Turn on Timer! Pray for People in Orlando (the gay nightclub shooting). [Slide 1] We are in a middle of a series entitled, Revelation: Unveiling Reality. The Greek word that is translated as revelation is the word Apocalypse which means unveiling. Revelation was written to show people who were persecuted and people who are going through hard times that reality is more than what we see with their eyes that things are not as they seem. Seeing this unveiled reality helps us to be faithful during hard times. [Slide 2] Today s sermon is entitled, Chewing on the Gospel of the Coming Kingdom. In chapter 4, John was led to a vision of the throne room of heaven. We saw a vision of all creatures worshipping God: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come. In chapter 5, John sees a scroll in the right hand of the God with seven seals. This scroll contains the plan of how God will make things right, how God will bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth and eradicate all injustice, suffering, war, violence, poverty, illness, suffering, and even death. John heard that the messiah, the Lion of Judah, could open the seals. John expects to see a roaring lion, but, when he looks, he sees a slain little baby lamb, the utter opposite of what he expected. This is the mother of all plot twists. The little lamb can open the scroll because he gave his life away in sacrificial love for everyone. The power of love is greater than the power of coercion. And this Jesus, the lamb, is on the throne. And all creation, everything in the universe, in heaven and earth, is worshipping the lamb. Worthy is the lamb who was slain! He is able to open the seals of the scroll, to bring the Kingdom of Heaven down to earth. Then, in chapter 6, the lamb opens the seals of the scroll. When the Kingdom of God comes, it presses in on the world, and there is resistance and opposition resulting in misery and terror, until the seventh seal when the Kingdom of God comes. There was an interlude, a sort of intermission, between the opening of the 6th Seal 1
and the 7th and the final seal. That was chapter 7. The believers are not plucked out of the world in order to save them from tribulation. The believers are sealed with the Holy Spirit. The Bible tells us that we are sealed with the Holy Spirit, which is a deposit of the redemption that is to come. So, the Holy Spirit gives us a foretaste of what is to come. That means we have the power of the Kingdom that is to come to be able to go through suffering, hardship, and even tribulation and be able to bear it. Christianity is not about avoiding suffering. It is being empower by the Holy Spirit and being free even in midst of suffering. Then, in Chapter 8 to 11, there are the seven trumpets. The images are brutal. Pastor TC did a great job preaching through the seven trumpets last Sunday. Remember, these are symbolic and poetic images, not literal images. In the middle of the most terrorizing image, after the 6th trumpet, and before the 7th trumpet when the Kingdom of God finally arrives in its fullness, there is a break, an interlude, where God wants to tell us something, before the final coming. Remember, the same thing happened in between the 6th and the 7th seals, when we were told that believers are sealed in the Holy Spirit. That s where we are now. Chapter 10. What does God want to tell us before the final coming? In order to understand this passage, you have to know a little about another passage in Daniel 12, in the Old Testament. This is a passage that would have been familiar to the people receiving the letter. In Daniel 12, the mighty archangel Michael came down. He was a mighty figure above the waters of the river. He predicted that there will be a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of nations until then. When asked when these things would happen, Michael responded: It will be for a time, times and half a time meaning that it will be delayed. [Slide 3] With that backdrop, let s go to : Then I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven. He was robed in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like fiery pillars. 2 He was holding a little scroll, which lay open in his hand. He planted his right foot on the sea and his left foot on the land, 3 and he gave a loud shout like the roar of a lion. When he shouted, the voices of the seven thunders spoke. 4 And when the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write; but I heard a 2
voice from heaven say, Seal up what the seven thunders have said and do not write it down. [Slide 4] 5 Then the angel I had seen standing on the sea and on the land raised his right hand to heaven. 6 And he swore by him who lives for ever and ever, who created the heavens and all that is in them, the earth and all that is in it, and the sea and all that is in it, and said, There will be no more delay! 7 But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. So, a mighty angel comes down from heaven. There is a majestic description of the mighty angel. The mighty angel straddles the land and the sea. He comes at a time of distress such as has not happened from the beginning of the nations are being unleashed. Then, there is this statement by this mighty angel standing on the sea and the land. He raises his hand to heaven, and he doesn t just say something, he swears by God who created the heavens and the earth and the sea, and declares: There will be no more delay. But in the days when the seventh angel is about to sound his trumpet, the mystery of God will be accomplished, just as he announced to his servants the prophets. The promised coming of the Kingdom of God will not be delayed anymore. The mystery of God will be accomplished just as he announced to the prophets. The prophesy announced in Daniel and other prophecies will now be accomplished. There will be no more delay! The Kingdom of God is finally coming! This is an awesome moment. People of God have been waiting for God to do something about the injustice, oppression, pain, suffering, bondage, poverty, illness, and death. And now, it is being announced by a messenger of God that there will not be anymore delay. And that s what we saw is Chapter 11 when the 7th trumpet was sounded: The Kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah, and he will reign for ever and ever. But, before this happens, there is something that the believers are called to do. It is interesting that God does not just do what he is going to do. He involves us in the process of the Kingdom of God coming. What is it that he wants us to do? Let s continue reading: 3
[Slide 5] 8 Then the voice that I had heard from heaven spoke to me once more: Go, take the scroll that lies open in the hand of the angel who is standing on the sea and on the land. 9 So I went to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, Take it and eat it. It will turn your stomach sour, but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey. 10 I took the little scroll from the angel s hand and ate it. It tasted as sweet as honey in my mouth, but when I had eaten it, my stomach turned sour. 11 Then I was told, You must prophesy again about many peoples, nations, languages and kings. Now, most commentators say that this little scroll is the same scroll that has been opened. The word for little scroll and scroll is used interchangeably. It was probably called the little scroll in verse 2 because the angel was so gigantic. But, in verse 8, it is just called the scroll. But, this scroll is opened, meaning that the seals have been broken. So, we are most likely talking about the scroll that has been revealed in chapters 5 and 6. And the mighty angel told John to take and eat the opened scroll. It will be both sweet and sour. After John ate the scroll, he was told to go prophesy, to go declare and share what you have ate. There are two parts here that are related. First, the eating; second, prophesying. When Ezekiel was called by God as a prophet, the Lord told him to eat the scroll God is giving him and fill his stomach with it. He at it, and it tasted as sweet as honey in his mouth. And in that passage, God tells him to go and speak to the people of Israel. So, the command to John and also to us is to eat the scroll and speak. [Slide 6] Now, what does it mean to eat the scroll? The scroll contains the gospel, the good news of God s plan to bring the Kingdom of heaven down to earth. How do we know that? When all is done, that s what happens. When the 7th seal is opened, the glory and the presence of God is revealed. When the 7th trumpet is sounded, the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth. Later in the book, when the 7th bowl is poured, the Kingdom of heaven has come to earth and there is new heaven and new earth. The two have combined. That s our destiny. That s where God is leading us. To eat the scroll means to really allow this unveiled reality to get inside of us. We have to chew on it, think about it, understand it, experience it, and let it become a part of us, a muscle, nerve, tissue, cell, and everything in our body takes form from this reality. We mediate on it. We become filled the Spirit and experience the foretaste of it. We are 4
called to get the beauty of the gospel of the coming Kingdom, the beauty of what God is doing, and eat it, swallow it, and digest it. It will be sweet but also sour in the stomach. Some of it will be something that we love. We say, thank you Jesus. Some of it will not sit on our stomach right. It is going to feel sour. We have to accept both the sweet and the sour words from God. We can t just pick and choose what we want to believe from God is revealing to us. It is not our opinion that we are called to speak; it is the word of God, the scroll of God that we are called to speak. So, we have to let it sit for a while so that we get the magnitude of it. [Slide 8] Let s chew on the gospel of the coming Kingdom. 1. [Slide 9] The Reality of Judgment. Let s think about the reality of the judgment of God. As Pastor TC talked about last Sunday, it is very real. The pictures of the judgment of God are intense and terrifying. I want to chew on God s justice and really try to understand it deeper. It is both sweet and sour. When you chew on it, you will experience both. We modern people don t really like to talk about judgment. We like to talk about the love of God or grace of God, but we don t like to talk about judgment. But, the Bible is replete with passages that talk about the judgment of God. We can t be faithful Christians if we don t believe in the judgment of God. And Revelation reveals the reality and the terror of God s judgment. This is very real and even if we don t like it, even if it sits in our stomach sour, we have to chew on it and eat it. Why do we need judgment? God has repeatedly revealed himself as holy and just. That is who he is. Now the concept of his holiness and justice is really interconnected. Look at the worship of the creatures and the elders in the throne room of heaven: they worship him by being mesmerized by his holiness: Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord Almighty! Now, holiness literally means that he is separated. He is separated from all that is not pure good, all that is evil. That s what it means. God is all good. There is no evil in him whatsoever. That means that God cannot do evil. And evil cannot be with God. There is glory, beauty, and splendor in his holiness. The Scriptures always say that his name is holy. For example, we say in the prayer that Jesus taught is Hallowed be 5
your name, in other words, holy is your name. That is a way of saying his essential character is holy. That he is holy. And justice is the gatekeeper to God s holiness. It is a way of separating all that is not holy from the presence of God. Evil cannot dwell in the presence of this good God. But, when the Kingdom of heaven comes down, when the throne room of God comes down to earth, what happens to earth? When God s holy presence comes down, what happens to earth? There is incompatibility with anything that is not holy. There is a kingdom of this world as well that has been warring against the Kingdom of God. That ultimately is the justice of God. It is the consequences of the coming of the Kingdom of God. That is why all that you saw happened is happening. Richard Bauckham, the probably the most quoted commentator on Revelation, put it this way: The holiness and righteousness of God requires the condemnation of unrighteousness on earth and the destruction of the powers of evil that contest God s rule on earth, so that their rule may give place to the coming of God s kingdom on earth. Here is what s going on. People who refuse to repent and put their faith in the lamb and submit to God are getting their wish: separation from God. For now, we can be partially separated from God in earth. But, when God comes to restore earth, and they are kicked out of earth into the abyss, meaning a place of separation from God. I think we ll talk about that later in Revelation. This is what hell is. Hell is a place of complete separation from God. The Bible talks about hell in a pretty intense way: fire and brimstone, fiery lake, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Jesus once called it, eternal fire prepared for devil and his angels. These are pretty horrific. But, it is very real. All of these things are metaphor to tell us that it is really bad. It is essentially a place of separation from God. If you want to be separated from God, God is going to give you your wish. Right now, we live in a war torn world. There is spiritual war going on between God and Satan. Satan has taken over this world. God is present in this world while evil is also present in this world. And God is on the move. The Kingdom of God has been inaugurated. And, someday, the Scriptures tell us that Kingdom of God will come down in its fullness, and all evil, those who have not been redeemed by the blood 6
of the lamb, are going to get kicked out of the earth and be separated from God. And that s what hell is. Separation from God. Kicked out from the presence of God altogether. That s what justice is. If justice does not come, there will not be restoration of our bodies, there will not be resurrection of the dead, there will not be eradication of injustice, there will not be restoration of earth. The broken world will continue to dive into the hell in a hand basket. The promise is that someday, God will stop this. That is what Revelation is unveiling. His kingdom will come. And when it comes, there has to be judgment. There has to be justice. [Slide 10] But, the important reality is that God does not want anyone to perish. Responding to people who wondered why Jesus has not come back yet, [Slide 8] Peter said in 2 Peter 3:8-9: 8 But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. 9 The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God does not want anyone to perish. He wants everyone to come to repentance. God loves everyone! Now, do you know why only the lamb can open the seals of the scroll, the only one who can bring the Kingdom of Heaven to down in its fullness? Because he enable men and women to be able to forgiven of their sins. If we repent and put our faith in the finished work of Jesus, we are forgiven, and considered holy and acceptable to God. It is not based on our work; it is based on the finished work of Jesus on the cross. We didn t earn it. He gave it to us free. He paid for our sins and died for us. He paid our debts for us and freed us. If anyone else opens the seal of the scroll and set in motion the coming of the Kingdom of God on earth, there will only be perishing. There will only be destruction of evil. For the Bible tells us that all of us fall short of the glory of God. We are all sinners. None of us can make it into the Kingdom of God. None of us deserve it in our own merits. None of us will measure up to the holiness of God. All of us will be separated from God. God s plan and desire is to save us. God loves us. But, God is also holy. And he is coming. The Lord s prayer is going to be answered: His name will be hallowed 7
hallowed be your name, His Kingdom will come your kingdom come, His will will be done your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. All suffering, pain, injustice, war, poverty, illness and death will be eradicated. And justice is a way of kicking out all that is not holy and all that is evil out of the presence of God, which will be on earth on that day. Do you see that God s justice and judgment is an expression of his love for us? If it a way for the Kingdom of God to come in its fullness. He wants all of us to live in his presence, his love, his grace, his beauty. The only way that is going happen is if he comes, and when he comes, there has to be a day of judgment. Now, this passage does not just say to eat this scroll. It tells us to do something. [Slide 11] What is it our call now? It says you must prophesy again about many people, nations, languages and kings. We are called to be prophetic and share this sweet and sour reality of the coming of the Kingdom of God. We are called to prophetic and share the love of God, the good news of the lamb of God who was slain who made it possible for us to be cleansed from sin. You see, this chapter tells us what our assignment is. It tells the church that we are to eat the scroll and prophesy. It s not just in words, we must live it out. We must not live in a way that seeks to escape from the world. We must not live in a way that seeks just to avoid suffering in the world. We must not live in this world just to seek worldly success in our lives. We must not live in this world as if our life in this world is it. We must live with the view of the coming Kingdom. We must live in two ways: (1) individually, we must live in the power of the Spirit, the deposit, the power of all that is to come in our lives, and bear the fruit of the Spirit; and (2) corporately, we are called to build the bride of Christ, the Church, and create a counter-cultural, radical expression of the Kingdom of God that is to come right here now. We are called to bring forth to the present what will happen in the future. In the coming Kingdom, there is worship; so, we worship now. In the coming Kingdom, there is no poverty; so, we share now and work to eradicate poverty. In the coming Kingdom, there is no injustice; so, we work to eradicate injustice now. In the coming Kingdom, there is no violence; so, we work to love our 8
enemies. In the coming Kingdom, there is restoration of the earth; so, we work to restore the earth now. Someone from my Grow and Serve Group asked a great question. Why should we work towards restoring earth if the earth is going to get restored when Jesus comes back? When Jesus comes back and the Kingdom of God fully comes, you and I are going to be perfected. Our character is going to be perfected. But, we never say we shouldn t live by the Spirit and bear the fruit of the Spirit and perfect our character. Of course, we should seek to be more like the person we are going to be. In the same way, we are called to bring forth and build the expression of the Kingdom of God now on earth through the church, and the church loving the world and expressing God s radical love ot the world. And we are called not only live out the coming Kingdom, we are called to bear witness to others of the reality of what is coming and bring people into the Kingdom of God through the blood of the lamb. This is real; we are called to share the good news of the coming Kingdom. Have you received the good news of the coming Kingdom? Let s pray. Invite Prayer team. 9