Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/Sermons/zz20010729.htm
REVELATION: CALL TO HOLINESS IN VIEW OF PROPHECY Part III: The Things Hereafter' "O. Living Optimistically In Light Of Christ's Second Coming" (Revelation 19:1-20:6)
Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

The last two Sunday mornings, we learned from Revelation 17-18 an evil, pagan-based religious, governmental, economic "Babylon the Great" system begun in Genesis 11 permeates all sorts of groups around us. We found God does not want us to go on a "witch hunt" for this system, but counter it by a personal walk with God.

Yet, the more we heed Scripture, the more distinctly we can discern this system's encroachment upon our personal paths, and that can tend to overwhelm the believer to the point of discouragement:

(1) It was reported in Monday's USA Today paper that the Women's National Basketball Association is actively courting the lesbian segment in America to enhance its ticket sales and royalties.

Even the secular radio announcer I first heard mention this news item expressed a hint of dismay about this marketing effort!

Well, if we have a daughter who excels in basketball and thinks the world of UCONN's clean-cut star, Shea Ralph, and thus wants to play for UCONN and eventually play at the professional level, HOW can she conscientiously FULFILL this dream knowing she's going to be promoted so directly to lesbians BY the WNBA?!

(2) It even directly affects us as a Church body: Todd Baldwin, our Sunday School Superintendent, called me this week to say we have a snag in our Sunday School material. Apparently, once formerly sound groups are going "soft" on theistic evolution, and we need to turn elsewhere for doctrinally solid material. I happened to mention to Todd over the phone a publishing company I thought had been sound for decades, and Todd replied this was the very company in question! As a last resort, I suggested Todd call Charles Stanley's First Baptist Church of Atlanta, Georgia to see what Sunday School material Dr. Stanley's theologically reputable Church uses!

When WE have to wonder even what SUNDAY SCHOOL material to ORDER as a CHURCH that is DOCTRINALLY sound, how do we live AFFIRMATIVELY in today's world that is so permeated with the influence of pagan ideology? (Evolution IS paganistic in light of Moses' polemic against pagan evolutionism in Genesis 1. [cf. Waltke, Creation and Chaos, p. 48])



(We turn to the sermon "Need" section . . . )

Need: "When I see how greatly the false Babylon' PERMEATES groups and thinking around me, and that God calls us to STAND against its influence in our lives, I can feel a bit discouraged! How can we be encouraged to STAND in view of this challenge we face?"

1. FOLLOWING the FALL of the false, one-world "Babylon the Great" in Revelation 17-18, John described a great HEAVENLY REJOICING, including a rejoicing by the CHURCH era believers!
1. John noted a future great heavenly praise to God for the fall of the false, one-world "Babylon the Great" system, Rev. 18:19; 19:1-2.
2. This rejoicing will be ignited not only by the fall of the troublesome "Babylon the Great," but by knowledge that its fall will be eternal, Rev. 19:3. This implies hell is eternal opposite some beliefs today!
3. Not only will Tribulation Era martyrs in heaven praise God, but the PRE-TRIBULATON-raptured Church will also then praise God!
1. Besides a great multitude praising God in heaven, the 24 elders will also praise God, revealing 2 groups of believers, Rev. 19:4-6.
2. The multitude will praise God for the fall of "Babylon" as well as honor Him for the marriage of the Lamb, Jesus to His "wife", 19:7.
3. We know from Eph. 5:31-32, the Church is the Bride of Christ, but in Rev. 19:7 She is His WIFE, cf. Bible Know. Com., N.T., p. 975. Thus, in Revelation 19, the Church is seen as having been PREVIOUSLY united with Christ in the PREVIOUS rapture!
4. As the CHURCH is DISTINCT from these heavenly Tribulation martyrs, and since the Church is the 24 elders who appear in Revelation 4 (acc. to Rev. 1:5-6), the Church is raptured LONG BEFORE the MIDDLE of the Tribulation Era when the "last trumpet" sounds in Revelation 11:15 (opposite the "Pre-wrath" and "Mid-trib" views)! Thus, Church era believers are raptured BEFORE the 7 year Tribulation era BEGINS, and will PRAISE God in HEAVEN for the fall of the evil "Babylon the Great"!
2. This REJOICING will also anticipate Christ's INVASION of the antichrist's REIGN, "The Marriage Supper of the Lamb," 19:7!
3. The Church will have previously experienced the "Bema Seat" of Christ, for God will have burned up her sinful works to GIVE her a CLEAN and WHITE wedding gown, 1 Cor. 3:11-15 & Rev. 19:8!
4. Then, to INITIATE this "MARRIAGE SUPPER," the GROOM, our LORD JESUS CHRIST, will RETURN to earth to CONQUER the antichrist and the false prophet at Armageddon, Rev. 19:11-21!
1. Jesus Christ will be presented in glory as the Word of God personified riding a war horse and leading heaven's angelic armies to conquer as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Rev. 19:11-16 with John 1:1, 14.
2. Going forth to destroy the last worldwide opponent of believers, Christ will do battle with the antichrist and his forces, Rev. 19:19.
3. He will confront these men at the Battle of Armageddon, and there cast both the antichrist and false prophet alive into the lake of fire and brimstone, Revelation 19:19-20 with Revelation 16:16.
4. By means of the Word of God that Christ speaks, antichrist's armies will be slain, Rev. 19:21a. The fowls of the air will be filled with the flesh of the slain of antichrist's forces, Revelation 19:21b.
5. Satan will next be bound in the bottomless pit for 1,000 years, and Christ will set up his long-awaited and loved Messianic Kingdom:
1. So as not to tempt men or stir up problems on earth, Satan will be bound for a thousand years in the bottomless pit, Rev. 20:1-3.
2. Tribulation martyrs will be raised from the dead to join Christ (and the glorified Church) on the earth in ruling over the nations, 20:4-6a.
3. The world will thus experience Christ's blessed, righteous world reign for 1,000 years, Revelation 20:6b.

Application: To be ENCOURAGED to be true to God's Word in the FACE of the great permeating influence of "Babylon the Great," (1) be moved from Satan's rule to Christ's kingdom by faith in His work on the cross for us, Col. 1:13-14. (2) Then, as a believer, (a) read and apply the Word of God (1 Peter 2:2; Psalm 1), (b) depending on God's indwelling Spirit for the POWER to obey Scripture in facing pressures to give in to "Babylon the Great." (c) For encouragement, recall the "Blessed Hope" prophecy of the Rapture (Titus 2:1-13) and Christ's Second Coming (Rev. 19-20) to set up His righteous Kingdom on earth! Then, in the spirit of Handel's "Hallelujah Chorus" in his work, The Messiah, we can resolutely resist yielding to "Babylon the Great" in our lives in hope of God's reward for our doing so!

Lesson: We can be ENCOURAGED to stand TRUE to God's Word in the FACE of the PERMEATING influence of "Babylon the Great" when we recall the future RETURN and CONQUERING REIGN of our Lord Jesus Christ, the KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS! >

Conclusion: (To illustrate the sermon lesson . . . )

When Todd called about our need for sound Sunday School material, I found myself tempted with discouragement: I wondered, "Why keep standing for Creationism when theistic evolution swamps us even in regards to our Church Sunday School material selection?!"

Well, on my desk was the June-August 2001 issue of the Answers In Genesis Creation magazine. After talking with Todd, I read its article on the lobster eye (p. 12-13). It revealed lobsters see by a maize of open-ended boxes with mirrored sides, and these sides reflect light from a wide area to a single spot on the retina.

Amazingly, this eye design is useful in producing computer chips to meet the Internet's current computer storage problem! In a few years, computer chips will have to be much smaller to handle the flood of information being collected. Well, chips are usually made with photolithography where light is shone over a template against a sensitive background. Yet, regular light waves tend to bend around such templates, limiting how small the circuits can be accurately made, so scientists want to use tiny X-rays to mark out these circuits. Yet, X-rays tend to penetrate templates and ruin the circuit patterns in production. However, X-rays can be reflected, so to make the desired tiny chips, one can reflect them with mirrors from a focused X-ray source onto a template using the lobster eye design in REVERSE! To think that the lobster eye design can be used to solve a current and big Information Technology storage problem is really rather astounding!

Even more amazing is the fact that the lobster eye could not have evolved from the refractive eye (like we and many crabs have) as Evolutionists often teach! Any intermediate form between the refractive and reflective eye produces worse eyesight than either original eye form, and natural selection in evolution would thus hinder the survival of lobsters were their eyes to have evolved as suggested!

Along with this article, I recalled Romans 1:18-20 tells us nature reveals the Creator so that man who rejects Him suppresses the truth; I also knew Revelation 19 promises Christ is returning in triumph over evil, making standing for the truth worthwhile. Thus, armed with these Biblical and natural revelation facts, I was again shepherded of God to stand for Creationism no matter what!