920. The Reality of the Victory of the Lamb

Welcome to The Daily Platform from Bob Jones University in Greenville, South Carolina. Today, we're concluding the 10-part study series about our ancient foe, Satan. Today's message will be preached by Dr. Sam Horn. I don't know about you, but this has been a series that the Lord has used in my own life. And as I think about how the series unfolded, over the course of our semester we began looking at what the Bible has to say about the reality of the conflict and the identity of our enemy. And we spent some time looking at the heart of that conflict and identifying a very powerful and a very wicked and a very ancient enemy that is before us and who is determined to destroy God's people and to thwart God's purposes. And you know this enemy as Satan. He is described for you as the attacker, the accuser of the brethren. He is known as the tempter. He is called the god of this world. He is an ancient and cursed foe. And we met him at the very beginning of our story. We were only two chapters and a half into our story as a race before we encountered that this enemy had come into the garden of God and had used words to deceive and to move the heart of the first man and the first woman, our mother and our father, our original parents, away from the word of God. And he's been using that strategy to tempt us to move away from God's word ever since. And we noted that he was a fierce and a very crafty foe. 1 Peter 5 reminds us that our adversary, and that's the idea behind the word Satan, he is our enemy. He is against us.

Our enemy is like this. He is like a roaring lion. Think of the idea of a lion that has been enraged.

And put yourself in the vicinity of that lion that has been maddened by his rage. And here is this enemy going around like that seeking whom he may devour. And we learned that he was defeated and vanquished and probably the most incredible verse to speak to this is in Colossians chapter 2 where we're told that because of the death of Christ, Christ disarmed the rulers and the authorities and put them to open shame by triumphing over them. In fact, Paul reminds the Romans in chapter 16 verse 20 that there is coming a day when the God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet and under my feet.

So we have spent a semester looking at this enemy. We took two messages that were very intriguing to sort of understand that Satan does not fight this battle alone. There are forces of darkness and there are forces of light that come against God's people and that come against each other in the cosmic battle and Dr. Hand and Dr. Stikes spoke to us about that. We had some helpful messages on the strategies that God describes for us in his word as we adopt and as we begin to cultivate in our own lives a battle mindset. And then Dr. Minnick and Dr. Mazak spent some time talking to us about the armor that God has given. There is an armor that God has provided and that armor when it is used, when we wear the armor and we use the weapon that God has given to us, God says to us, you will stand against anything that the devil and his forces bring against you to knock you off the ground that God has given to you when he adopted you into his family.

So we had some powerful messages on the armor and then last week, Dr. Olinger gave us perhaps the most sobering message in the series when he talked to us about the final justice of God. And by the time you get to our passage, what you have discovered is that the devil has actually been vanquished. This enraged lion, who for the entire course of human history has been coming against God's people, has been fully defeated and he has been vanquished and banished by the lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world. And this lamb has taken that lion and cast him into the eternal lake of fire. And that's what you see by the time that you get to the passage before us.

And so we want to start this morning by looking very carefully at the reality of the victory of this lamb. And if you stop and think about it as you begin reading the book of Revelation, way back in chapter 4 when you are brought into the very presence of God, the realm that we call the third heaven, there is the atmosphere of the earth, that's the first heaven. Then there is what we know as outer space, that's the second heaven. But then there is a realm, there is a dimension where the presence of God is most fully expressed. And where his desire and his ability to bless is most fully concentrated and that realm is called the third heaven. It's the place where the apostle Paul was taken in the vision that we read about when he wrote 2 Corinthians.

It's a real location, it's a real place, think of it as a dimension that exists along with the dimension that you and I are in. And that is the realm of the conflict and in that realm the lamb has won a decisive and a final and a permanent victory over this lion. And we find out that the lamb won the victory because he was slain before the foundations of the world. And as we look closer at this lamb we discover that he's actually a lion that has been predicted all the way back from the book of Genesis that would come out of the tribe of Judah.

He is the lion of the tribe of Judah and that lion has vanquished, the raging lion. And so we find three important ideas that speak to the reality of the victory of this lamb and all of these have been thoroughly discussed in the book of Revelation by the time we get to this point. But they speak to the reality of the victory that God has given to this lamb and here they are.

The first of them is this, the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of the son. Now this is a glorious reality that we first learn about way back in the Old Testament in Psalm 2 when God lays out in that Psalm the blueprint for Messiah's mission. And we are told in that Psalm that God has an anointed Messiah, a chosen Messiah and he has given to that Messiah the entire earth for his inheritance. And he tells the kings and the rulers of the nations to submit to that son and they are responding to that instruction by raging.

They are enraged at what God has done and he warns them that if they don't submit to the son there's coming a day when that son will subdue them with a rod of iron. And you trace the story of that kingdom and that plan throughout the rest of the Old Testament until you come to a high mountain where the enemy of God himself is standing in front of the son of God. And in Matthew chapter 4 in the third temptation he is offering him all of those kingdoms in exchange for worship.

And you know how the Lord responded to that temptation. And so by the time you get to the book of Revelation that lamb has come to take his inheritance. And one of the most incredible verses in the entire book of Revelation is the theme of the book in Revelation chapter 11 verse 15 where an angel, in fact the seventh angel blows his war trumpet in heaven and there is this incredible announcement the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he shall reign forevermore. So one of the things that has happened by the time you get to Revelation 21 is the kingdoms of the world have become the kingdom of the son.

Here's the second thing that has happened. Satan has been thoroughly defeated, finally defeated, fully vanquished to his eternal destiny in the lake of fire. And you can read about that in Revelation chapter 20 verses 7 through 10.

He's cast down from, he's eternally barred from God's presence in Revelation chapter 12 verses 7 through 12. A great battle is described in the realm that we're talking about and Michael and his forces come against the dragon and his forces and we learned about those forces from Dr. Hand to Dr. Stikes. And this incredible battle happens and Satan and his forces are hurled down by God from heaven. And then in Revelation chapter 12 verse 11 they are conquered by the saints. They're not just conquered by the forces of Michael and the angelic hosts, the armies of angels with him.

They're actually conquered by some of the most powerless people in the universe. They're conquered by the saints. And we read about that in Revelation 12 and 11 who conquered through the blood of the lamb. And then they're finally, we finally come to the place in Revelation chapter 20 verses 7 through 20 where he is defeated and he is not just hurled down from heaven and conquered by the saints. He is hurled into the lake of fire that we heard about last week where he will spend the rest of eternity with his angels and with all those who have rejected God's truth about God's son. So the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdom of the son and Satan has been defeated and vanquished to the eternal destiny in the lake of fire.

But here's the third glorious reality. The consummation of Messiah's mission has been successfully accomplished. And you can see that in the passage that we're reading about today. Revelation chapter 21 and I want you to notice what God says in verse 5. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. What I am telling you, John, is actually reliable. You can take this to the bank.

You can bank your soul on this. There is coming a day when I will fully vanquish the enemy that has been waging this cosmic war. And when that happens from my throne, I will make all things new.

I will bring a new beginning, a fresh beginning. And then notice what he says in verse 6. And he said unto me, It is done.

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is the thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Now notice the phrase, It is done. That phrase should bring another phrase to your mind. When you think of what Jesus said in John when he was hanging on the cross, in John 19 verse 30, when he said, It is finished. John is being reminded, and he is reminding us, because he also wrote the gospel of John of this incredible truth. That God's mission has been accomplished. When we think about what God did through the death of Messiah on the cross, he disarmed Satan. He took the rulers and powers and authorities of wickedness in high places and he openly triumphed over them. And by the time we come now to the end of the story, he didn't just triumph over Satan, he has made all things new. He has fulfilled his plan that he revealed to Paul in Ephesians chapter 1 verse 9 when he talked about, there would come a day when he would sum up, when he would regather everything that is in heaven, and everything that is on earth and bring it back to its original state of perfection under Messiah. And here we are in Revelation chapter 21 and from the throne of God comes the words, It is finished.

So how does the story end? It ends with the establishment of a permanent kingdom from heaven that is marked by righteousness. It is marked by righteousness because it has a righteous ruler who will rule in righteousness.

And it's marked by righteousness because it's populated by people who have been made righteous and who rejoice in righteousness and who live righteously. And this place that we're talking about is called heaven. So it all ends in a place that we have been talking about, thinking about, hearing about, reading about, singing about for our entire Christian life. A place called heaven. Specifically in this passage, in verse 1, a new heaven and a new earth. And so if this is how it all ends, in a righteous place, governed by a righteous ruler, populated by people who have been made righteous, who love righteousness, and who do righteously, it might be worth our while to close our series off by talking a little bit about that place. So, what do you know about heaven? I mean this is something the Bible speaks of in great detail. There are over 500 references to heaven in your Bible. There are more than 50 of them right here in the text before us in Revelation chapter 21 and 22 and really throughout the entire book of Revelation. There are over 50 specific references to heaven.

So I want to come back to that question. What do you think about when you think about heaven? Now, I think that, and I'm going to just speak for myself, I think that we have not done a lot of thinking about heaven.

And because of that, we tend to focus all of our attention on what's going on right now on the earth before us. I mean think about what the common ideas of heaven are. I mean a lot of people think a lot of things about heaven. I mean some people think heaven is like this. I mean if you stop and think about it, what are you going to actually do in heaven?

You know that heaven is a place where there are angels and so we've been talking about these angels and so you probably have a little more of a better understanding of what angels are. But here you are and you're thinking about heaven and the average person thinks about heaven as a place where angels are maybe on clouds playing this. Now if you don't play the harp, you're out of luck. So what happens to a musical Philistine like me? I can't sing. I can't play the mandolin.

I can dance. But every Baptist knows that's not going to happen in heaven. So what do we do in heaven? And I think that we come to this section in the book of Revelation and God blows away all of our thinking and all of our concepts about heaven. And here in these two chapters you have the fullest and the most glorious description of what it will end like. It doesn't end in final justice. Final justice is followed by full glorious eternal mercy in a place that is described for you in Revelation 21 and 22 as a new heaven and a new earth.

You can see it this way. Heaven actually comes to earth. Now I want you to notice the revelation of the new heaven and the new earth. This is prophesied by Isaiah in chapter 65 verse 17 and in chapter 66 verse 22 of his prophecy. And here in Revelation chapter 21, John reminds us that he saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth.

That's the one that we're in. We're passed away and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband and we can go on reading through the chapter. And here's what John reveals about the new heaven. The first thing that we notice is that it's predominantly terrestrial. It is a new earth. It appears that it will be much like the original earth before the flood, before the curse. If you go back to Genesis and you think about the descriptions that God gives us of the original earth that he created, it doesn't appear that there were different land masses scattered around the continents that you and I know scattered around the face of the earth. It appears that there was one big land mass.

And what you have described here is something similar. The idea that there is no more sea indicates that this new heaven and this new earth will be predominantly terrestrial. One of the things that you discover in the scriptures is that oftentimes the sea is used to describe chaos, spiritual chaos or some catastrophe or some catastrophic event that comes upon those that live on the earth or those that venture out into the sea and John says there will be no more of that.

This new heaven and this new earth will be predominantly terrestrial. And then notice in verse 2 that this new earth will be governed by a magnificent holy city and it's called New Jerusalem. And it's described when John says I looked and I saw this new city descending from heaven to earth.

It was resplendent like the day a bride appears on her wedding day. This is a city of legendary beauty. It is a city of magnificent proportions. As you begin reading the description here in Revelation 21, it's almost mind boggling to the point that you say this cannot actually be talking about a real city.

This must be symbolic language for something that John saw. And I would suggest to you that the fact that it is so mind boggling might be a good clue that it's an actual city that's literally being described this way to you. Think about the legendary beauty of this city and the magnificent proportions of this city. We are told that the measurements that are laid out for us here in this chapter would be a city 1500 miles wide.

1500 miles long and it would rise up into the sky 1500 miles. It's almost mind boggling to think about. But it is the crowning jewel of God's creation. In fact, it's so beautiful that it's described with the brilliance of a rare jewel. And as you come to the city, you begin to realize that this is the city that all of God's people have been looking for. It is a city whose builder and whose maker is God. This city is his crowning work. It is a royal city and it is the place in verse 3 where God intends to dwell with his people forever.

That's the third thing. It becomes the central dwelling place of God with his people. God will dwell openly with men.

Look at verse 3. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle, the dwelling of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God. He will dwell with these people that are in that city in the very same way that he dwelt. In full openness and in full fellowship and in perfect union and in perfect harmony and in full love and in glad, glad relationship with our first parents. And then notice in verses 4 through 6 of this passage that this new heaven and earth will be cosmically unique.

There is more than just this city. This city becomes the central place where God dwells in a reconstituted earth and in that earth the curse will be reversed. The effects of sin will be eradicated. There will be no sorrow, no pain, no death. It will be marked by life.

This will be a world of life and in this city there will be fullness of life. There will be pleasures forevermore at the right hand of God just like the Psalm has said in Psalm 16 11. And then notice in verses 6 through 8 that it will be the permanent and exclusive dwelling place for all genuine believers who have been adopted into the household of God. Look at verses 6, 7 and 8 and he said unto me, It is done.

I am Alpha and Omega the beginning and the end and I will give unto him that is the thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. If you go back to chapters 2 and 3 at the end of every one of the letters to the churches there is this interesting phrase about overcoming, persevering. And here are the people of the Lamb who have continued to follow the Lamb even at the expense of their own life and they are finally at that place that Jesus talked about way back in John 14 when he talked about going to his father's household. And that in that household there would be dwelling places.

And he was going to make a place for us. And here we are in Revelation 21 and we are learning about that place. So we see as we come to this section of our Bible the reality of the victory of the Lamb and the revelation of a new heaven and of a new earth but finally notice the description of the eternal city. At the center of all of this is this incredible city that John saw and those who are described, those who dwell in this city, that's you and me, are described in the most intimate terms. They are described as the wife, the bride of the Lamb.

Verse 9, and there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talked with me saying, come hither I will sheld thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. Just like the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem were described at the beginning of chapter 21 in terms of the people that would occupy that land and that city. Here we have again a city that is being described in terms and identified in terms of who will be dwelling in that city. And what we describe in verses 9 through 27 is this incredible city and when you read about this city and you read about its gates and its walls and its foundations. You are immediately reminded of the people of God in both the Old and the New Testaments who have been brought to that city. This is indeed the city that Adam lost, that Abraham sought, that Moses longed for, that David longed for, and that Old Testament saint spent their entire lives searching for. And they have come to this city whose builder and maker is God and as you think about the city, it is described for you in terms of a glorious temple. When you think about the Old Testament temple and tabernacle, the holy place in that temple and in that tabernacle was a perfect cube.

And this city is described in that way. It is to be the temple, the royal city of the God of heaven and it will be populated by a kingdom of priests, royal priests that have been brought near to him by a sacrifice that is better than the blood of bulls and goats. And then when you get inside the city in chapter 22 verses 1 through 10, it is described for you not just as a glorious temple, it is described to you as a great garden. If you go back to the tabernacle that the Israelites had and you go to the temple, the glorious temple of Solomon, there are things that are included in the descriptions of both of those that include things like certain plants and certain trees and certain things that are intended to get you to think about a garden as you go there.

And here you have a city and when you get inside the city, you find in this city everything that was in the first garden. The river of life in verses 1 and 2 of chapter 22. The tree of life in verse 2. The reversal of the curse in verse 3. Perfect and continual fellowship with God in verses 4 and 5. And then you'll notice that this whole thing ends with the people of God in that city doing something. They are going to reign with God forever from this glorious temple.

And that brings us to the final observation that we want to make this morning. So where is the mercy in all of this? If the story ends with final justice, and final justice is not the final word, eternal mercy is, where is the mercy in all of this? And the answer is you.

Me. We are there. And the whole reason that we are in that city is because of mercy that comes out of an ocean of God's grace. And this is why Paul said, I beseech you brethren by the mercies of God and this is the greatest mercy of all. That right now you take your bodies and you present them to this God who is extending to you this mercy.

And you use them as a living sacrifice to do for the rest of your life on this earth the good and the perfect and the acceptable will of God. Father, thank you for a text like this. Thank you for a mercy like this. Thank you for a grace that made it so in our life. And as we live in the now waiting for the then, we ask that you would arm us with your armor so that we may be good soldiers fighting a good warfare for your glory and for the gospel's sake. In Jesus' name, Amen. You've been listening to Dr. Sam Horn. This concludes our series entitled, Our Ancient Foe. Join us again next week as we'll hear more chapel messages from the Bob Jones University Chapel Platform.