Bible Talks - Sunday Night Church
Series: Letters from heaven · Talk No. 6b
The end of the world as we know it Part 2
Sunday, 31 July 2005
Revelation 19:11 - 20:15 ESV or NIV
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Snapshot 4: The White Horse & Rider
Snapshot 4 of the end of the world: The camera pans back now to reveal a battlefield on the last day. Revelation 19:11 onward. Think of Braveheart or Gladiator. Two armies facing each other, ready to clash head to head. That’s the type of scene I imagine this is describing – but on a much bigger scale!
In the red corner – Jesus with the armies of heaven. In righteousness he judges and makes war. His robe is dipped in blood, and he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty! He is the Word of God, King of Kings, Lord of Lords. Impressive huh! I’m glad he’s on my side!
In the blue corner – chapter 19:19, the beast and kings of the earth with their armies.
But before the battle even takes place, the outcome has been decided. An angel appears summoning the birds of the air to… (19:17)
Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.
Now that’s gotta be intimidating!
When the battle finally takes place it is no battle at all. The beast and the false prophet are captured without a shot being fired. They are thrown into the lake of fire. The rest were…
…killed with the sword that came out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.
That was just the end of the world – from this angle. It no contest at all. It looked like it is shaping up for a battle – but it turns out to be a joke.
It is a futile thing to stand up to God.
Snapshot 5: Binding Satan
The camera pans back again, and we see snapshot 5 of the end of the world, the last we will look at tonight. And it’s a doozy! Revelation 20 – lets have a look at what happens.
o Satan is bound and thrown into the abyss.
o He will be there for 1000 years.
o Those who have died are raised to rule with Christ.
o Satan is released for a short time.
o He gathers the nations to fight against God.
o He is soundly defeated and thrown into the lake of fire.
o There is a final judgement. All those whose names are not in the book of life are thrown into the lake of fire.
This is the part of the passage where we could get really confused by trying to put some sort of timescale on this. We could argue till we are blue in the face about when the thousand years is – and not gain any better understanding about what the passage is trying to say. I think one of the clear questions we can ask though is - When do you think Satan is bound and defeated? Is it at some point in the future? It seems like Satan is still alive and well and active in this world. Or... is Satan already defeated? Has is it already taken place?
I want to suggest to you that Satan is already bound and defeated. Lets have a look at some scripture that backs me up! Flick to John 12:31. Jesus is with a crowd, eluding to his imminent death. And then he tells them that it would be though his death that judgement and the defeat of Satan would occur. John 12:31
Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world will be driven out.
Paul says a similar thing in Colossians 2:15. Here he is speaking about Jesus and says…
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross
These, and many other passages in the New Testament, remind us that Satan is defeated through the death of Jesus on the cross. In fact that was the whole point!
Jesus is saying a similar thing when he talks about Satan being bound in Matthew 12. Here, Jesus has just cast out a demon, and is being accused of being an agent of Satan.
Jesus says that is ridiculous – as if Satan would be fighting against himself. He goes on in Matthew 12:19…
Or again, how can anyone enter a strong man's house and carry off his possessions unless he first ties up the strong man? Then he can rob his house.
Jesus is saying that he has bound the strong man, Satan, and there is a sense in which he is now plundering his house. How is the house plundered? Through the preaching of the Gospel - as people move from Satan's Kingdom to God's Kingdom.
Now this doesn’t mean that we live in a Satan free world. But it does mean that Satan is a beaten enemy and we shouldn’t be afraid of him. Yes - there will still be sin and suffering. There will still be those who die because of the word of God and testimony of Jesus. We will still have to resist Babylon’s seductions. But Satan is bound. His house is being plundered.
Further on in the passage, some people get a bit worried that Satan is released again in chapter 20:7. But what happens? He gathers an army, surrounds the camp of God’s people…
But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur,
Its almost a repeat of the battle that we saw back in chapter 19. It’s a non event. Before a shot could be fired, it was over. It is a futile thing to stand up to God.
Conclusion
So what can conclude? What has this slide show of the end of the world taught us?
“Come out of her”
I think there is a strong warning to “Come out of Babylon” - Revelation 18:4. Keep your distance. Don't get seduced by her. Let go anything that offers you security and confidence outside of God. I know its bad form to introduce new material in the conclusion, but do you remember how John was describing the prostitute Revelation 17? Well at the end of his description, 17:6, John says (in the ESV translation)
When I saw her, I marvelled greatly.
See, even John was momentarily seduced! The dude who wrote this book! How much easier is it for us to be seduced by Babylon. Babylon is destined for destruction. The things of this world that offer you security and confidence will pass away.
As Christians, we should be keeping ourselves pure. As people who are waiting for Jesus to come again we need to make sure that we are living pure and blameless lives. We are waiting for the wedding day. Now is not the time for adultery.
Jesus is coming to judge, and all those who don’t belong to him are in great danger.
Wait Wisely for Judgement
The second thing we can take away and apply from this passage is a knowledge that this world is coming to an end. The day will come when Jesus will come to Judge.
And that thought shouldn’t worry us. It shouldn’t terrify us. It should excite us. Remember the rejoicing?
What do we pray when we say the words of the Lord’s prayer?
What is it that we are praying for when we pray your kingdom come?
We are asking God to come and judge this world.
We are asking God to firmly and finally establish his Kingdom on earth.
We are asking God to come and wipe away all those pretenders to his throne.
And we should pray for the day when things will be put right.
We should pray for the day when Babylon will be wiped away.
We should pray for the day when God’s name and the name of his son Jesus will be honoured as they should be.
And whilst we are still here, we should be doing our part to plunder Satan’s house. We should be praying for and working to see people have their names written in the book of life.
Lets look forward to the day when Jesus returns to exercise his justice on the world. Lets seek to be the bride clothed in fine linen, bright and pure. Lets make sure that we do our part to see that friends and family are not among the mourners – by much humble prayer, and wise, gentle and godly sharing of the great news of salvation that is in Jesus alone.
Amen.
