Gibbs, Cedric: Revelation 19.6-22.21

Well, thank you, and would you turn to your, uh, Bibles in Revelation chapter nineteen. We're going to begin reading tonight at verse six of Revelation nineteen. Revelation nineteen verse six: Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters, and like loud peals of thunder, shouting, Hallelujah, for our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory, for the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear. Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints. Then the angel said to me, write, blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. And he added, these are the true words of God. At this I fell at his feet to worship him, but he said to me, do not do it. I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers who hold to the testimony of Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. I saw heaven standing open, and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one but he himself knows. He's dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. 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 mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slaves, small and great. Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. But the beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had performed the miraculous signs on his behalf. With these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worshipped his image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. The rest of them 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. 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, bound him for a thousand years, 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. I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge, and I saw the souls of those who'd been beheaded because of their testimony for Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshipped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy are those who have part 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. When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to call them together for battle. In number, they are like the sand on the seashore. 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, 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 forever and ever. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 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 was recorded in the books. 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 he had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. 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. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now 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. He will wipe away 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. 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. Chapter twenty two and verse sixteen. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright morning star. The spirit and the bride say, come. Let him who hears say, come. Whoever is thirsty, let him come, and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen. Well, now in this passage, we, uh, have covered the wedding of the Lamb, the second coming, the millennium, the final judgment, the new heaven and the new earth, and an epilogue which closes chapter twenty two. By this time, as we have pursued our study of the book of Revelation, we have been through these various sets of seven, the seven letters to the seven churches, the record of the breaking of the seven seals and the judgments that they brought, the sounding of the seven trumpets and the judgments that came with those, the revelation of seven things which takes place in this part of the book, the pouring out of the seven bowl judgments and what was involved in those. And now we come to the climax of the book in chapters nineteen, twenty and twenty one. And, uh, so as we take this passage and look at it, first of all, we have in verses six and seven of chapter nineteen, the wedding shout. It sounds like a great multitude, like a roar of rushing waters, like loud peals of thunder. And, uh, it's a cry of praise, hallelujah, because the Lord God Almighty reigns. And now the wedding of the Lamb has come, and her- his bride has made herself ready. And there she is, clothed in fine linen, bright and clean, which stands for the righteous acts of the saints. The announcement of the wedding is followed by the record of the wedding supper. Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb. Now we'll find that the commentators differ in their opinion about who the guests are at this wedding supper. Some say the guests are the same as the bride spoken of in verse seven, in other words, the church. Others, including Dr. Tatford, believe that they are the redeems of other ages who join with the Lord in rejoicing to see that at last the Lamb has his bride, and uh, the church is revealed there in all her beauty. Ephesians chapter five tells us that the Lord Jesus will one day present the church himself as a glorious bride, having no spot or wrinkle or any of such thing. And here is the prophetic record of that ful- fulfilling that. Well, there's rejoicing in heaven because the Lamb has his bride, and the redeemed are sharing in the wedding supper of the Lamb. But on earth, things are coming to a climactic head. Here in verses eleven to twenty one of Revelation nineteen we have the return of the Lord, but not his return to take his people, his return to judge. And so he appears as the judge who comes on a white horse. Remember that our Lord Jesus, when he was here on earth, when he rode into the city of Jerusalem, uh, at the beginning of the week in which he was crucified, chose to come in that humble and lowly way, riding upon an ass, upon a colt, the foal of an ass. But there he was coming as the Lamb of God who would take away the sins of the world. Now he comes as the lion of the tribe of Judah, whose right it is to reign, and in all his imperial and royal majesty, he rides upon this white horse. He comes with these glorious titles, faithful and true, verse eleven, a secret name which only he himself knows, spoken of in verse twelve. His title is that the word of God in verse thirteen. and in verse sixteen, perhaps the greatest of them all, on his robe and on his thigh he has the name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. No doubt about his majesty. It's revealed in his titles, and it's demonstrated by his actions. With justice he judges and makes war, it says in verse eleven. He rules the nations with an iron scepter. That's the prophecy given in verse fifteen. And his treads the wine press of the wrath, of the fury, of the wrath of God Almighty. And so he comes as the judge to put down rebellion. And so another angel standing in the sun cries with a loud voice in verse seventeen, an invitation to the great supper of God. Many commentators have pointed out that there is a, a dramatic counterpoint here. The redeemed in glory share in the wedding supper of the Lamb. Those who are the recipients of the judgment of God on earth are part of the great supper of God, where the flesh of kings and generals and mighty men and horses and riders and people, free and slave, small and great, is eaten. Because there is this final great battle of truth against error, of right against wrong, of justice against injustice, of the forces of good against the forces of evil. The forces of evil headed by, verse nineteen, the beasts and the kings of the earth who pledged their support to him, all those political powers and their armies, and they gather together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. The name Armageddon is not mentioned here in this passage. We found it earlier on in the book where it talks about that final battle occurring at that place called Armageddon, chapter sixteen and verse sixteen. There's a lot of reiteration here in these closing chapters of, uh, Revelation. It would appear that this is what indeed is being referred to. And, uh, so, uh, this great battle takes place, and, uh, the beast is defeated, the kings are defeated, their armies are defeated, verse nineteen. Verse twenty, the beast and the false prophet. Remember I mentioned when we did chapter thirteen that, uh, that second beast who was the spokesperson on behalf of the political beast would appear to be also called the false prophet. Here he's described as a false prophet who performed miracles and signs on behalf of the beast. Well, both these evil agents are captured, and the signs with which they deluded men are proved false, and they're thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur. And, uh, the martyrs from the persecution of the beast, uh, come into their victory. And then those who have taken sides are killed with the sword out of the mouth of the rider on the horse, speaking symbolically of the power with which our Lord Jesus will come and the words of judgment which he will speak, uh, in that day. And so there is this great, uh, climactic battle in which evil is put down and our Lord establishes his rule and his kingdom. In chapter twenty verses one to six we have the description of the millennium, or the thousand-year period. And first of all, we are told that Satan is bound for that thousand years. That's described in verses one to three. How the angel with the key to the abyss comes and opens it and, uh, um, binds Satan and throws him into the abyss and locks him and seals him in there in order that he might not deceive the nations until the thousand years are ended. And then in verses four to six we have a description of the thousand year reign of Christ and those who share in it with him, sitting on thrones and given authority to judge. And we are told that the, uh, the final resurrection doesn't take place until after that thousand years is ended. Now, the word millennium, of course, is just taken from a Latin word meaning a thousand years, so the word itself isn't found in scripture, but the term a thousand years is, and that's all that millennium means. So, uh, there it is, uh, the description given to us in these six verses, the only place in scripture where the thousand years is specifically mentioned, and where we're given to understand that our Lord will reign through this period. At the close of the millennium, we come to the final judgment as recorded in the second part of, uh, chapter seven, uh, chapter twenty from verse seven on. Now, the first thing that we have, of course, is the final rebellion. It's Satan's final flip. Verse seven: when the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison. And he goes out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth and to gather them for battle. Now, uh, here, of course, if we still need it, is, uh, the final proof of a couple of things. First of all, of the intrinsically evil nature of Satan. In all that thousand years of his confinement, he does nothing but plot what he's going to do when he gets out, when he will prime men for their final rebellion. But then also, of course, this is the ultimate proof of the incorrigible nature of the heart of man. From the prophecy of Isaiah and other passages, uh, we know something of the details of the blessing that there will be on earth during this millennial rule of Christ. It'll be the time when you remember that prophecy, they will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, and nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they teach the art of war anymore. We read of justice flowing like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream. It's a period when Earth knows unprecedented blessing because it ruled according to the principles of the kingdom of God when the King of Kings is upon the throne. But in spite of that, when the enemy is let loose again at the end of the thousand years, men will still follow him into rebellion. An ultimate proof, if ever it were needed, of the fallen state of the heart of man, of, uh, the utter depravity of the human heart. And so Satan has his final fling and leads man into his final rebellion, and described in the second half of verse eight and verse nine. And that brings, uh, to the final battle, and the battle of Gog and Magog, when the rebellious nations from the four corners of the earth are gathered together, and they march up and surround the sit- the camp of God's people, the city he loves, and are destroyed by fire from heaven. Now, um, it might be useful at this point just to look at this particular diagram, which illustrates the question of these two great last battles of human history. The end of the tribulation period, when our Lord returns, as described in Revelation nineteen ninety, the battle of Armageddon, where, uh, the beast and the false prophet are captured, and where evil is put down, and that millennial reign is instituted. But at the end of that millennial reign, when Satan is released and draws men into their final rebellion, the battle of Gog and Magog. And this, of course, is a little bit of a deceptive chart because it's not to scale, that being a period of seven years and that being a period of a thousand years, but at least it demonstrates the separation of these two last great battles, um, by the period of the millennium. Well, that leads on to the devil's final doom, verse ten. He at last is thrown into that lake of burning sulfur, along with the beast and the false prophet, there to endure eternal torment. You know, people sometimes ask why it is that, uh, a God of love will consign men to an everlasting hell. One of the biblical answers to that question is that, in essence, of course, hell was never designed for men. The Lord Jesus refers to it as, uh, the place that was prepared for the devil and his angels. But it is only as men align themselves with God's enemy, with the devil, that they come to share his eternal doom. Not a doctrine to be taken lightly, for scripture then goes on to record in verses eleven to fifteen the final judgment of the great white throne. And so, uh, John sees this great white throne, and upon it the awful presence of the judge of all the earth. Please turn the tape over at this point. And upon it the awful presence of the judge of all the earth. And marshaled before that throne, according to verse twelve, the dead, great and small. They are drawn from every source, verse thirteen, the sea gave up the dead that were in it, death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and they're brought for final judgment. None are exempt. Now it appears that this is a twofold judgment. First of all, uh, the books are opened, as we read in verse twelve and the dead are judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. And that itself is a serious enough thing that, uh, the biblical principle will be followed through to its ultimate fulfillment. God is not mocked. What a man reaps, that shall he say. The dead are ju- judged according to the deeds that they've done as recorded in the books. But then the final arbiter of a man's destiny, of every person's destiny, is whether or not their name is found written in the book of life. Because, uh, we read in verse twelve that the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And verse fifteen makes this solemn pronouncement that if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So I see a twofold judgment here, a judgment of deeds, that's bad enough, but a judgment according to whether or not the name is written into the book of life. Now you might say, are there then degrees of hell? Well, it's hard to be dig- dogmatic about that. Eternal damnation is eternal damnation, and uh, in one sense, one shudders to talk about even degrees of eternal damage. And yet it seems to me that this must be so, that in God's omnipotent dealings, while all whose names are not written in the book of life, referred to in another place as the book of life of the Lamb, and therefore I judge it to mean all those who are not redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ, who do not stand in the benefit of the sacrifice of the Lamb of God, while all whose names are not in the book of life are lost, are cast into the lake of fire. Yet also there is a judgment according to works, for they, they are judged according to what they've done as recorded in the books. And so we have here the final judgment then, which is the second death. We move on then from that most solemn of all passages of scripture to John's description of the new heaven and earth. The first had passed away. I guess this ties in with the, the prophecy in second Peter chapter three that the present heavens and earth are being reserved for destruction by fire. Fire's not mentioned yet, but they passed away. No sea exists anymore. A new heaven, a new earth, and the vision of the Holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And so, as this city comes down from God, this city which is the bride of the Lamb, referred to as such in verse two, referred to again as such in verse nine: 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. 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. And the result of this manifestation is a new intimacy with God. Counterpoint to the dreadful judgment that we have at the end of verse twenty. Now 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 eternal comfort of the redeemed. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. The old order of things has passed away. The one who sits on the throne says, I make everything new. Now, in this revelation here, this revelation of the triumph of the Lamb, we see the Lamb with his city. And first of all, in, uh, verse twelve we see the Lamb and the angels. A great high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels at the gates. And then we see the Lamb and Israel. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. These gates point in the four directions of the compass, three pointing each way. Then the Lamb and the church, verse fourteen. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And then the Lamb and all the nations of the earth, because in the light of that holy city, verse twenty four, the nations will walk by its light. Kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut. There'll be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter into 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. So the Lamb has his triumph, and in the city is seen reflected the glory of God in the city of God. The description is symbolic, poetic, beautiful. A wall of jasper, a city of pure gold, gates of pearls, foundations decorated with every kind of precious stone, jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, emerald, sardonyx, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jasmin, Amazon. The streets of the city of pure gold, like transparent glass. It's hard to be dogmatic about the interpretation of all these things, but what they do mount up to is a, an impression of tremendous glory, of, of, of the manifestation of the radiance of God as he dwells amongst his people. I think perhaps one of the Christian poets who has caught the spirit of it most is J. N. Darby in that verse that he wrote back in eighteen forty five: God and the Lamb shall there the light and temple be, and radiant hosts forever share the unveiled mystery. And so in chapter twenty two we read about the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city, tree of life bearing crops of fruit for the healing of the nations. No longer any curse. Throne of God and the Lamb in the city. His servants serve him. They see his face, his name will be on the foreheads, there'll be no more night. They won't need the light of lamp or light of sun. The Lord God will give them light, and they'll reign forever and ever. All the purposes of God fulfilled. Well, at the, from chapter twenty two and verse seven on, we have the epilogue, which reminds us that the Lord is coming soon. Behold, I am coming soon. A blessing on the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. And, uh, this statement, behold, I'm coming soon, is repeated. Verse twelve: behold, I'm coming soon. My reward is with me. I give to everyone according to what is done. I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. In verse twenty: he who testifies these things says, yes, I am coming soon. And then his commands. Um... They're given to us in verses eight to eleven. John is commanded not to worship the angel. He's commanded not to seal up the words of the prophecy of the book because the time is near. There's a dreadful warning about a, uh, a fixity that'll be reached. Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong. Let him who is vile continue to be vile. He who does right continue to do right, and let him who is holy continue to be holy. There are benedictions pronounced. Verse fourteen: blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Verse twenty one: the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. There are warnings given. Warnings in verse fifteen that outside of the dogs, those who practice magic arts, sexually immoral, murderers, idolaters, everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Verse eighteen to nineteen, the warning against those who would take away from the words of the prophecy of this book, how they can have, uh, their eternal blessings removed. There's a declaration in verse sixteen, a declaration from the one who's the author of the book, if you like, the one who gives it to John. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. His own declaration of who he is, the root and the offspring of David. The root of David because he's God, the offspring of David because he's man, and the bright morning star because he's coming soon. And then the invitations, along with this, uh, call to the bridegroom to return, the spirit and the bride say come. The invitation goes out to men and women round about. Come, whoever is thirsty, let him come. Whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. And the book closes with an invitation to the Lord to return. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. So here we have, uh, God's description of the wrapping up of human history. Now, how do we interpret it? Well, for those who see Revelation not so much as a prediction of the future, but just as a book of principles, um, what is being stressed in these passages is that righteousness will always triumph, that in the end all evil will be put down, all evildoers will be judged, and everything will be restored to its original and pristine. This is a principle, and so, uh, say those who interpret the book this way. How we, uh, how we understand these chapters in detail is fairly irrelevant because they're symbolic statements rather than sequences of events. For those who take the pre-Christ view and see Revelation as, uh, the story of the church's, uh, struggle with the Roman Empire, these passages are seen as referring to the final defeat of imperial Rome and of emperor worship by the sword that comes out of the rider on the horse, out of the mouth of the rider on the horse. That is the gospel. And of course, historically, that's what happened. Eventually, the gospel triumphed over the empire which had tried to persecute it in its first three centuries of the history of the church. And indeed, right on through human history, the gospel has continued to triumph, and the devil has never been able to stamp it out, and the message of the gospel has continued to prosper until our present day. This talk of a millennium, then, for the, uh, prederists, well, it symbolizes the peace of the church after the Roman Empire is overthrown. And it is just a matter of historical interest that for about a thousand years after the fall of Rome, the church wielded significant political power in the affairs of men. The final judgments are seen as a prom- a promise of permanent destruction of all oppressive evil. Historicist interpreters, those who see the book of Revelation as dealing with the time of the church rather than with events after the rapture of the church, uh, see in these passages a record of defeat of political, or a foretelling of defeat of political and religious forces that stand against the church and its mission of extending God's kingdom. Now, uh, those who take this point of view usually fall into one of two camps, because, uh, it all depends on how they're going to deal with this question of the millennium. And, uh, these two camps may be described as amillennialism, those who believe that there will not be a literal millennium at all, and postmillennialism, those who believe that the Lord will only return after the completion of the millennium. Now, uh, often then, um, people who take an historicist interpretation also interpret the book within an amillennial framework, and they say the millennium refers symbolically to, uh, the period of, uh, the gospel, the preaching of the gospel and of the church. Now, in what sense then is Christ ruling? Well, Christ is re- reigning in heaven together with his saints, uh, those who seated with him on thrones. In what sense then is Satan bound in the abyss? Ah, well, it is said, uh, as Christ's victory over Satan was secured at the cross, Satan is, in essence, a defeated foe. And that's true, of course, as far as it goes, um, but that's what's symbolically stated, uh, by this record of Satan being bound for the thousand years. Now, there are many godly men who are persuaded of this point of view. Me, myself, I find it very unsatisfactory. Uh, as I always say to my students at Emmaus, if Satan is bound at this point in time, it must be a mighty long chain. And so I find this an unsatisfactory exposition or exegesis or understanding of the passage. But those who take the amillennial view, see the millennium as a symbolic period, point out that there's so many symbolic numbers in Revelation that maybe we shouldn't take the thousand years literally either, and all the events of the second coming, the resurrections, the final judgments, and so on will all come at the end of this period when God will bring in the new heaven and the new earth. And post-millennialists believe that the gospel will triumph and bring about a thousand years of peace and of the kingdom of God on earth, and only after that will our Lord return after a final rebellion, uh, and uh, these battles of Armageddon and uh, Gog and Magog. So historicists then who see Revelation as referring to the church period, which we have in green here, uh, fall either into amillennial or post-millennial camps, usually. And then the last bit of the book, the Great White Throne Judgment and the description of the New Jerusalem are seen as the events of the end times when church history is consummated in the coming of the Lord. But, uh, those who have a futurist interpretation of the Book of Revelation, generally fitting to a pattern of premillennialism, a belief that the Lord will come before the millennium. Uh, now there are different points of view, as you can see here. Some, perhaps the majority, believe the rapture will take place at the beginning of the tribulation, but there's some who think it might be in the middle of the tribulation, the so-called mid-tribulation view, and there's some who believe the rapture will occur at the end of the tribulation, the post-tribulation view. But either way, it's pre-millennial because the Lord will return before the millennium, and the millennium is understood then in the following terms: that Christ returns to put down evil in the battle of Armageddon, as described at the end of Revelation chapter nineteen and that that triumphant return is followed by a literal rule of Christ upon the earth for a period of a thousand years. That after that, uh, thousand years of rebellion, of of of blessing, sorry, there is the final rebellion when Satan is loosed, leading to the final battle of Gog and Magog, and, uh, leading in turn to the final defeat of Satan and his eternal punishment. All this to be consummated by the Great White Throne judgment of, uh, the wicked dead and the institution of the eternal state. The book of Revelation then closing with advice about and warning of the imminence, the nearness of the return of the Lord Jesus. For all that there are different views, uh, I must say that my own personal opinion is still very strongly, uh, a pre-millennial one. I'm not sure that I necessarily agree with all the details of all the pre-millennial writers and their various dispensational views of just how things will take place during the tribulation period. But it seems to me that, uh, the only logical way in which this passage that we're looking at in, uh, Revelation can be interpreted is, uh, the most literal possible interpretation. It's a sound principle of biblical interpretation of the science of biblical hermeneutics, that scripture should be interpreted, uh, as literally as possible, wherever possible. Not only that, but, uh, apart from what we have here in Revelation, there seem to me to be just so many unfulfilled prophecies from the Old Testament about the coming reign of the Messiah, prophecies which were not completed, uh, by the events of his first coming, and therefore, in my understanding, must await the events of his second coming. And thirdly, it seems to me that there is a principle, I was going to say, of natural justice, but it goes beyond that, a principle of divine justice, that God will vindicate his son, and that our Lord Jesus Christ will reign in the place where he was rejected and mocked and scorned and crucified. That the one who wore the crown of thorns will wear the crown of glory. That the one who was given a reed to hold as a scepter in mockery will rule the nations with a rod of iron. That the one over whose cross they put the inscription, Hail King of the Jews, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews, they called out to him in mockery, Hail King of the Jews, will be recognized as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I believe that nothing less will satisfy the purposes of God, but that his eternal Son be vindicated here in the very place where he experienced rejection and shame and crucifixion. And so there it is, a book with many mysteries, and yet, the note on which it ends is a clear and certain note, is it not? And I guess this is the most important thing. The book teaches us that the Lamb is on the throne. The Lord teaches us, the book teaches us that glory and power and honor and might belong to him. And the book closes by telling us that he's coming back again. He who testifies to these things says, yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people.