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men,

and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and

be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or

mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." He who was

seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Revelation 21

This sounds a lot like what the Bible tells us about what happens when we turn our lives

over to Jesus.

If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here! 2

Corinthians 5:17

The same word is used here. New doesn’t mean that God destroys you and creates a new

person. It means he transforms you into something new. You see, Jesus started in us what

he’ll eventually do for the world.

Video: http://media.preachingtoday.com/mini-movies/22034/The-New-Has-Come

Okay. That’s the Story…all 31 weeks of it! Now, every story teller puts their own spin on

the story. You can’t help it. I’m sure that I put my own spin on it but I hope I did the Bible

justice. From my perspective, the Bible tells a story about broken people in desperate need

of a Savior. And thankfully in Jesus we find a god who is for us and not against us…a god

who wants to first wants to renew and restore us then use us to bring renewal and restoration

while we wait for Jesus to return and bring renewal and restoration to the whole world.

But this not a passive bedtime story. That means it’s not a story that we listen to and then go

on our way. It’s not a story we tell just to make people feel better. God wants to evoke

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something in us. God wants to awaken something in us…so much that we are compelled to

stop living for ourselves and start living for him. Jesus tells the story of a man who was out

for a walk and came across a pearl. He realizes that it’s a pearl of great price and that finding

the pearl is a defining moment for him. This is a day that will change him forever. So he

goes home and sells everything he has so he can buy the pearl. It’s that important to him.

That pearl now defines his existence.

And that’s what I want so much for us. I don’t want to just tell the story every week to make

us feel good. I want to tell the story so we embrace it and then live it out. I want us to see

that this story is worthy of giving up everything we have to embrace it and live it out. I want

this story to so consume us that it impacts everything we do and everyone we encounter. I

want it to so mark us that we become defined as people of transformation and renewal.

Can you imagine that? Imagine that you are walking down the street with a friend and I stop

you both and ask your friend to use a few words to define you. What would your friend say

about you. Grumpy? Bad marriage? Is that what defines you? Crabby kids? Lousy job?

Bad golf swing? What are the words that best describe you?

What if your friend looked at you and said…

You know, it hasn’t always been this way but I think a great word to description you is

“transformed”. I’ve seen you transformed and ever room you enter you leave

transformed. Yes. That’s the word. Transformed.

Wouldn’t that be great? What if that’s how every one of us was described? And what if

that’s how people described us as a church?

I don’t know what they are drinking down at Cedarbrook but whatever they touch seems

to be renewed and transformed.

Man, that’s what I want people to say about me and us!

But think of the time and energy we spend arguing with people when we could take that

same time and energy and spend it on something positive. I mean…it’s a choice how we

spend that time and energy. We can use it to tear down our relationships or build them up.

So what if we spent that time forgiving and encouraging and seeking to restore the broken

relationships in our lives? That’s what the kingdom of God is all about.

Or think of the time and money we spend entertaining ourselves. I’m not talk about all

entertainment. I’m talking about when we take things too far…when we do it too much, too

often so we start to regret wasting time and money. What if we took that same time and

money and invested it in helping people and changing lives?

Here’s a simple example. I’m sure most of us go out at least once a month and spend $25 or

so on a pizza and something to drink. We don’t give it any thought. We just do it. We

certainly don’t pray about it. It’s only natural.

Now, think about someone coming up to you and asking if you’ll consider giving them $25

to go on a mission trip. But you say, Well, I gave last month…hmmmm…I’m not sure. I’ll

need to pray about that.

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Think about that. It doesn’t really make sense. What if we turned that around? What if we

automatically gave when we have the chance to help people out and pray about whether or

not to go for pizza? Do see what I’m saying? Lisa and I don’t pray about giving to missions

trips any more. We just give to everyone. And if we have any money left over, we might go

out for pizza! It’s something to think about.

Finally, think of the time we spend complaining about our job or our health or our

relationships when we could take that same time to think of creative ways to fix what’s

broken and be a positive influence. You know, like people say, rather than be a part of the

problem why not work at being a part of the solution.

I get excited when I think of a community of people like this committed to living out the

generosity of God’s story instead of our own selfish stories. This church has done a lot of

great things through the years but really, we’ve just scratched the surface. We can do so

much more if we start to live out this story that I’ve been telling for the past year.

Well, let me pray for us one last time…

Father, I want to thank you for the opportunity this year to learn The Story of the Bible. I

know many people came to know the Bible better but they also came to know you better.

But my prayer is that we will not only know the story but we will live it out. I pray that

restoration and renewal will be the wake that follows us wherever we go and that breaks

over people in our path. Might we be people of hope that always bring a blessing

wherever we go.

Chapter Summary

(Have someone in your group read the summary section.)

Yes, I am coming soon.—Jesus. Of the original apostles, only John remained to hear these

words. He had experienced the climax of salvation history, but God was not yet finished.

He had one more message to share with John and the growing churches to show His servants

what must soon take place.

John was exiled on the island of Patmos for his faith in Jesus. It was here that the glorified

Christ appeared to John with a message of His second coming. John saw someone “like a

son of man” dressed in a priestly robe and ready to judge. He fell like a dead man at His

feet. This John who had leaned against Jesus’ breast (Jn. 13:25) could not even stand before

Christ’s unveiled glory. Jesus presented Himself as the resurrected One who has authority

over life and death. He stood among seven golden lamp stands which represent the seven

churches located in the province of Asia Minor on the mainland close to the island of

Patmos.

Jesus had messages for each of these seven churches. From the three churches addressed in

this chapter, a pattern emerges. First, there’s a unique description of Jesus that is related to

the message. Then each message contains both a word of commendation and a rebuke for

the congregation. He then gives an instruction or warning before an encouraging promise to

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those who listen and overcome the problem. Jesus who stands among the lamp stands was

carefully watching His churches.

John then saw the throne room of heaven where he was shown visions of future events.

God sat upon His throne in unimaginable splendor and beauty. He was surrounded by living

creatures and elders who worshiped Him without ceasing. He held a scroll that no one was

found worthy to open, causing John to weep. But John’s hope was restored when he saw the

Lamb standing as if slain. For the Lamb was worthy to open the scroll and also to receive

power and glory and honor and praise!

Shortly thereafter, the bride who symbolizes all faithful believers was ready, wearing clean

linen and prepared for the marriage supper of the Lamb. Then John saw heaven opened, and

Jesus descended in full glory on a white horse ready to wage war and judge mankind. The

King of Kings was ready to rule with blazing eyes and a blood drenched robe, a sharp sword

and filled with the fury of God’s wrath. He was accompanied by the armies of heaven. His

appearance is a dramatic reminder of the awfulness of God’s coming judgment upon those

who reject the Lord. God’s final judgment from His great white throne is the final event of

human history as we know it. The dead stand before Him in judgment. Those not found in

the book of life are cast into the lake of fire.

Then John saw the New Heaven and New Earth and the New Jerusalem. In this future re-

creation, God dwells among His people where He wipes away every tear. Many themes

from His redemptive Story find their culmination in this place where all things are made

new. The majestic and glorious New Jerusalem will be home to all the redeemed. Nothing

impure will ever enter it. The water of life flows from the throne of God, the tree of life

bears much fruit, and all are invited to partake. This place is the hope of every believer, for

it is where God’s Upper Story and His Lower Story finally merge into one. It is here that the

redeemed will enjoy the presence of God and of the Lamb forever. As Jesus concluded His

message to John, three times He said, “Look, I am coming soon!” No wonder we are called

blessed! Our King is coming! Come, Lord Jesus, come!

Small Group Questions

Icebreaker Question: Have you ever had a dream that seemed so real that went you awoke

you had to convince yourself that it had not actually happened? What was the dream about?

1. Why might Christians resist studying this book? According to this chapter, what are the

benefits connected to studying Revelation? (Hint: p. 379, 387; Rev. 1:3, 22:7)

2. Make a list of the various ways God the Father and God the Son are described throughout

this chapter of The Story. For example, on page 379, the Father is him who is, and who was

and who is to come; Jesus Christ is the faithful witness. After completing your list, discuss

what one or two of these descriptions mean.

3. Jesus’ messages to the seven churches usually follow a general pattern: a description of

Himself, a commendation, a rebuke, a warning or instruction, and a promise. Compose a

letter to your church using this format.

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4. Notice the description of the throne room of heaven (p. 382, Rev. 4:1-6). Look up

Ezekiel 1:26-28, Exodus 19:16 and 20:18, Job 37:4 and John 12:27-28. What do these

images communicate about God?

5. What four-fold reason makes the Lamb worthy to open the scroll and receive praise (p.

383)?

6. Read Matthew 24:29-44, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Titus 2:11-14. How should you live

in anticipation of Christ’s return?

7. From what you have learned in this chapter about the great white throne judgment and

the lake of fire, how might you respond to the person who does not believe that a loving God

could ever sentence anyone to hell (p. 385-386, Rev. 20:11-15, 21:8)? See also Revelation

20:10 and Matthew 25:41 for further insight.

8. Find at least three similarities between the original creation (Genesis 1-2) and the new

heaven and new earth (p. 385-387; Rev. 21-22). How do these sections of Scripture

contribute to our understanding of God’s Upper Story and what would we be missing

without them?

9. Share with your group how The Story experience has impacted how you live now.

10. In the time remaining ask your group members to share any of their personal

reflection insights from their journal entries.

Journaling Questions

Journal your answers to these questions as you read through the chapter this week. You may

wish to read one day and journal the next, or spread the questions over the whole week.

Day One

1. As you study this final chapter of The Story throughout your week, develop a

comprehensive description in your journal of God the Father and of Jesus the Son. For

example, on page 379, Jesus Christ is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and

the ruler of the kings of the earth. How does this portrait of Christ in Revelation compare to

the Christ of the Gospels?

2. Jesus had a message for each of the churches in Asia (p. 381). Identify the problem and

the solution in each church. What was promised to the one who overcomes it? How could

we apply the messages to these Asian churches to ourselves today?

Day Two

1. Sketch or paint the throne room of God as it is described on pages 382-383.

2. How will Christ’s second coming (p. 384-385) differ from His first coming in purpose

and in scope? (See Matthew 25:31-34, 41; Mark 10:45; John 3:16-17 and Acts 17:30-31 for

further insight.)

3. Read Matthew 24:29-44, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Titus 2:11-14. How should Christ’s

Second Coming apply to your life now?

Day Three

1. Now that you have studied the New Heaven, New Earth and New Jerusalem, what do you

look forward to the most (p. 385-387)?

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2. What did this chapter of The Story contribute to your understanding of God’s Upper

Story of redemption? How might you respond to a Christian friend who sees no value in or

is confused by studying Revelation?

3. Spend a few minutes reflecting on your Story experience and then capture some of those

thoughts in a paragraph below. Be sure to include how God’s upper story impacts how you

live now.