SERMON OUTLINE

Final Glory   Revelation 17 to 22

Introduction

The Glory of God is the highest purpose of God, man and creation. God’s wrath is also a manifestation of His Glory.

The Final Glory of God

Revelation 19.11-16   

-The warrior-king on a white horse

-Zeal and determination for God’s Glory

-Majesty. King of kings and Lord of lords

-A robe dipped in blood

-Captain of the angelic army

-Power and authority

Revelation 20.11-15

-Judge of all men.

Revelation 21.22-27

-Temple and Light of the New Jerusalem

Final Glory of the Church

Revelation 19.6-9

-The Bride is perfected and married to Jesus

Revelation 21.1-8

-New earth, new heaven, new bodies, dwelling with God

-No tears, death, mourning, crying, pain

-All things new

-Write this: It is done!

Revelation 21.9-11

-Having the Glory of God. Radiant like a most rare jewel

Because we belong to God through the cross of Christ

SERMON NOTES

Final Glory

-For our Communion Sundays this year we have been focusing on the Glory of God. I began by teaching that the Glory of God is God’s highest purpose and so it should be our highest purpose as well, and the purpose of all of God’s creation. “The heavens declare the Glory of God” and we who are made in God’s image are to declare the Glory of God.

-The Glory of God is Who God is in His Being and character, and the manifestation of His Being and character in history.

-When Jesus came He expressed and exalted the Glory of God.

–Creation and mankind are to exalt the Glory of God.

-Through sin mankind falls short of the Glory of God and through salvation in Christ mankind once again brings Glory to God.

-Through obedience the Christian brings Glory to God.

-As believers we partake in the Glory of God both here on earth and in eternity. We should expect a future glory in Christ.

-The Glory of God is the highest motivator given to us as we go through service, sufferings and trials. Through suffering we increase our future inheritance of glory.

-God is glorified through His Church and we should rejoice that we are part of God’s Church. As the Church we are the Son of the Father, the Bride of Christ, and the future dwelling place of God by His Spirit.

-Today I want to conclude our consideration of the Glory of God by thinking with you about the Final Glory described for us in the book of Revelation. I would like to read you selected verses from Revelation 17 to 22. I read these verses to give us a glimpse of the final Glory of God and the glory that lies ahead for all those who belong to God through Jesus Christ. We also see here what God has planned for the unbeliever. Let me encourage you this week to take some time to slowly and meditatively read through Revelation 17 to 22. Take your Bibles and turn to Revelation 17.

–Revelation 17.1; 18.1-2; 19.1-2, 11, 16; 19-21; 20.4-6; 21.1-4; 22.3-5 [Read]

-Proceeding these final 6 chapters of Revelation is an unprecedented outpouring of God’s wrath upon a sinful world. Even as the power of creation and miracles, and the resurrection and the transformation of sinners into saints manifests the Glory of God, so the fury of God’s wrath is the manifestation of the Glory of God. God’s holiness and His Judgment carried out against sin is a manifestation of the Glory of God. The Glory of God is as evident in His wrath as it is in His great power and abundant mercies.

-In these 6 final chapters of the Bible we see the final collapse of both the economic and religious systems of the world. The economic and religious systems of the world are called Babylon the great and the great prostitute. This collapse is followed by the second coming of Christ with all authority and power as King of kings and Lord of lords to establish His earthly 1,000 year kingdom and to destroy all opposition. After this millennial reign and the final destruction of the Devil we read about the new heaven and the new earth where the perfected church forever dwells with God.

-I cannot tell you when these things will happen or explain all the details mentioned in these chapters but I know that God wins and that His people receive all that God has promised them and dwell with God in Glory for all eternity. Each day we are watching the world move toward this final end. God’s victory, God’s final glory, our final glory with God, is as certain as the resurrection of Christ, for the same God who raised up Jesus from the dead has proclaimed how history will end and the final destiny of mankind.

-For the last part of this message I want us to take a closer look at the final Glory of God in Jesus Christ. I also want to spend a few minutes looking at the final glory of the believer and unbeliever as God fulfills His promises to them.

-Let’s begin with Revelation 19.11-16. [Read]

-Here we see heaven opened. Jesus is coming to earth from heaven for a second time, this time not as a weak baby born in poverty but as the King of kings on a white horse. Jesus once rode into Jerusalem humbly and passively on a donkey, but here Jesus is the warrior-king riding a white horse to bring judgment and to make war with all that is evil. He is called Faithful and True and he judges and makes war in righteousness.

-His eyes are burning with zeal and determination to bring Glory to God in the final conquest of all the enemies of God. His majesty is evident to all as he wears the royal crowns of all the kingdoms of the earth. He is the one and only Sovereign Lord.

-Jesus is clothed in a robe dipped in blood. This is not his own blood but the blood of the enemies of God as he pours out the wrath of God. This is a picture of God taken from Isaiah 63.1-3 as God returns from destroying Edom, “I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel”. Here is God’s complete and final destruction of all His enemies through Christ the conquering-king. In verse 15 he is “treading the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty”. In this he is covered with the blood of his enemies.

-Jesus is Captain of the hosts of heaven and is accompanied by the mighty angels of heaven all dressed in white linen and riding white horses. At his arrest Jesus said he could have appealed to the Father and the Father would have sent twelve legions of angels to set him free. God’s purpose at that time was to provide salvation to a lost world, not pour out His wrath. Now the time has come for righteousness to rule and for all evil to be judged and destroyed.

-Out of the mouth of Jesus is no longer an appeal to “follow me” but the word of destruction and the rule of God’s power. God will be glorified and all those who have opposed God’s Glory will experience the wrath and fury of God and be eternally separated from him in the lake of fire.

-Not only do we see the final outpouring of God’s full wrath upon evil, the judgment of all evil, and the establishment of God’s righteous kingdom but we also see the central focus on the Glory and Majesty of God. In chapter 20.11-15, we see God judging all men according to His Holy character. Then in chapter 21 God forever dwells with His redeemed people, sitting on His throne, the light and temple of the New Jerusalem, “I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the Lamb.” The brilliance of the Glory of God is the very light of the New Jerusalem. God’s final Glory is manifested in the final judgment and destruction of evil and in the final worship of His people who love Him and want to be with Him forever.

-The final glory of God’s people joined together in the Church is also described in Revelation. The Church as the perfected Bride of Christ is to be married to him, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure – for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” (19.6-9).

-Let me read to you Revelation 21.1-8. [Read] Listen this is your future I am describing if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ.

-We will dwell in the new heaven and a new earth with new resurrected bodies and God will dwell with us as our God. God will wipe away all tears from our eyes and death will be no more. There shall be no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain, and all that is from this sinful world, our life in Adam, our sinful past, all our miseries and pains will be no more. God who has made us new creatures now in Christ, will make all things new.

-I am so glad as I read that God said to John, “write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true”. We see the same emphatic command to write in Revelation 19.9 to assure us of our marriage to Christ, “And the angel said to me, ‘Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’. And he said to me, ‘These are the true words of God.” So God said to John in 21.6. “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

-In verse 8 God also tells us the final end of all unbelievers, “But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” In chapter 20.15 we read, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Final hell for the unbeliever is as certain as the final glory of the saints.

-In Revelation 21.9-11 we read, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal.” Fellow Christians we are destined to be righteous and beautiful like a most rare jewel, filled with the Glory of God, dwelling with the God of Glory, forever. It really is too much to grasp and to even believe, but it is what God promises to us in Christ.

-There is so much more encouragement in these verses both in the final justice of God and in the fulfillment of His gracious promises to us. For this week’s weekly meditations I have taken some readings from these last 6 chapters of Revelation so that throughout the week we can meditate on the Glory of God and the glory that God will bestow on us as His children.

-We love God and long for God’s Final Glory because God has called us to be His through the cross of Jesus Christ pictured before us this morning in the Communion Table.

Communion

This morning we celebrate the Lord’s death until He comes. In celebrating His death we also celebrate His resurrection for we await the coming of a living Lord. We also await the second coming of the Lord, the establishment of His kingdom, and the new heaven and earth where we will dwell with God forever, with certainty and full assurance because God has spoken it and we know it will come to pass.

Rev 22.12, 20