The Bridegroom Returns: Judgment, Victory, Eternal Hope

For the bride, for believers, there's gonna be celebration. There's gonna be vindication. There's gonna be resurrection. There's gonna be reigning. There's gonna be life before the enemies or unbelievers. Judgment, defeat, destruction. But the central truth here that I just want us to understand here is that Jesus is not struggling to win history. He's bringing history to its appointed end. There's no struggle here. Jesus wins decisively and completely. And because he wins, the church can endure. [01:30:44] (34 seconds)  #JesusWinsDecisively

Fire comes down from heaven and consumes them. It doesn't say that there's this tremendous battle. We get this idea in our mind that there's just this back and forth. There's this great war, and then it's like all this great battle scene. And then all of a sudden, who's gonna win? Oh, Jesus pulls it out in the end. Yay. That's not what the text says. They rage the he gets his armies. They come marching up there. Whoo. Fired out. Done. That was a waste of time. [01:27:14] (25 seconds)  #DecisiveEndNotWar

When I was younger, I used to think, boy, you know what? You know, I know I should've wanted Jesus to come back, but I really I really wanna experience some things in life first. I know I'm not the only one who thought that. Okay? And that's understandable to a degree. I can tell you this. The older I've gotten and the people who have gone on before me that I talk with, the more we're like, even so, Lord Jesus, come quickly. [00:54:48] (31 seconds)  #ComeLordJesusSoon

I mean, can you imagine if that bride in the illustration, she's like, you know, today's just not a good day. You know, can we do this next week? But don't we do that with God? Yeah. Okay. I I I want this relationship with you, God. I want that. I I I want the the joys of heaven. I want the things. But can we just can we do it in my timetable and not in yours? [00:53:14] (24 seconds)  #SubmitToGodsTiming

So we have Jesus coming back, and he's coming back and there's a marriage supper of the lamb. There's a wonderful supper there, but then he's coming back in judgment as well because Jesus is going to return as a conquering king. He's called faithful and true. All of his judgments are in righteousness. Why does John include that? Well, he includes that because he's just underscoring that any judgment that Jesus will bring is going to be just. [00:58:47] (28 seconds)  #FaithfulTrueJudge

It's not gonna be unfair. It's gonna be righteous. And and this is who he he's faithful and true. And so whatever judgment that he brings, we cannot we can say it's terrible, but we cannot say it's unjust. And so we just need to understand that. And what does that mean then? Well, it could mean a couple of things. One, if you're here today and you don't know Christ as your savior, this should terrify you. [00:59:15] (28 seconds)  #SatanIsHumiliated

And I say that with no mocking, with no condescension in any way. It's actually, I'm pleading with you that you don't have to see Jesus as judge. You can see him as the groom coming in the marriage supper of the lamb. But if you reject Jesus, you will face judgment. And I it it gives me no joy to say that. So if you're not a believer, please turn to Christ today. [00:59:44] (35 seconds)  #ShareTheGospel

You know, we've experienced that there's nothing in this world that will satisfy like Christ. So when you're tempted to get your your your eyes off Christ and focus more on a career or a a a status of popularity or something, let me just encourage you to say, these are the things of this world. And while we can live in the world and we need to use those things and we need to use those things as opportunities of of serving God, they do not replace Christ. [00:55:27] (38 seconds)  #PrepareForHeavenlyFeast