Revelation 15-16
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
All right so uh when the Church gathers um we we praise Christ uh we we have moments where we have times of of Thanksgiving for what God has done for us we have times of Praise uh we have times of of confession uh one of the things that uh that also is a category of an approach to worship is lament um it's something that uh that the people of God have done uh for thousands of years uh is not just acknowledge.
Because we're a people that are in between life and death we have the Life of Christ in us and we have the sting of death in this world and all the pain that comes with it uh and we acknowledge both of those as we praise Christ for what we just sang and Christ Alone we all of that truth is beautiful and also we still feel uh the pain in this life um and and there's a proper place for that that category is lament where we get to um from the posture of our heart that might be hurting uh from the posture of our heart that is uh suffering through pain or loss uh through the.
Trials of this life that are difficult that come to bear on our souls on our bodies that we get to have a time where we just lament before the Lord we are uh sad before the Lord knowing that one day all things will be made new knowing that one day there will be no more sting in death knowing that one more day there there will be no more sin uh but until then we're people in tension and within that tension we do have this category.
So I'm just going to give a moment as we have this time of prayer to just sit in silence and if that's where your heart is right now uh to really uh uh cast those cares upon the Lord uh and then I will close this in prayer of lament so bow your heads in silence and pray e father we we love you and we thank you for sending Jesus we thank you for the truth of what we just got to sing we thank you that no power of hell no scheme of man will ever pluck us from your hand we live uh waiting.
For the day when all things are made new and at times the the pain of this world the physical suffering that happens upon our bodies because of death the emotional Strife the spiritual warfare the death of friends all of that is hard and I pray that you would sustain us that weeping may tear for the night but joy does come in the morning and sometimes that morning does feel far off so I pray in the meantime that you'd renew us every morning that you sustain us.
For the day and that you'd keep our eyes fixed upon everything that we've been learning about in this series and the hope that is going towards When Heaven comes to Earth and death is no more and until then be our guide be our comfort be our friend in Jesus name amen good morning uh my name is Chad I'm one of the pastors here grab a Bible if you will and go to Revelation chapter 15 we're going to be in chapter 15 and 16.
Today we are are working our way through the Book of Revelation and we are following along as John is seeing vision and he is writing it down he's writing what he sees and we're following along as the Apostle John writes this down um we are going to be looking at what is called the Bold judgments today and we're told that with the Bold judgments the wrath of God is finished he's pouring out his wrath on Earth and his wrath is finished as it is poured out on the earth through the Bold judgments and we have been taking some time to consider the wrath of.
God together because it's one of the major themes that the Book of Revelation keeps coming back to this idea that God judges this idea that God um has wrath for Humanity and for the Earth and for the Rebellion that has taken place and that's a little bit difficult for us especially for people who are culturally kind of Western it the idea of a wrathful God doesn't sit well with us culturally it's not something that our culture celebrates and and some of that you have to realize that you do have a culture you have things that just seem right to you.
Because because well they're right that's just you know that's just the thing like biscuits and gravy like it just as good it exists I watched a video of people in uh England and they were feeding biscuits and gravy to students who were like what is this and they were calling the biscuits scones and then they were like what's this mess on top of it and it's like magic eat some you know I one time I ate some Indian food and I almost immediately just spit it back out onto my plate.
Because my brain did not register it as food because there wasn't a single flavor in there that I had ever had before so my immediate visceral bodily reaction was don't know what that is but don't swallow it and it was food it was fine I ended up eating some and I grew culturally that day I expanded my horizons I still prefer biscuits and gravy but that's fine but there are certain things that we just culturally appreciate that we just make sense to us and one of those is that.
If there is a God he's a God of love if there is a God he's loving he's kind he's merciful and culturally we're fine with that if you say anywhere well I just believe God is loving even the the non-Christians the atheists in the room the people who did they'll just go H they're fine with that but the idea that there's a wrathful God who P punishes and judges sin doesn't sit well with us and I was reading in uh reason.
For God Tim Keller said that he had grown up in the Church and that he as he was getting older just kind of was like he wasn't sure just wasn't sure he believed this and he said he had that kind of that inclination of well if there is a God he's a God of love but as he had gotten a little older and was going to school he started said he just wanted to study up on other religions and he said he ran into a problem the idea that there's a.
God of love if there is a God he's a God of love that he cares about us he hears our prayers he knows us he said the problem was he didn't find that in any other religion Buddhism doesn't teach that Hinduism doesn't teach that Islam he said God can be merciful but he's not personal and the idea that he actually personally cares about you is a bit offensive to them that you know him and can talk to him and that he loves you and knows what's going on this it's not how it works he said the problem he ran into was.
For him to make the assertion if there is a God he's a God of love he had to get that from the Bible which means that we have to understand from the Scriptures who this God is and I would argue today and we're going to look at it as we look at the concept of his judgment that his love and his wrath are not in conflict with one another but actually his love is the reason that he's wrathful and that we're going to.
See that these complement one another and go together so Revelation 15 verse 1 then I saw another sign in heaven great and amazing seven angels with seven plagues which are the last for with them the wrath of God is finished okay uh to to keep along with where we are in the Book of Revelation we have had Seven Seals that were unfurled we had seven trumpets that were sounded and now about to have seven bowls that are poured out all of those are God's judgments being poured out on the earth some people will argue that that's recapitulation which just means each one's recapping and they're just showing the same thing over and over again I'm.
Not sold on that I actually think that the seals play out over time the trumpets play out over time and that when the last trumpet is sounded is when the day of the Lord is officially happening where Christ is calling his people to himself because we're told in other places that that'll happen at a trumpet sound and Paul says it'll be at the last trumpet we have trumpets here there's a last one and when it was blown it just says the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our.
God and there's a celebration and then the text of Revelation pauses and goes back and retells the whole story of the Gospel and brings us to in what we read last week in chapter 14 The Harvest of the earth and so I think the bowls are playing out where the Earth has been harvested the wheat has been brought into the barn as Jesus puts it at one point in a parable that those who belong to him are brought in and that what we're seeing in the bowls is part of the pressing of the wine press of the wrath of.
God being poured out on those who do not belong to him so this is part of the day of the Lord as he's bringing judgment on the earth it's my understanding of where we are so it says which are the last for with them the wrath of God is finished verse two and I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire we saw a sea of glass in chapter 4 this was before the Throne of God and it says and also those who had conquered the Beast and its image and the number of its name standing beside the sea of glass with harps of.
God in their hands and they sing the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb so we see those who belong to Jesus worshiping singing and Spencer mentioned this last week but there's this picture of joy and it says they all have Harps and there's a way for us to cartoon this and make it seem really not as amazing as it is but there's a real picture of joy and delight and freedom and hope that happens here where they've gathered and they're worshiping there's something about singing and worshiping.
For those people who know how to play instruments there's something about being able to just be a part of the music and join in in worshiping in that way and join in and playing that that we that the Church gets to partake in and so there's this beautiful picture of worship here and it says great this is what they're singing great and amazing are your Deeds oh Lord God the almighty just and true are your ways oh King of the Nations who will not fear oh.
Lord and glorify your name there's two things I want us to see as they start to sing we're told wrath is about to be poured out and then we're told they're singing Just and true are your ways but the song is he's right he's just wrath is deserved that's one of the things that's paired in this passage is that we're going to see that wrath isn't some sort of overreaction by God but it's just and right and then it says who will not fear and glorify your name and that question kind of rings out throughout the rest of this chapter and we're going to.
See that it does have an answer then it says for you alone Are Holy all the nations will come and worship you for your righteous acts have been revealed that he is right to do what he is doing not only is he judging but he's right he's just he's true these things are good verse 5 after this I looked and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened so this is the tent of witness was given to the people of Israel this is Tabernacle and it says it it's opened and he actually at one point says you're going to make a tent like the one I showed you it's possible this is.
The one he showed him the one that exists somehow in God's Heavenly realm and so that's what's opened and out of the sanctuary came theeven angels with the seven plagues clothed in pure bright linen with golden sashes around their chests and one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the Seven Angels were finished.
So these seven angels come out wearing bright white linen they're given seven golden bowls and then the the tent of witness behind them fills with smoke and this happens a couple of times in the Old Testament it's this manifestation of the greatness and the glory of God is present in the tit of witness and it says nobody can enter until the bowls are poured out then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels this is chapter 16 verse1 telling the seven angels.
So presumably God speaking out of his glory tells them go and pour out out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God there's a interesting thing that happens in this passage these seven angels are holding seven golden Bowls the last time we saw golden bowls they were with the creatures that were before the throne and with the elders and they were filled with the prayers of the Saints and so there's this connection in the text between prayers and God's Wrath and that I think can strike us as odd or off-putting.
But it makes so much sense if God is actually loving if we believe that and if we believe that he actually hears prayers then he has Wrath if he actually hears those who cry out to him in pain and distress and anger and he actually cares then there are things that happen where the only appropriate response is wrath I have a wife and two children if someone is hurting them actively aggressively harming them I'm not supposed to go hey you know stop just wrap it up.
When you can I mean that seems that's not it's not how I'm supposed to respond this Incorrect and if we're to assume that God hears the prayers of the people of Earth he is right and just and true and good to have wrath I'm just read you one quote to narrow it down to one issue to just help us understand that we we want a God who has wrath this is from the website uh rain's website r a i NN it's an anti-sexual violence organization every 68 seconds an American is sexually assaulted and every nine minutes that victim is a child it's an American in a place where we have relatively good laws and things.
That are enforced and protections that are in place every 68 seconds that means that while we study this passage together if this hour of the day is average 30 or 40 or so people will be sexually assaulted three or four of them will be children and if we have a God who hears prayers we want him to have wrath the end of that quote just says meanwhile only 25 out of every 1,000 perpetrators will end up in prison means 900 75 of them will keep going we want a.
God who sees we want a God who hears and we want a God who has wrath and that if he actually loves and actually hears then he has wrath and there's this connection between prayers and the wrath of God I think sometimes we have this completely backwards culturally we think that somehow wrath calls into question God's goodness it is connected to his goodness and if he did not have wrath if there was no judgment that would call his goodness into question it would be the absence of Wrath that would make us question whether or not he was actually good not the presence of it verse two.
So the first Angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth and harmful and painful sores Came Upon the people Who Bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image so if we're being honest and in our understanding and framework of the the concept of Wrath we've immediately run into a problem because there's part of us who agrees yes there are certain egregious terrible sins and horrible things and there are oppressions and and wickedness that play takes place and runs rampant in the world throughout history and throughout time and even right.
Now those things exist and that there should be some justice and wrath for them but the line doesn't say that he draws it just clearly around those worst people the line is drawn Those Who Bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image we've been told throughout the Book of Revelation if this is your first Sunday with us or if you've been trying to track but have missed some things you either worship the Beast or you worship the lamb so the line here is everyone who doesn't belong to.
Jesus which immediately causes us some problems not as Christians but as Americans in our cultural con construct of things it's like well hold on second how is that fair doesn't that feel like he's just worship me or you're in trouble I watched a clip of Bill Maher recently where he was talking to someone about the Bible and he said I've read some of the Bible and God is very vindictive and capricious and mean-spirited he he's like a toddler who throws tantrums and there's part of us who goes yeah.
Okay so if he' this cultural thing to push back and just go okay so you worship him or he's going to punish you sing to him or he's going to crush you that's fair that's good that's a good question let's keep going and see what this text tells us the second Angel poured out his bowl into the sea and it became like the blood of a corpse and every living thing died that was in the sea in the seals we saw that certain things affected a fourth of something we saw in the trumpets that certain things affected a.
Third of something when we get to the bows it's all it's total he is pouring out his wrath and with it the wrath of God is finished as it's poured out on Earth but everything the sea becomes like blood and everything dies verse four the third Angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the Springs of water and they became blood and I heard the angel in charge of the waters say just are you oh holy one who is and who was.
For you brought these judgments so there's an angel who's has some authority over Waters and those waters are now blood and the angel says you're right just this this is good you've done well just are you oh holy one who is and who was for you brought these judgments for they have shed the blood of saints and Prophets and you have given them blood to drink it is what they deserve and I want us to take a moment to know we've said.
If there's a good God he has wrath if he actually loves he has wrath if he's genuinely knows and cares about people he has wrath he's not okay with all of this and that that wrath does not call his goodness into question second thing we need to understand is that there's part of us that genuinely desires that this last sentence it is what they deserve there's a part of you that wants them to get what they deserve however you define them.
But there's part of us that wants that that longs for that that hopes for that this is I hope they get what they deserve I hope they get what they have coming I hope it catches up to them you know this if you interact with certain movies television shows you can feel this deep strain of this inside of you I I know I look I I watched the movie gladi Gladiator I wanted comist to die so bad Patriot I wanted that Colonel to die Harry Potter I wanted that pink lady to die I didn't care that much about Voldemort he hadn't sold me on he was the worst.
But that pink lady I was genuinely upset when I saw her in the next movie after the horse people had taken her I was like I thought they killed her why is she back there's part of us that has this desire for justice you want them to get what they have coming and y'all that's fiction in reality we want that anybody who's ever faced genuine hardship and the evil in the world that has a face and a name and a person behind it there's this desire.
For them to get what they have coming and there's actually hope here that eventually they will get what they deserve there are some people who will look in this and say well that means that Christians must be really vindictive and harmful people it's actually this truth that keeps us from being vindictive and harmful people because we're told in the Scriptures that this isn't our job it's his that we're to offer grace and mercy pray for our enemies and to know that he'll sort it out at the end it's the thing that lets us put the sword down.
If there is no God who judges and if they don't ever get what they deserve then we have to bring about judgment but we're told that he does it he's just and he's right to do it he's better at it than Denzel and Liam niss he handles it correctly he is righteous in his execution of it and that we get to defer to him this actually gets us live with a hope there's encouragement here verse 7 and I heard the altar saying yes.
Lord God the almighty true and just are your judgments if he's loving he has Wrath that doesn't call his goodness into question and there's a real part of us that genuinely knows that's right and desires it problem I think we run into is that there's a part of me that really wants to be the one who decides how that works and there's times when I read the Scriptures and I think ooh was he just and right in his judgments is that actually how that should um is that actually how that should work I um I thoroughly enjoy football um there's a thing called a a booth review in football something will happen on the field.
They'll make a call the white hat will come over turn his mic on if it's working you'll hear him otherwise you'll hear well what he said was the previous plays under further review what it means is there's some people in the booth the booth we don't know how many people are in the booth we don't know where the booth is located but there's a booth you guys there's a booth it's been sent to the booth what the booth is going to do there's two assumptions.
For the booth the Booth's going to tell us what the right call is but there's two assumptions that go into that one the booth has the rules and knows the rules the booth is right unlike the person in the stands next to you going let him play ref there intentional grounding the booth knows the rules okay the booth knows the rules and secondly the assumption is the booth has the right angles from cameras to see what actually happened so the booth knows what's right and can.
See it and I think we have two options when it comes to how we interact with stuff like this one I can assume that I'm in the booth I know what's right and I have the appropriate vantage point to make the call I'm in the booth my judgment's in the booth therefore I can read and see what God does and then I can tell you whether or not he's right or wrong because I'm in the booth I have the right angle and I know what's right and wrong.
For the record that started with us in the garden when we ate from the Tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil we all said thank you very much I'll climb in the booth I'll decide what's right and wrong I'll decide what's good and evil I don't want to have God in the booth so that's option one is I'm I'm in the booth option two is God's in the booth we'll get to option two in a second there's some problems with option one Beyond it's wrong and stupid some problems with option one one I'm going to read a few quotes to try to help you.
See this uh one's from CS Lewis interact with some of their ideas CS Lewis was a a Christian writer thinker he wasn't always a Christian at one point he was a pretty hardened atheist and he said that the reason he was an atheist the reason he didn't believe in God at all was that he looked around the world and said this place is a mess look at all this wickedness look at all this evil there came be a God but the problem he ran into and to force CS Lewis to use my illustration was that he realized he had put himself in the booth as.
If he had the rulebook but the problem he ran into was to be intellectually honest he had to admit that there was no rule book if there was no God that actually if we're all in the booth then really we're just all on the field and we can say what we think we can can yell our opinion but nobody can really verify whether we're right or wrong because there's no official rule book it's just who's the loudest who's the most persuasive who's got the best force of Personality who's the most aggressive whatever.
But we're all on the field he one of the problems he ran into is that he wanted to look at something and say it was actually evil objectively eternally evil whether you thought so or not and it wasn't just his opinion that it was wrong and in order for it to be actively objectively evil he needed something above him that's CS Lewis this is a a quote from Michael ruse Michael ruse was in a debate with John Linux John Linux is a mathematician who's a Christian M ruse is an atheist also wildly smart and they were debating Michael ruse was trying to make a point he's making some other point.
But he said a quote that I want to share with you he was just talking from a Christian perspective he's not a Christian but he was trying to make a point he said you would see a person and you would say here's a person made in the image of God and that's what makes them evil if they were just a wild dog they would be dangerous but they wouldn't be evil and he said so if you're a Christian you would say heck Kimler who's one of the SS Nazis who did atrocities you'd say he's deeply evil not just dangerous.
But evil and and the reason being he's made in the image of God and he has run morally against something so you could say a bear is dangerous but you can't say it's evil because Bears don't have morals you can say a wild dog is dangerous but it can't be evil because it's not morally uh Crossways with something objective and true and so he's made a very valid point he was trying to make another point but he made a very valid point he was making CS Lewis's point which is.
If you want to objectively say something is actually wrong if you want to look at the world and say there are real atrocities and that's not just your opinion then you can't be in the booth there has to be something above you otherwise you can just say Nazism is bad in that it causes some problems for certain people but you can't say it's evil and you can say that collectively your group of people thinks it's a worse opinion and this is where Tim Keller says that he'll every once in a.
While push somebody when they're saying something like well we all know you can't treat children like that we all know you shouldn't treat women like that we all know that this thing about racism or whatever is bad and he said he just every once in a while would gently say historically and globally we don't all know that there are actually other cultures who think it's fine to treat women that way and then he said he would just ask what makes you.
So confident that your culture is better why do you think historically white Western culture is better than that culture why do you think that your culture that comes from this this place is better than that culture the point he's trying to make is not that it isn't just that if you think you're in the booth then so are they and who's to say who's right we need something to appeal above us y'all it's absurd to think that we have the right vantage point you you don't even have the right vantage point in your arguments about traffic or your arguments with your spouse or roommate y'all we we you've gotten pink eye before and you want.
To judge God it's silly you can't even eat dairy without having an upset stomach and you're in charge it's absurd to think that we're in the booth so here's what I want to put to you you God is in the booth which means that when he makes a call that you disagree with you don't say well that seems out of proportion maybe the problem isn't that he's overreacted maybe the problem is that you've under reacted maybe the problem isn't that he's overreacting to sin and false worship maybe the problem is that that we're under reacting to sin and false worship maybe it's not that there's a whole bunch of good people that are doing fine.
And he's just capricious maybe they aren't that good and they aren't that fine and there's actually something more more broken about it than we understand and that he's just and right and maybe we ought to Humble ourselves rather than exalt ourselves verse eight I think the problem is that we can willingly say at times okay I can see how he does this with the ones I agree with but then we want to say but what about all the normal people what about all the regular people what about all the good-hearted people that are just out there that just get caught up in this whole thing verse eight let's.
See what what this text tells us the fourth Angel poured out his bowl on the sun and it was allowed to Scorch people with fire and they were scorched by the fierce heat and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues they did not repent and give him glory earlier the Saints sang who will not fear you and give you glory and we're about to find out they did not repent and give him glory verse 10 the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the Beast and its kingdom was plunged Into Darkness people gnawed their tongues in anguish and curse the.
God of Heaven for the pain and sores for their pain and sores they did not repent of their deeds the sixth Angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the Kings from the East and I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the Beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet those we were introduced to in chapter 12 and 13 the false prophet was called the.
Second beast but now it's called the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs maybe they appeared like frogs maybe they hopped like frogs that maybe he saw them hopping out of their mouth like frogs for they are demonic spirits performing signs who go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the almighty so what we see is they Curse God they don't repent they Curse God they don't repent and then they start Gathering to fight.
God and we're going to read about that battle later and see how it goes for him verse 15 behold I'm coming like a thief bless is the one who stays awake keeping his garments on and he may go that he may go about not go about naked and be seen exposed and they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon so they gather for battle at Armageddon Armageddon just means Mount megiddo megiddo is a place where several battles were fought in the Old Testament it's not a mountain.
So there are some questions as to whether or not that's exactly what this is talking about but it's just a name for a place verse 17 the seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air and a loud voice came out of the temple from the throne saying it is done and there were flashes of lightning Rumblings peels of thunder and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth so great was the earthquake the great city was split into three parts and the cities of the Nations fell.
God remembered Babylon the great to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath and we'll learn about Babylon the great next week and every island fled away and no mountains were to be found and great hail Stones about 100 pounds each fell from heaven on people and they cursed God for the plague of hail because the plague was so severe I think that I have had a picture in my mind and I'm willing to bet that you have had it as.
Well well of a whole bunch of people being very remorseful and saying we were wrong I see you now help me forgive me and God saying no I didn't know I didn't know no that's not the picture we see here and even where in the beginning of Revelation it says They Mourn or where Jesus says they'll be weeping and nashing of teeth it seems like they only respond to their plight They Mourn themselves and how it's affecting them They Mourn their sores they don't mourn their sin and the truth is that makes a ton of sense.
God begins to reveal himself in judgment and the response is not oh you must know something about Sin I don't you must know something about my wickedness I don't I need to turn and be rescued the response is how dare you well if there is a God like that then I've got a I've got some information for him I'd like to give him a pieace of my mind if that's the kind of God you worship then I I'd love to be able to tell him something I'll reject it it just presses it further they've already rejected.
God they already have no desire for him they already have no love for him and then when judgment begins to fall it does not soften them it hardens them it verifies their opinion I knew he was wrong I knew he was comicus I knew he was vindictive I knew he was evil how dare he it's not that they're just genuinely good-hearted these people that have been worshiping and following the Beast and they hadn't had a chance we're told in Romans 1 they've had a chance they've seen his goodness displayed in creation they've seen his goodness.
And then they see his power displayed in judgment and the response is not oh how great you are the response is absolute refusal to get out of the booth no no humility no respect they curse him they get further entrenched in their hatred and then they get what they want which is not him they get their own Glory they get their own self-satisfaction they get their own self-aggrandisement they get to carry the weight themselves and that means destruction if you absolutely reject the source of all goodness and joy and hope and love in the world.
Then you will get an existence without goodness and hope and joy there is no good apart from him and if you want the weight of your own existence to Bear down on your shoulders if you want the weight of your sin if you want the weight of life and judgment and and all that is right and wrong to Bear down on your shoulders you'll get it but it'll be far more than you can bear and the response is not Contrition it's rebellion and it's cursing.
God and hating God and saying see see what he's like and things far worse than that y'all there's a moment in this text where Jesus speaks the text is oddly interrupted with the voice of Christ it's John recounting what he sees it's John writing I saw the fourth angel I heard all this eye language is John except for verse 15 behold I am coming like a thief that's not John that's Jesus it's in the middle of saying that they're going to start Gathering an army to go wage war against.
God which y'all if God is fully revealing himself in in heaven and they can see him doesn't that make sense like there's part of me that goes yeah that's exactly what we do all right well we're going to go down I'm going to I'm going to go down shooting a nuke at him then it'll be worth it let's fight him there's no repentance there's no oh my goodness let's fall but it's not what they they don't do that they start gathering.
For war and in the middle of that Jesus says behold I'm coming like a thief blessed is the one who stays awake keeping his garments on that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed Jesus says don't be here when this happens I'm going to show up at a time when you're not ready and all that will be left is rebellion and destruction all that will be left as wrath and hatred don't be caught unaware Jesus he interrupts this whole thing and says don't be there don't choose this.
Jesus interrupts human history with his life with his death with his resurrection y'all we have no excuse our entire calendar is built around the fact that Jesus broke history in half well we didn't know we did we knew we know that he interrupted everything to bring about rescue and hope and joy and salvation and that he would pay for the wrath of God that's what we told that he's a propitiation when the altar yells out that altar is this picture of somebody's willing to pay.
For sin that something will shed blood so that we aren't covered the altar cries out and says he's just then Jesus says don't be there behold stay dressed be ready don't be exposed don't get caught with no covering we're told in the Book of Revelation that they're covered in white that the Saints are because they've washed their robes clean in the blood of the Lamb there is wrath for sin the question is is it going to be poured out on you or is it going to be poured out on.
Jesus are you going to follow the Beast and catch wrath are you going to follow the lamb who who took wrath for you and so Jesus interrupts this and he says don't be there don't be caught unaware into the Church don't act like this day isn't coming don't be so lulled to sleep by our culture that we stop caring that there are friends and neighbors and loved one who who are going to get what they've been seeking which is their own self aggrandisement which leads to destruction and don't tell yourself I've got time.
Because he's coming like a thief in the night Jesus says if you knew what time the thief was coming you wouldn't let your house be broken into that's not how it works but in the middle of judgment he does what he's done this whole time which is enters into it and says come don't be there Jesus enters into the middle of our judgment takes our sin for us pays the price for us so that we might be free and that we might glorify him that we might gather and sing praises to the lamb.
Because he's good not because we are and the hope for us is Christ and not anything else may we be people who understand that his judgments are true and righteous and just may we sing his praises and may we not be caught unaware let's pray yes Lord God the almighty true and just are your judgments just and true are your ways O King of the Nations who will not fear oh Lord and glorify your name for you alone Are Holy All Nations will come and worship you.
For your righteous acts have been revealed in Jesus name amen