Missions Paul

Today we look on a baby and celebrate the coming of God from heaven to earth. The good news is that He will come again and make all things new. John sees Heaven come down:-

^“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:22-27)

When He comes we won’t need what we once had:-

• A place of worship, a church building, a Temple, no sacred/secular divide, the whole place will be sacred.
• The best that creation can offer; the sun and the moon.
• Protection from our enemies; no need to close the gates.
• Cultural division; the splendour of different kings and the glory and honour of nations)
• The struggle to be holy; sin will not be there.

We won’t need this because He will be with us! Immanuel!

One day away from celebrating the Incarnation of Christ we are this morning reading the ultimate future reality of the presence of God coming down to earth where all things are made new. This time it will not be as a baby in a manger in a dirty and noisy stable. This time it will be glorious. We will see the bride of Christ, the people of God, coming down within Jerusalem; we will see this city significant because of the number 12; we will see every jewel imaginable which is reflecting His glory within the city; we will see that this city is big; and importantly we will see why this is significant for us today.

^“One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, 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. ¹² It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶ The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷ The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. ¹⁸ The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. ¹⁹ The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.” (Revelation 21: 9-21)

• The number 12 symbolises God’s total authority, power and completeness. It is done. Everything is fulfilled.
• The measurement of the city, 12,000 stadia x 12,000 x 12,000 creates a shape that is like the one found in the most important part of the Temple. “Solomon prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.” (1 Kings 6:19-20) That place of course is the Holy of Holies
• The 12 precious jewels are all reflecting the glory of God.

This city is perfect, it is the presence of God and it refracts the glory of God.

Around this present world we still see the mourning and the tears. The battle to be victorious is ever before us as we live with people who hate God’s world (the liars, idolaters, murderers etc.)  But if we listen to the command to ‘look’ and as we do that through our worship and our discipleship we find that in a small way we are already walking the streets of gold.

Babylon boasted of her city and how large and attractive it was. It pales into insignificance to the city of God. Liars tried to build a Tower of Babel to reach the heavens but the city of God fills the heaven and the earth. For those struggling in a persecuted place, feeling insignificant under the spirit of the world the bigness of God would empower them to continue the struggle as it does us today.

It is done. The new heaven and the new earth. The old has passed away. It is done because only He is worthy to be able to do it. It is done because of who He is.

So do we all make it into this new order?

This life has many twists and turns from our beginning to the end and everything between those 2 ends of Alpha and Omega are situations that threaten our future. Used previously of Jesus the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet is now coming from God on the throne. He is God of everything. But the truth is we have battled to make Him Lord of all within our life lived here on this earth. So do we make it?

 ^“He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulphur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21 v 6-8)

Apparently not everyone does make it. This looks like a holiness list, well, a sinners list and if a person is on it then not only do they die but they then face a second death in the lake of fire.

So do we get there by works? And who truly can stand in this new created order? What happens if we haven’t qualified? What if on the list we remember moments as if they were yesterday which declare that we are definitely one of those going to be consigned to a second death? How terrible to feel that you are dangling over a fiery hell?!

The answer is found in another list which is here in these verses plus what we have already seen:-

• The blood of the Lamb applied to our lives;
• Our name in the book of life;
• Christ is Lord of our lives not Caesar;
• We carry the mark of Christ not the mark of the beast;
• We have drunk from the water of life which John has already written about (John 4);
• We are battling to be victorious overcomers as the churches in Revelation are commanded to also be (Revelation 2 and 3).

Now that’s the list to focus on!

It is done. Nothing will be able to corrupt the new.

Earth and heaven as we know it will pass away. It couldn’t stand before the great white throne. It had become so sin-infested and so painful it was like the whole of creation was groaning for God to come and do something. He will. He does. John saw it.

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth”, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And 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. ⁴ ‘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.” ⁵ He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Revelation 21: 1-5)

I am making everything new! Everything.

That word ‘new’ comes from a Greek word meaning = something quite unknown, remarkable, even marvellous.

Everything? Well I guess the Greek and true meaning of the word means everything!

So what will it be like?

1. It will be sin-free

‘there was no longer any sea’

In the near Eastern mythologies and the Jewish mind the sea symbolised all that was evil, fearful and chaotic. One of the manifestations of Satan was seen in the emerging beast of the sea. But there is nothing to emerge now for there is no sea (and no Satan either!).

This place is filled with goodness, perfect holiness and justice. All our lives we battle with the temptations, the consequences and the hurt that sin brings. We are the perpetrators of sin and at the same time the victims of the sin of others. There is no sin, no stain, nothing to mar our lives. There is a perfect new body created with no sin.

2. It will be the presence of God in perfection

“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.”

The word dwelling is also the word ‘tent’ or ‘tabernacle’. John in his gospel spoke of the tabernacle of God as Jesus the Word dwelt amongst us and that is what we celebrate at Christmas. In the OT the ‘tent of God’ was where God revealed His presence. In the new place God reveals His presence. In that revelation our questions will be answered. The full revelation on everything that ever happened to us will be given.

3. It will be pain-free

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain

No sickness, no disease. Your life may be marked with suffering and in many different ways. It is hard to imagine an existence without pain. All our past hurts, causes of hurt, they disappear. Tears of grief and pain belong to the past. Sorrow is replaced by happiness.

This is just a fleeting moment. Whatever this new heaven and earth will really like, it is what we have been created for. Some people pass through this stopping place for only a split second, some stay longer, but the journey really begins in the new creation. Eternity is not the end of time, it is the start of endless time. Life on this earth is the entrance porch, the waiting room, the door to our destiny, eternity.

The take-home for us is vast but the voice from the throne bellows with a command and one we do well to listen to. LOOK! This is the command throughout the Revelation. One that John obeys throughout and one that you and I are similarly called to position our lives in such a way that we look for what God will do. He will come and dwell again but in a way we have never known!

So we come to a frightening scene for those who are maybe unsure about their relationship with God or who may feel condemned by the Church or themselves.

The great white throne which we have seen several times previously is here again but this time there is no singing or shouting. In fact it appears quite silent, frighteningly so!

“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. ¹² 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. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. ¹³ The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. ¹⁴ Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. ¹⁵ Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20 v 11-15)

The earth and heaven vanish. Heaven was where the dragon began and the earth is where he finished and in between he had corrupted both. We surely need something new. Could God create again but this time make it incorruptible? We shall see. If heaven and earth could not stand before this great white throne what hope do you and me have?

Books are opened, plural, perhaps a book for everyone who has ever lived and died, the great and small, every class of people. Hades (the grave) released those within it and the sea also (those that die at sea are often never found but lay somewhere at the bottom of it) in fact every person that had died is brought to the great white throne. Inside those books is our whole life. Everything we have ever done! I hope nobody can read my book. What about yours?

How do we survive this moment?

If that was it we would be doomed.

But there’s another book, the book of life. Thank God for this book!

If you are worried whether your name is in the book of life it most likely is for if it wasn’t you wouldn’t be bothered.

But our names are in there! Maybe in your book of life there are things in there that you would rather not have been written. Life may have many twists and turns and it definitely hasn’t been anywhere close to being good enough to stand before the great white throne. I wonder if Isaiah’s message of God blotting out our transgressions (43:25) means our books are quite messy as Jesus has blotted out our sins by His blood, nice thought. Whatever happens when our books are opened and we are judged we will be so thankful for our relationship with Jesus as we are now.

Then comes surely the most upsetting sentence in the Bible in verse 15. There’s no comment about this. There is no jubilation. No victory.

When in v10 the devil and his manifestations (the beasts of the sea – deceptive political power and the earth/false prophet – deceptive religious power) are thrown into the lake of fire there is an extra comment which is a balancing of the books, as if justice is being done, “They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” But not here in v15. Not for those whose names are not written in the book of life. They are thrown and cast out, gone are the enemies of God, those who hurled insults at Him and His Church; it leaves a lump in my throat and yours too.

We still have much work to do!

Whatever the 1,000 years truly represents John sees that that at the end the dragon is released from the abyss where he has been bound. That 1,000 years restricted Satan’s ability to deceive the nations. What did Jesus say about his own ministry of being able to deliver, heal, save and transform lives? “No one can enter a strong man’s house without first tying him up. Then he can plunder the strong man’s house” (Mark 3:27). Every soul saved this Christmas at one of the many services around the world is because the dragon is bound! We are in this window of opportunity right now as we see the gospel going out across the world, every tribe and tongue are receiving Jesus as their Saviour. But the window will close and the time to wrap it all up will come as Satan is unbound, the beast of the sea (deceptive political power) and the beast of the earth (deceptive religious power) will attack God’s people, the Church with increasing power. This is a spiritual battle that intensifies as the end draws near.

“When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison ⁸ and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. ⁹ They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. ¹⁰ And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” (Revelation 20: 7-10)

He is released so that he can be consumed with his own evil and he will be thrown into the lake of sulphur. He is given a final fling of the powers of evil against God’s people. In what appears to be a reference to Ezekiel 34-37 where the northern King of Magog, Gog, attacks God’s people after a description of the work of the Good Shepherd. Again Gog and Magog are probably symbolic of the enemies of God’s people rather than specific nations, e.g. Russia! They marched across the earth so it isn’t one particular nation.

We have seen this battle emerging already. Again this is not a timeline John is not seeing what happens next but what he saw next. In fact these verses are another description of Armageddon in chapter 16 where Satan is doing his best to create a heaven on earth without Christ and without the Church as Christ built it. How does he attempt that? Through the counterfeit gospel and deceived church and we are right back in chapter 11. The sign of the end-time is that there will seem to be an escalation of this as we move towards Judgment Day. These verses are also what happens in chapter 19 when the manifestations of Satan are thrown into the lake of sulphur. The beasts of Satan, his manifestations of deception and he himself are thrown into the lake of fire. There isn’t any end-time battle. Fire comes down and consumes the vast army and the dragon is no more.

What does this mean for us? Let’s go! In this window of opportunity as Satan is bound we must go with the gospel mission. At the same time each generation needs to keep an eye out for the deceptive generation where within the pews and from the pulpit the counterfeit will begin to emerge that removes Christ and changes His Church into something it was never meant to be.

I am relieved that I chose not to read Revelation as a timeline because if I did then this would get really complicated! The Revelation isn’t a list of what happens next but what John saw next.

John sees Christ reigning for a thousand years. Not literally a thousand surely because we know Christ reigns eternally. Since the start of the Revelation we read how it came from “him who is, and who was, and who is to come” (1:4). Throughout the New Testament we see that Jesus already reigns and that he has all authority in heaven and on earth.

“I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. ⁵ (The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. ⁶ Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20 v 4-6)

Those that were beheaded are the martyred family of God, you and me are part of that family whether we are beheaded or not (hopefully not!). We have a testimony of what Jesus has done for us, we carry the Word of God as a guide to our life and our nature is fashioned after Christ and not the corruption of our world.

We came to life. Didn’t we come to life when we were born again? John in his gospel says Jesus gives life (5:21) and again that he gives eternal life (10:28). Right now are we not reigning with Christ? Paul would say we are seated with Christ now! (Ephesians 2:4-6) This is the first resurrection isn’t it? We were once dead but He made us alive. Of course we all face our death, a second one. The first was when we were dead to Christ but this second one is when we die in our body. But our physical death has no power over us because of our first resurrection for we are priests of God who reign with Christ.

What marvellous encouragement this is to the churches John oversees and to us today. Sometimes our circumstances dictate our lives to the point that we feel reigning is the least we are doing. But this is not true at all. We were once dead but we are now alive and we were once defeated but we are now reigning! This is why we are blessed and what we are separated for.

Why couldn’t it have finished in chapter 19 and had the dragon (satan) thrown in the lake also?

1,000 years … what is this?

“And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time.”  (Revelation 20 v 1-3)

Since Bible College days I had to adopt an understanding of what kind of millenialist I am. I chose one that my friends were as I didn’t have a clue what was the truth. Basically it goes like this:

Pre-thousand years: Jesus comes before.

A-thousand years: Jesus is reigning now in the church age.

Post-thousand years: Jesus comes after.

But what if all the numbers in the vision are symbolic? That’s what I have been writing throughout these devotions. What if Jesus isn’t a physical Lamb with 7 eyes and 7 horns?!! What if the church at Smyrna didn’t go through tribulation for 10 literal days but that it was simply a symbol of a time of testing but that the 10 being a complete number shows that God was completely in control of them during the difficult season? And so …. What if the 1,000 years is not time-based but a sign of who actually is in control? What if the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan is actually under the control of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Isn’t that true anyway?

And if that is true, what are you then afraid of this Sunday morning?!!

It is probably a good time for a refresher on who’s who!

If you have in mind the Trinity it helps. These are the parody of that perfect trinity:

The dragon (God the Father); the beast from the sea (God the Son, the Lamb) seen as Babylon, Rome and all the anti-Christ blasphemous empires of the world which follow and who use the Great Whore to tempt people to follow the beast; the beast from the earth (God the Spirit) seen as the false prophet who corrupts the nature of people through the mark 666.

“Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and his army. ²⁰ But the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf. With these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. ²¹ The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.” (Revelation 19 v 19-21)

So the beast from the sea and the beast of the earth (the false prophet) are captured. They never do wage war on Jesus Christ!

The Great Whore was already fallen and now the 2 members of the evil trinity are thrown in the fire of burning sulphur. The kings of the earth and their armies (representing the flesh of mankind) lay rotting on the floor (see yesterday’s devotion on v17-18).

Evil is unravelling fast. The beasts are gone. The dragon will be next.

For a quick 10 minute read then go to https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/most-awesome-awful-places-earth-gory-details-travel-science

Within the article you see the worst places on earth that are simply natural wonders but are super dangerous and scary at the same time. Like Turkmenistan’s Door to Hell which is a sulphur burning crater in a desert which is continually burning.

Once you have read of these places it helps to appreciate one far worse than these. All the anti-Christ blasphemous empires, religious and political and all the corruption that invaded the nature of the history of mankind are no more. They are in the lake of burning sulphur.

Can you imagine a world without those 2 beasts? John’s revelation is starting to make us become excited of what might look like a new earth. More to come!

There are 2 suppers and one doesn’t seem appealing at all!

“And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small.” (Revelation 19 v 17-18)

In both Greek and Jewish literature they have images of the wicked who have died but have no burial so the vultures devour their rotten flesh. In the Old Testament we have numerous references but perhaps John’s readers saw this as a fulfilment of The battle of Gog and Magog which we will read in the next chapter and is told in Ezekiel 38 and 39. “Son of man, this is what the Sovereign Lord says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. ¹⁸ You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls—all of them fattened animals from Bashan. ¹⁹ At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. ²⁰ At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind,’ declares the Sovereign Lord.” (Ezekiel 39:17-20)

So you can see the similarity with the verses in Revelation.

Gog and Magog have been debated and interpreted for generations. Some have gone as far as naming the nations who these belong to and who exactly they will attack. It’s quite amazing what people know! Anyway, we will get to that soon.

There isn’t much life at the Great Supper party. You don’t want to be there!

So what am I reflecting on this morning? It is simply this:

The vultures are eating the ‘flesh’.

All that has been relied upon; all that has been achieved; all that we have boasted in, battled and divided over; all the grotesque sinful flesh; the hurt and the pain of sin; so much of what has caught our attention and what we have wasted time over; its lying rotting on the floor; gone forever.

Don’t put too much trust in the flesh. Some arguments last far too long. Some desires drain you because they never cease. Real life is never about the flesh.