So the book of Revelation is,
in summary, about the triumph of God's kingdom. It's the triumph
of God's kingdom. triumph over what? Over Satan's
kingdom, the defeat of Satan and his kingdom. What is Satan's
kingdom? It's nothing other than the creation
of God, where he has usurped the rule of God. And how did
he do it? He did it with the willing support
of Adam, from whom we're all descended. That's how he did
it, in the garden, from the fall. Adam, who was God's viceroy in
the kingdom that he'd created, handed over completely, handed
over, made terms of peace with Satan, and handed over his whole
race to Satan's rule. But the book of Revelation is
telling us that God is going to restore his rightful rule,
and it will be unchallenged. He rules now! But there's a challenge
to it all the time in the person of Satan and all of his demonic
forces. But God is going to be triumphant.
And all of that opposition is going to be put down. God's kingdom,
God's rule will be restored over all created order. And in the
book of Revelation, let me remind you, because we're over halfway
through now, but it's very easy to lose sight of where you've
been. So I'm not going to be long, but let me just give you
a quick reminder. this is revealed in seven visions,
seven is God's number of perfection of completeness, divine completeness,
divine perfection and so he gives us seven pictures. Remember, he writes to seven
churches. It's his number, again and again,
of perfection. In the first three chapters we
see the first vision, and that's a vision of Christ in the midst
of his churches, that even though Satan's rule goes on and on,
yet Christ has his churches. And all the time, though the
world doesn't acknowledge it, Christ is ruling in the midst
of his churches. In the second vision, that's
in chapters four to seven, we see Christ opening and implementing. That's what it means for him
to open. He implements the first six seals of the seven-sealed
book. What's the seven-sealed book?
It's God's restoration plan. It's the plan by which God is
going to restore the kingdom to himself, and defeat Satan. It's that plan. It's the plan
for how that prayer is answered. Thy kingdom come. That's what
that book is. And in the second vision we see
the first six of the seven seals opened. And you know what they
are, let me remind you. Basically, they're God frustrating
Satan's intentions. By preaching the gospel. by bringing
war, by bringing socio-economic strife, by bringing death, and
we see it all, all around us, all the time. That's what God
does. Then we come to the third seal,
the third vision, chapters 8 to 11, and that's about the opening
of the seventh seal, which is opened as seven trumpets. Seven trumpets blow in the seventh
seal. of which the last three are woes,
the first four are those which basically say the world is being
made a harder and harder place to support human life and the
last three are woes but it ends up with this as all the visions
do it ends up with chapter 11 verse 15 the kingdoms of this
world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ and
he Christ shall reign forever and ever And then, a couple of
weeks ago, we came to the fourth vision, which is in chapters
12 to 14. And that's all about the conflict
between Christ and Antichrist. When does it start? From the
fall in the Garden of Eden. That's when it starts, the fall
in the Garden of Eden. When does it end? When God winds
up this whole creation. Right to the end, there are three
more visions to come in chapters 15 to 22, which we'll see as
the weeks unfold, God willing. But each vision shows us the
conflict between Satan and God throughout created time, right
up to the end of all things. Each with different perspectives.
Each vision has different aspects. Each one gives increasing detail
of the end of all things. The further we go in the visions,
the more detail we get about what the end will be like. And
what's the purpose of these visions? The purpose is this, four things.
First of all, comfort to God's believing people. When Paul writes
to the Thessalonians about how the end will come, he says to
them, comfort one another with these words. It's comfort to
God's people. That's why he tells us these
things. It's comfort. You look around and the state
of things is just such a confusion. But to God's people we have this
word. and it's such a comfort to God's people. Because the
second point is that it gives assurance that however chaotic
things appear, they're all under the control of our God. Nothing
is out of the control of our God. And they're an encouragement,
thirdly, an encouragement, the purpose of them, it's an encouragement
to God's people to wait patiently. We need to wait. It seems such
a long time, but it's a time, and times, and half a time, and
he'll cut it short. The end is coming. Wait patiently
for glory. And then fourthly, there's another
purpose in all of this. Now listen. Listen. There's another
purpose. The purpose is a warning. It's
a warning to take heed. to take, just as John the Baptist
said to the Pharisees who came out to him, he said, you brood
of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
This book is telling us that there is an end that is coming,
and it's a day of wrath. And it sounds like, oh gosh,
here's somebody in these, in the 21st century, somebody who
is so living in the dark ages that he's preaching fire and
brimstone and hell and yes I am, and why am I? Because this book
says it clearly. And it's a warning, take heed
of the warning. If I'm telling you don't go down
that road because there's a great big traffic jam down there, and
you go down there and you find there's a great big traffic jam,
you'll think Gosh, I wish I'd listened to him. Well, I tell
you, this isn't a traffic jam. This is the end of all things.
This is the judgment on all who reject Christ and his rule. So
today, what I plan to do is to finish looking at this fourth
vision, which runs up to the end of chapter 14. Let me just
remind you what this fourth vision is about. Chapter 12 is about
Satan's defeat that is sealed by Christ, the child that comes
of the woman. And he thinks he's victorious,
but he's actually defeated. And he's furious! And he makes
war with the church. Chapter 13 of the vision is Satan's
vile kingdom of Antichrist. What do I mean by that? I mean
this world, this godless world all around us, with its politics,
with its economics, with its philosophy, with its science,
as Paul says, falsely so-called, with its morality which is turned
on its head compared with God's morality, its values which are
completely anti-Christian values, with its religion which is anti-christian
religion, whatever it might call itself. And we see at the end
of chapter 13 the certain failure of the kingdom of antichrist.
Why? Because the number of the beast is the same as the number
of man. What is it? Six. Six. Six. Let me put it another way.
Not seven. Not seven. Not seven. Falling
short. Falling short. Falling short. It's failure. Then in chapter
14, we see the serene rule of the lamb. This is Christ. Isn't it amazing? You know, the
one who is the king of the universe, the one who is crowned king of
the universe, so often appears as a lamb. When John the Baptist
saw him coming as the man, Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, coming
to him to be baptised, John the Baptist said to his disciples,
behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Look
at the Lamb of God, here he comes. What is he? A conquering hero.
He's a lamb because he accomplishes his purposes. You know when the
book, John could see no one that was fitted to open the book.
I wept much because I found no one. Don't weep, says the elder
to him. Look, behold, the lion of the
tribe of Judah. That great proud beast, the lion
of the tribe of Judah. And I looked and what did he
see? A lamb, as it had been slain. A lamb. because he accomplishes
his purposes in the role of a lamb who is a sacrifice for sin for
the soul that sins it shall die how then shall the law be satisfied
for people who must be taken to heaven only in the death of
a fitting substitute and so he's a lamb he's a sacrifice pictured
in all those Old Testament lambs. And so now as the Passover lamb
was sacrificed as a picture for them in the Old Testament, the
New Testament says, Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed for us. And with him, this lamb, in this
world, at the same time as Antichrist goes on, There he is, and he's
got his 144,000. What's that? The people of God,
in every age upon the earth. And they're all there. And what's
it telling us? Not one of them is lost. Every
single one. Now, we're going to look at the
second half of chapter 14. And the key point of it is this.
And this is such an important message to hear. This is the
key point. The things that we see do not
go on and on. There is an end. There is an
end that is decreed by God. There is an end which will bring
judgment and an end of things as we know them. And in that
end, there will be glory for the elect of God. There will
be glory for the people of God. There will be glory for the ones
whom Christ redeemed with his own precious blood at the cross
of Calvary. And for everybody else, for every
rebel, for every citizen of this kingdom of antichrist in this
world there will be hell and it will be dreadful and I can't
describe it other than in the words of scripture and scripture
produces the most serious words it can to describe an eternity
without any influence of the presence of God and if he's good
and the whole world whilst we say this if you believe it and
you truly believe it and the whole world sticks its fingers
in its ears and goes la la la la don't want to hear what you're
saying but it doesn't stop it from being true oh what a dreadful
thing The end is announced, we saw it briefly last week in verses
six to eleven. Three angels, verses six to eleven,
three angels come and they issue a call. Firstly, a call for every
knee to bow to Christ. That's basically what it's saying. Fear God and give glory to him.
It's a call, as the scriptures say, every knee shall bow to
Christ. It's a call for every knee to
bow. Secondly, The fall of Babylon is pronounced. What is Babylon?
In the book of Revelation, Babylon clearly is false religion. It's
the religion of Antichrist. It's that false religion, that
Christless religion, that religion of this world, whatever it might
be, whether it be Islam or Buddhism or whatever it might be, whether
it be just Western materialism without God, it promises a heaven
of sorts without God's justice. Just mull those words over. All
false religion promises a heaven without the justice of God. The true gospel promises heaven
on the basis of the justice of God. Because what does it say
about our God? That he is a just God, and a
saviour. Because he's a saviour doesn't
mean he stopped being a just God. He's a just God and a saviour. That he might, as Romans says,
be just and the justifier of those whose faith is in Christ
Jesus. He remains just. He doesn't violate his justice
when he saves sinners. Why not? Because Christ died
and answered that demand of the law that the soul that sins,
it shall die. No, Babylon is fallen. And then
thirdly, the certain reality of hell is announced. And it's,
there's chilling words. Verses 9, 10, and 11, they're
chilling words. Hell is announced, the end is
coming. Satan's kingdom is surely defeated.
All rebellion will certainly receive its just reward. But
what about God's saints? What about God's set-apart ones?
What about his people? In verses 12 to 14, we read about
them. Verse 12. Here is the patience
of the saints. Here are they that keep the commandments
of God and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yea, said the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. And
I looked, and behold, a white cloud. And upon the cloud one
sat, like unto the Son of man. having on his head a golden crown,
and in his hand a sharp sickle, and another angel came out of
the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the
cloud, Thrust in thy sickle, and reap, for the time is come
for thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe, and he
that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and
the earth was reaped. The first vision of the book
of Revelation in chapters one to three promises eternal blessings
to God's people, you read it again and again in the letters
to the churches, to him that overcomes, to those that overcome,
to those who remain faithful in the face of worldly antichrist
opposition. It promises eternal blessings. The second vision pictures an
innumerable multitude of God's people in eternal bliss. I looked
and round the throne was a multitude that no man can number. The third
vision pictures judgment on the nations, on Satan's kingdom,
and reward for God's servants and prophets. And this fourth
vision pictures the end as a two-stage harvest, the wheat and the grapes,
a two-stage harvest. I've called this message the
Harvest of the World. In verse 12, down to verse 16,
we see the wheat harvest, the wheat harvest. Who is pictured
by the wheat harvest? Who is it picturing? Well, in
verse 12 they're called saints. Saints means set-apart ones.
Set-apart how? in the sovereign purposes of
God, before time. Chosen in Him. Chosen in Christ,
says Ephesians 1 verse 4. Before the foundation of the
world. When were they chosen? Jesus said to his disciples,
you didn't choose me, I chose you. When? Before the foundation
of the world. Where are their names written?
In the Lamb's book of life. When? Before the foundation of
the world. When did he give us all the blessings of salvation?
Before the world began. Before time began. This is the
sovereign grace of God. Names written in the Lamb's Book
of Life. Elect. Why? What was the motive? What
was the reason for it? The grace of God. Oh, that's
not fair. It's irrelevant whether you think
it's fair or not. It's by the grace of God. By
the undeserved favour of God. Called into union with Christ
from eternity. Called into his union. You know,
like when a woman marries a man, at least this is the way it used
to be before all of this last 20 or 30 years nonsense began
to promulgate, the woman took the name of her husband, united
with him, made one flesh together with him, treated as one in the
eyes of the law and in every respect. So the people of God. are put in union with Christ
before the foundation of the world. Justified in the Lamb,
as it says in chapter 13 and verse 8, they're all going to
worship except those whose names are written in the book of life
of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. What are they like
when they're born? They're born with halos, they're
perfect people, aren't they? No they're not, they're born
sinners like everyone else. As Ephesians 2 tells us, If you're
a believer, it's not because you were any better than anybody
else. You were a child of wrath, exactly like everybody else.
Don't for one minute think that you're a believer because you
were in any respect better than anybody else. You weren't. You
weren't. Children of wrath, even as others.
You weren't alive to God. You didn't have a God sense naturally
in you. You didn't. You were dead in
trespasses and sins. You were as dead as that valley
of dry bones that Ezekiel saw, bone-dry dead, very dry, bone-dry
dead, but quickened, made alive by the Holy Spirit, given eyes
to see, given faith to believe, by grace, so you say, through
faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, and you
live by faith. Here is the patience of the saints.
Here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. You live by faith. You live by
the faith of Jesus. In Galatians 2, in verse 18,
we read that we're justified, in other words, qualified, made
holy in the reckoning of the law and justice of God, made
holy by the faith of Jesus Christ. It then says a few verses further
on, I am crucified with Christ. That's how united I am with him.
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ
lives in me. And the life which I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. This is living by the faith of
Jesus, as those justified by God. We believe the truth. As Paul says to the Thessalonians,
he says, I'm bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren,
beloved of God, for God hath from the beginning chosen you
to salvation through sanctification of the spirit, setting apart
by the spirit a belief of the truth. The evidence that I have,
the marks that I see, are that you believe the truth of the
gospel. And it says they keep the commandments
of God. They keep the commandments of
God. Is this law works? Romans 3.31 says no. We establish
the law by faith. Faith is not in contrast to the
law. It's not that we're made right
by our law works by keeping God's commandments. No, not in that
sense, but we keep the commandments of belief and trust in Christ. These are works of belief and
trust that separate us from this world. that make us completely
different in our thinking from this world. As Paul writes to
the Philippians, Philippians 3 verse 20, for our conversation,
or as the American Standard Version has it, and I think it's a good
word, for our citizenship, is in heaven. You know, you go abroad,
but if you're British and you were born and bred here, you
go abroad and wherever you are you know my citizenship is in
the country of my birth that's where I'm from that's the language
I speak this is what it's saying about the people of God our citizenship
our conversation is in heaven from whence also we look for
the Savior the Lord Jesus Christ in verse 13 What does it say
about these saints? These ones, this is the patience
of the saints, they're waiting, they're waiting. This patience
of the saints, and then verse 13, it says, I heard a voice
from heaven saying to me, right, blessed are the dead which die
in the Lord from henceforth. What does heaven say about them?
It says they are blessed. If you're a child of God, if
you're believing the Lord Jesus Christ, you are blessed. You're
going to die one day, as all will die. But if you die in the
Lord, if you die believing and trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ,
if you die with that faith of Jesus Christ, then you're blessed
forevermore. Those who are in the Lord when
they die, what does it mean, from henceforth? Well, anybody,
any believer dying now, any believer dying at any time is immediately
taken to be with the Lord. the thief on the cross the penitent
thief on the cross this day you know lord remember me this day
you shall be with me in paradise blessed immediately but I think
there's a special meaning here in this from henceforth from
henceforth from the announcement of the end of all things. That's
what John has just heard. The announcement of the end of
all things. See, all are blessed who die
in the Lord always, at all times. Any dying today in the Lord are
blessed immediately. But this is from the announcement
of the end. And this is finally blessed.
This is when all things are brought to complete fruition. with all
the fullness of eternity and glory in the presence of God
and they rest they may rest from their labors, saith the Spirit
and their works do follow them from the struggles and opposition
of the kingdom of Antichrist from the persecution of this
world from the separation from this world it's hard work Jesus
said many times don't set out on it without counting the cost
is a cost. It's hard work, to go against
the flow of this world, to go against, to walk the narrow way
that leads to life, and not be swept along in the broad way
that leads to destruction. They're works. What are these
works that follow them? Are we talking about progressive
sanctification here? Is that what we're talking about?
No. These are works of faith. The Pharisees said to Jesus,
what must we do that we do the works of God? John 6, 28 and
29. And Jesus said, this is the work
of God. And note he said it's God's work
actually, not ours. That you believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's the work of God. What
must I do to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ? Not law works for
rewards, faith in Christ. We've already said, Romans 3.31,
that by faith we establish the law. Of course it means that. Think of the parables. The parables
are not always the best place to derive definitive doctrine,
but I think it's clear from the parable of the vineyard and the
laborers. You know, some were employed
first thing in the morning and others were employed when there
was only an hour to go. and when they all came to get
their wages every one of them got exactly the same is that
not telling us it's not by works for reward that we're we're happy
in heaven it's not that because someone's done more good works
than others that they get bigger and better rewards, it doesn't
mean that at all but true faith works that's what James tells
us, isn't it? true faith works turn to Matthew
Matthew chapter twenty-five, you don't have to, I'll read
it out to you Matthew twenty-five verse thirty-one Matthew 25,
verse 31. When the Son of Man, this is
Jesus speaking, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory
and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the
throne of his glory. Is he not talking about what
we're reading in Revelation 14? Yes. And before him shall be
gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another
as the shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats and he shall
set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on the left. Then
shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed
of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation
of the world. For I was an hungred, and ye
gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me
drink. I was a stranger, and ye took
me in. Naked, and ye clothed me. I was
sick, and ye visited me. I was in prison, then ye came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee and hungered, and fed thee,
or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger,
and took thee in, or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we
thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the king
shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, inasmuch
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren,
ye have done it unto me. And then he'll say to the others,
depart from me, I never knew you. But maybe in that way, their
works do follow them. Their works do follow them. End
of verse 13 of Revelation 14. Maybe in that way. They're not
aware of it. They're not out for promotion
because of it. But Jesus says, your faith was
true faith and it worked. And when you did it to these,
the least of my brethren, you did it unto me. Maybe in that
way their works do follow them. So, verses 14 to 16, the elect
of God, the wheat harvest is taken out of this world before
the end. He who reaps is Christ himself. the king sitting on the throne
on the cloud it's a consistent picture through the book of revelation
the son of man that's the term that he used of himself in his
earthly ministry more than any other term and he's got a crown
on his head and he's in his kingly role and he reaps the wheat harvest
the harvest of his people he takes them out of this world
is not the clear message here that the elect the people of
God, believers, are taken out of this world before the end.
It echoes chapter 11, verses 12 and 13. When the two witnesses
were lying dead in the street, and after three and a half days
the Spirit of life entered them, and they stood on their feet,
and great fear fell upon them that saw them. Then, verse 12,
and they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them,
Come up hither. and they ascended up to heaven
in a cloud and their enemies beheld them and then things go
on the elect of God are taken out before the end. This is not
some silly notion of a secret rapture. This is the people of
God. When the end is announced, the
people of God are taken out first of all. They're taken out of
this world. Think about the other judgments
that there have been that stand as warnings of judgment to come.
The judgment of the flood in the days of Noah. Do you know
that flood could not start until Noah and his believing family
were taken out of the way. They were put in the ark. Do
you know, when Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed, and the angels
were saying to Lot, we've got to get you out of here, because
if we don't get you out of here, we cannot rain down judgment
on this place. they were taken out before the
judgment came, and taken by Christ himself here. He's the one who
reaps this harvest. He is the one with the sickle
in his hand. He says elsewhere in scripture,
behold I am the children. He goes triumphantly into heaven
with the people that he's reaped from this earth. In Psalm 24,
lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King
of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the
Lord mighty in battle. That's when he came and died
on the cross and rose again. But then when he comes for his
people, it then repeats the thing. Lift up your heads, O ye gates.
Who is this King of Glory, the Lord of hosts? Here he is with
his people, he's reaped his harvest of his elect out of this world.
At the time decreed by the Father, when the harvest is ripe, when
it's ripe, when the three and a half times is up, when the
1260 days is up when the allotted time is up 1 Thessalonians 4
verse 16 for the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with
a shout with the voice of the archangel and with the trump
of God and the dead in Christ shall rise first then we which
are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them
in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever
be with the Lord wherefore comfort one another with these words
Will you be among those that Christ will take out of this
world to glory? Will you? Will your treasure
be in heaven or in Sodom? Look at Luke's gospel, 17. Luke
17, verse 32. Luke 17, 32. He's talking about the end of
all things and in verse 32 Jesus says, remember Lot's wife. You know what Lot's wife did?
She came out of Sodom with Lot and their daughters, came out
of that situation, and what did she do? She looked back. Because
where was her heart? Her heart was in Sodom. Everything
she valued was in Sodom, and she was turned to a pillar of
salt. she was turned to the same judgment that everybody in that
place was turned to. Whosoever shall seek to save
his life shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life shall preserve
it. I tell you, in that night there
shall be two in one bed, the one shall be taken and the other
shall be left. Two shall be grinding together,
the one shall be taken and the other left. Two shall be in the
field, the one shall be taken and the other left. Is that not
a picture of the people of God being taken out of this world
before the end? So now, with the wheat harvest
safely gathered in, verse 17, they're in heaven, the people
of God are in heaven, in glory. And then verse 17, another angel
came out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having
a sharp sickle. and so it goes on another angel
came and thrust in the sickle and reap and they thrust in the
sickle to gather the clusters of grapes from the earth and
put them into the winepress of the wrath of God this is a picture
of the final judgment you know as I said the visions get more
and more detailed as we go on but this is all it says here
it's a picture of the final judgment clusters of the vine of the earth
its peoples. That's what they represent. The
clusters of the vine of the earth represent its peoples, who worship
the image of the beast, who go along with this godless anti-Christ
world, who reject the rule of Christ. People who are not qualified
to have been taken in the wheat harvest. Why are they not qualified?
Because they're not justified by Christ's atonement. by his
death, by his shed blood. They still bear their own sin
and rebellion, and they bear full responsibility for it themselves. And in that respect, when the
elect have been taken out of the world, they're beyond the
reach of mercy. They rejected Christ in life,
and now he leaves them to his angels to reap. It isn't Christ
that reaps these. He leaves them to the angels
to reap. Christ has already reaped his
own people out of the world, and instead of eternal rest and
glory, which is the lot of those who are the people of God, the
rest are cast into the great winepress of the wrath of God. Now many try to speculate about
what this could mean in vivid detail, and I'm not going to
do that. because I think as history rolls
on the manifestations are just changing so quickly we cannot
say it's absolutely this or absolutely that but this much is clear when
God's people have been taken out of the way the final destruction
of life on this earth will be unleashed do you remember those
of you that were alive in the nineteen seventies and eighties
how we feared nuclear annihilation in the cold war, didn't we? everybody
was absolutely, there were documentaries on television as to how dreadful
it would be if there was a nuclear war and how hardly anybody would
survive because there were so many nuclear weapons it would
just wipe everything out it was such a vivid real possibility
don't go saying that revelation is speculating beyond the realms
of reality. In the 1980s, everybody was terrified
of nuclear annihilation in the Cold War. and today it's not
that though the possibility is still there, there's still enough
nuclear weapons but now we fear islamic jihad that's the great
fear of our day and of being overrun and of our society and
of our culture and of our values being completely overrun you
know you have to, it's in the news every day isn't it? there
was a the lorry drivers boss or confederation boss was on
the radio news this morning talking about how dire it is in Calais
at the moment with the hordes of migrants and the threats of
life to the truck drivers and how they're almost at the point
of saying we can no longer go through that port because it's
such a threat to safety and to our lives you know and it's the
vision we saw of the angels being taken out of the river Euphrates
and the great hordes coming across those borders it's so much fits
with it but whatever the result it's the same end. Whatever the
detail is, it's the same end. Verse 20. It's a river of blood. And it's 1600 furlongs long,
and it's up to the horse bridles in depth. Now, it's picture language. It's picture language. But nevertheless,
it's a stark picture, isn't it? That what comes out of this winepress.
What's 1600 furlongs got to do with it? 1600? is forty times forty, yeah? That's sixteen hundred. Forty
is four times ten. What's four the number of? Four
is the number of the world of people. You know we talk about
the four corners of the world, it's used again and again in
Revelation. Ten? You know like seven is the number
of divine perfection and completion, ten is the number of earthly,
worldly, created. completeness. It's all of them. Four times ten times four times
ten. All of them. It means all of
them, with no escape. And we read elsewhere of frantic
efforts to escape, pleading with the mountains to fall on us that
we might escape from this. No, it means every one of them.
God will repay what his justice demands. I told you earlier on,
the purpose of this book, one of its purposes, is to give a
clear warning. Will you heed the clear warning? Will you cry out with the Philippian
jailer? Because he came to this realisation
of judgement that was certain, and he was the wrong side of
being right with God. What must I do to be saved? And
what did Paul and Silas reply? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. and you shall be saved. You and
anybody else in your family that believes. Believing in itself
doesn't save, but it demonstrates this. If you believe it demonstrates,
your name is in the Lamb's Book of Life. It demonstrates that
Christ did take your sin at Calvary and pay the price of justice. It demonstrates this, that you
are sanctified, set apart by the Spirit of God and belief
of the truth. It demonstrates this, you are
qualified to be taken in the wheat harvest. Do you know, it's
hard preaching on passages like this, but we cannot avoid it.
because God has given it to us. It's very, very clear. Eternal
blessings for his people, who are justified by Christ, who
have faith in him, who trust him, and follow the Lamb wherever
he goes. And absolutely dreadful judgment
for the rest, who will not bow, who will not acknowledge him,
who will not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ,
who will go into eternity bearing their own sins, and God's law,
God's justice, by the very nature of God, must give it that retribution
to which it is due and it deserves.