One of the questions I did not answer fully on Sunday is why will God allow to reenter the world after being locked up for 1000 years.  Warren Wiersbe believes it is “the final proof that the heart of man is desperately wicked and can be changed only by God’s grace”  As I said, it is hard to believe that people who have been living in a perfect environment, under the perfect government of God’s son, will rebel in the end and choose to follow the lies of Satan.  But that is what the Bible says will happen.  And with the fire that destroys them, it will also destroy the old heaven and the old earth.  I cannot wait to see the new heaven and the new earth next week!

There was a lot that I cut out from my sermon Sunday because I ran out of time.  But in this post you get to read them.  The two I want to point out are two quotes that I was going to close with.  The first from Warren Wiersbe says, “Each generation of believers must keep itself pure from the pollution of both the ‘harlot’ and ‘Babylon'”.  Applying the message of Revelation is not just for end time believers but for us today.  And finally from Craig Keener, “All Rome’s successors, all the evil empires of history who repress God’s people, will be dust and ashes, but God’s kingdom will no fail!  Empires rise and fall, and our own early lives persih with the passing of generations. We must rest our confidence not in the short-term troubles that we read in the news headlines, but in God’s long-range purposes in history.”  Both are good reminders as we enter into this election season.

A thought from my desk calendar this morning.  “Jesus Christ did not die for you because you were actually worth dying for.  He died for you because he considered you worth dying for.  He put your best interests above his own — and he willingly marched to Calvary.” (Charles Stanley A Touch of His Freedom)  None of of us are worth dying for.  We are all sinners, but in God’s eyes, he sees us as sinners worthy of his grace.

The sermon on Revelation 16 this week touched on the word Armageddon.  I did not have time to go into detail this week about that (it might be in the next sermon).  But the word Armageddon comes from two Hebrew words Har and Megiddo, which means the hill of Megiddo or place of slaughter.  In the Bible it is also called the Plain of Esdraelon and the Valley of Jezreel.  It is a 14 miles wide and 20 miles long plain in northern Israel that has been the sight of numerous battles both in Biblical and modern times.  In fact, Napoleon called it “the most natural battlefield of the whole earth”.  And it appears this might be the place where the final battle in human history will take place (unless it is symbolic which I do not think it is).  Jesus has gathered the armies of heaven (the saints and his angels) in chapter 15 and now in 16 the earthly kingdoms (led by these demonic “frogs”) are gathering.  The showdown will take place in chapter 19 where we will see Jesus defeat the beast with the sword from his mouth.  As Martin Luther says in one of his famous hymns, “One little word shall fell him”.  Praise the Lord!

Just came across a quote from Charles Swindoll that ties in nicely with Sunday’s sermon.  “If our perfect Lord is gracious enough to take our worst, our ugliest, our most boring, our least successful . . . and forgive, burying them in the depths of the sea, then it’s high time we give each other a break . . . He promises full acceptance along with full forgiveness . . . without an erratum sheet attached.  Isn’t that encouraging?  Can’t we be that type of encourager to one another?  After all, imperfection is one of the few things we still have in common.”  (Come Before Winter)

Another of the lessons that we can learn from these chapters that I did not touch on Sunday fully is how we are to overcome.  I did say that Satan’s time is limited, his power short and his defeat is sure, but why.  It is because of blood of the lamb and by the word of our testimony (Rev 12:11).  But what that entails means a lot for us.  Because as that same verse goes on to say; “they did no love their lives so much as to shrink from death”  I like what one commentary says about this.  “The rest of this book teaches that our goal as Christians is not to escape suffering or death but to announce Jesus to the world”  (Keener 331)  This has already been seen in 6:9-11 and 11:3-7.  Our testimony about our encounter with the blood of the lamb is critical now, but will be even more important as the end draws neigh.  We must not shrink from this duty.  We cannot.  The salvation of our family, friends and neighbors depends on it.  We must invade the world with the message and example of God’s redeeming love.  And we need to start now!

I was watching some of the funeral procession of the late queen of England this morning as well as reading about a pastor over in the UK that was fired from his job for teaching and preaching the Bible but was it considered hate speech.  I do not know how much longer we as God’s church is to tell others about him and his gospel before we are treated as criminals or our free speech about Jesus is outlawed by those around us (either formally or informally).  So let us not be silent but in boldness and in the freedoms we still have to tell others about our Great God.

As we saw in the message Sunday, the sad news is that many people will still not repent even in the face of God’s judgments.  As a result, darkness will cover the earth (see the 4th trumpet).  “A day of darkness and of gloominess” (Joel 2:1-2)  Not only will nature suffer loss, but human nature will take advantage of the long darkness and no doubt indulge in crime and wickedness.  One would think that the combination of five months of torment (trumpet 5) and then death (from fire, smoke and brimstone) (trumpet 6) would bring men and women to their knees in repentance; but such is not the case.  Like Pharaoh during the plagues on Egypt, the world refuses to repent.  In the face of this revelation it is clear why God’s patience with them will ultimately run out and “because of this, God [will give] them over to their sinful desires and shameful lust (Rom 1:24, 26).  They “show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads toward repentance” (Rom 2:4).  And “because of [their] stubbornness and [their] unrepentant heart [they] are storing up wrath against [themselves] for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed” (Rom 2:5).  Maybe that is why we should try even harder before that time to convince them of God’s love and mercy and win them over before their hearts become too hardened to repent later.

Labor day was yesterday (I am posting this on the 6th).  When we have a job, we have some responsibilities and duties that our boss requires of us (even if we ourselves are the boss).  Some of those duties are to show up to work on time and ready to do what we are asked to do.  To give of ourselves for the work we are called to do.  To accept the assignments given to us.  And to promote the business we work for in a positive light.  No boss wants a worker to does not do what is asked of them or who complains all the time or who slacks off or is a bad representative.  All those things are true about Christians.  God wants us to show up (live our lives following him), ready to do what he asks, give ourselves to the work of living for him, and accept the opportunities he gives to us as we promote Christ in a positive light.  He does not want those who does not do what he has asked them to do or for us to complain and not giving him the honor and glory he deserves.  So on this labor day, “Let us labor for the master from the dawn to setting sun. Let us talk of all his wondrous love and care; Then when all of life is over and our work on earth is done and the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there”.  Or as we read this week from Revelation, let us be his servants with his mark on us (7:3) and “serve him day and night in his temple” (7:15)