Gooding, David: 2 - The Things That Are to Take Place After This

In my first talk, I pointed out how that Christ, in his introductory words to the Apostle John, indicated that the vision given to him would be in two parts. It would cover the things that are and the things that shall be afterwards. In a word, it was going to be, first of all, about things contemporary with John, and then about things future. In our first talk, we covered the first vision which deals with things contemporary. Now in this part, we come to what is in fact the larger part of the book by far, which is devoted to a foreview of the future. Again, the second part is in i- is in two main sections, the first of which talks of the judgments of God that eventually climax in the coming of Christ, the setting up of his kingdom, the final and eventual rebellion, the dissolution of heaven and earth, and the final judgment. And then the last part describes to us the dawn of eternity, the new heavens and the new earth, and the eternal city, the new Jerusalem, which links heaven and earth. Now, to take the first section first. The judgments of God descend in three series of seven judgments each. The first series is pictured to us as being unleashed upon earth as the Lamb unlooses seven seals of a scroll. The second series come as seven angels blow on seven trumpets. The third series fall as seven angels pour out the contents of seven bowls upon the earth. Now, in these chapters describing these three series of judgments, we can recognize immediately a similar pattern. The three series all have three main elements. Central in each one, of course, are the judgments themselves. But then, before the judgments come each time, we are given a background. We are introduced into heaven to see there a heavenly scene in which some particular article of furniture in the heavenly temple is given prominence before us. So, for instance, the first series of judgments under the seals is described in chapter six, but in chapters four and five we are introduced into the heavenly scene where the throne of God is especially brought to our notice. Again, in chapter eight we have the beginnings of the judgments under the trumpets. But before they come, we are shown the heavenly scene again, and here the piece of temple furniture brought before our notice is the altar of incense. And again, halfway through that series of judgments, we are again taken to the background and shown in heaven the ark of God's covenant. That is in chapter eleven verse nineteen. The third series of judgments, those that come by the pouring out of the v- the bowls, is described in chapter sixteen. Before they come, chapter fifteen again introduces us to the background scene in heaven. We are shown the temple of God filled with smoke by the glory of God. Angels come forth having bowls that were used in the direct service of God. And in addition, we are shown a great sea. And as we know, the term sea is the technical term given to the laver, both in Solomon's temple in historic days, and to the uh, laver, which symbolically speaking, is to be found in the temple of God in heaven. Now, what seems to be happening in these background scenes is this. Before the judgments fall, God takes us behind the scenes to show us the spiritual reasons why the judgments must come. God, after all, is not a monster lashing out in blind, uncontrollable rage. Judgment is his strange work. When it comes, it will come for reasons which are rational, reasons which rational and moral beings must approve of. Then, in these three series of judgments, there is a third co- common element. We have not only the background scene each time, which tells us why the judgments must come. We not only have the judgments themselves, which are made, uh, to appear to fit the crime. But after the judgments, we have a third element, which we may call the soteric element. That is to say, it depicts examples of God's redemptive activity, delivering men by his salvation from the sin which calls down these judgments. So then let us go over in some more detail these series. First of all, the judgments that, uh, come when the Lamb unleashes, uh, the seven seals of the scrolls. The background given in chapters four and five is the throne of God. We have it described in detailed symbol in chapter four, and at the end of chapter four we get a magnificent hymn of worship in which the rights of the throne are proclaimed. We read that the twenty four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, singing, Worthy art thou, O our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for thou didst create all things, and by thy will they existed and were created. A simple, though magnificent statement of the rights of the throne, which are the rights of creatorhood. The world of men and things was made, we are told, for God's pleasure, made to do his will. It is common knowledge that the world has wandered far from this original purpose. To use the words of the prophets, all we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. Hence, of course, the chaos. For if men and things were made to do God's will and for his pleasure, then if men and things turn to doing their own will, this self-centeredness, this selfishness denies the very reason for their being and is bound in the end to, uh, achieve chaos. Chapter five then, warns us that the chaos that has come about through man's transgressing the original purpose of his creation is not to be allowed to go on forever. God will one day intervene to put a stop to it. For the moment, he waits for men to find their way back to him, but he will not wait forever and cannot rightly be expected to. One day, Christ will come again and by force will set up his kingdom. That seems to me to be entirely reasonable. God is not always going to allow his creation to be ruined and perverted by willful, selfish, and disobedient mankind. But the thought of coming judgment that is to end man's selfishness raises a problem. To this, chapter five gives voice. In the words, who is worthy to open this book, and of course, thereby unloosing the seals to unleash this flood of judgments against the world? Notice the term is who is worthy, not who is able. Any irresponsible fool or hard-hearted sadist could push the button that eventually smashes the world in its atomic and subatomic smithereens. The question is not who has the power to, but who is worthy to. And the answer is given that no one is worthy save Christ. Uh, his worthiness, we may notice, is given on two grounds. First of all, he is worthy to open the seals and so set loose these judgments because he was slain. Men, in their rebellion against God, slew him. When he, in God's name, rises up to relieve them of possession of earth and take over control, no one will be able to voice objection against him. They slew him. They will own the worthiness of his judgment. But there is a second ground for his worthiness. We are told that he's worthy to take the book and open its seals, for he was slain, and by his blood he did ransom men for God from every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and has made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth. It would spell nothing more than defeat if God, in dealing with his wayward, erring, self-centered creatures, merely wiped the world free of them. Before Christ sets loose these judgments, he has been slain in order to redeem, to salvage, to buy back from earth men for God. Not only, you notice, setting them free from the fear of coming judgment, but setting them free from their selfishness, making them something for God, returning them to what they ought to have been originally, making them a kingdom, that is people who naturally and gladly obey God and seek God's will, making them priests, men who minister to God, whose whole occupation in life, be it sacred or secular, is a priestly ministry to God. When people have thus been taught by Christ to live in this fashion, it will be safe for God to put the dominion of earth into their hands, and so we are told that these people, whom Christ has formed into a kingdom and made to be priests, they shall reign on the earth. Then comes chapter six, which shows us the judgments falling. When we look at them in detail, we find that they are a succession of war and famine and plague. At first blush, it looks as if these are normal events. But then, for a time, man's selfishness has been restrained by God, at least its results have been restrained. One day, this vision tells us, Christ will set loose the restraints, and man's selfishness will with a bound reach its final limit and reap therefrom its inevitable harvest. It is because man has strayed from doing God's will and made his own desires and pleasures the rationality of his being that man becomes selfish, wishes to grab territory from his fellow man in war, wishes to hog all the world's resources to himself, and economic, economic upsets lead to famine, and famines lead, lead to plague. Man's selfishness is, in the end, self-destructive. And God will have to teach mankind by taking off the restraints and letting man see where his own selfishness leads to. Then finally, in this first series of judgments, comes the soteric element in chapter seven, where we are bidden to see two companies, first of all, one hundred and forty four thousand who come from every tribe in Israel, and these people, we are told, are sealed so that they shall be protected from the judgments of God which are about to fall. And then we are, uh, introduced to a vast multitude from every nation on the earth, and they are seen standing before the throne of God and singing their hymn of praise that goes like this: Salvation belongs to our God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. So then we have two companies, one company sealed, the other crying salvation. Now these terms, it seems to me, are deliberately used in this context. First of all, sealing. This is a very common idea in the New Testament. For instance, Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, reminds Christian people that they have been sealed with the Holy Spirit of God. And just as here, these people are sealed so that they shall be protected from the judgments of God when they eventually fall. So our Lord, in the fourth gospel in chapter five spoke to his contemporaries about this security from God's judgment that is the, uh, uh, privilege of those who have trusted the Savior. In his memorable words, he said, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that hears my word and believes on him that sent me has eternal life and shall not come into judgment. And the Holy Apostle Paul, writing to the Thessalonians in his first epistle in chapter five, reminds them, i- in a context talking of these coming judgments, that God has not appointed them to wrath. They are to put upon their heads the helmet of salvation to guard their thinking. Indeed, every true believer in Christ, they look forward to those days of terrible judgments with equanimity and calm, because he rests upon the promise of God, because he knows he has been sealed by God's Holy Spirit and shall not come into judgment. The other group declare to us the grounds of their salvation. They come, and as they come crying salvation to the Lamb and to God who sits upon the throne, we are told that they are clothed in white robes, palm branches in their hands. They have washed their robes, uh, in the blood of the Lamb, that is to say. So that, um, this salvation is not on the grounds o- of their attainment to some excellent unselfishness. They too, like all else, have gone astray. They have turned everyone to his own way. They have been brought back to God, as the prophet reminds us, through the redemption that is in Christ. For we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Then we are told the results of their salvation. They have made white their robes in the blood of the Lamb, but this redemption leads to their serving God. They are to be before his throne, so we are told. They shall serve God day and night within his temple. And finally, when men have experienced Christ's redemption through his blood, and his redemption has given way to s- uh, has led to service of God, then with a man who has learned to serve God, God makes all the universe to be at peace. And we read that they shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore. The sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. With this, we pass to the second series of judgments, the judgments that fall by the blowing of the trumpets. This is the most extended passage of the book. It covers chapters eight all the way through to the end of chapter fourteen. The last three trumpets to be blown are also described as woes, and they are described at increased length. And then in this, uh, passage, there are what appear to be digressions, very large digressions. When we come to examine them, of course, they are not digressions. In fact, they lead us to the very kernel of the message of this part. They describe for us the rise in the last days of the terrible trinity of evil. The dragon, the serpent, that is, that is Satan, inspiring his first beast, the man of sin, if you will, and that man of sin supported by the second beast, the false prophet. Between them, so we are told, they will achieve a domination that is virtually worldwide, and they will persecute God's saints to the death. But now we see the significance of being introduced to the background behind the scenes. In chapter eight, as I said before, we are introduced to the altar of incense and the prayers of the saints. And then in chapter eleven, heaven is opened, and we are given to see the Ark of the Covenant. Now, in the Old Testament temple practice, the altar of incense and the Ark of the Covenant were very closely associated. When the priest came to minister to God at the time of prayer and burned incense at the altar of incense, he stood immediately in front of the veil, which itself stood immediately in front of the Ark of the Covenant. And the priest prayed, so to speak, before the Ark on the basis of that covenant. Now, when we think of the Ark of the Covenant, um, we of course realize that it is called the Ark of the Covenant because it contained God's old ancient covenant, that is the Ten Commandments. But the idea of covenant gathers to itself all the other covenants of the Old Testament time. For instance, in Genesis chapter fifteen we read of a covenant that God made with Abraham and with his seed, a covenant to give Abraham and his seed certain territories in the Middle East. When we come over to the New Testament, to Paul's epistle to the Galatians in chapter three, we read again of this covenant, and we are told that the seed to whom God made these promises in this covenant, this seed was Christ. Abraham's seed is Christ. Not only Christ personally, but Christ and all those who have learned to trust him. As many of you who are baptized into Christ have put on Christ, says the apostle, and if you be Christ's, then are you Abraham's seed and heirs according to the promise. Again, in Paul's letter to the Romans, chapter four and verse thirteen, we have another mention of this covenant and promise, only the territory involved is expanded to cover the whole world. The promise to Abraham and his seed that they should be heirs of the world is how the phrase goes. Now, if we join these ideas together, we begin to see some light. God has promised to Christ and to his people all down the ages a dominion that is to be universal dominion. At the present, Christ and his people do not inherit the earth. Far too often, uh, as Christ himself was crucified and put out by men, his people have been pushed to the wall. But in chapter eight of the Apocalypse, we see the saints praying, and much incense is added to their prayers, which become effective. God remembers their prayers for Christ's sake. The result is that judgments come, which shall remove earth from the grip of those who have it, and shall give the dominion of earth over into the hands of Christ and his people. With this agrees the vision that Daniel saw in his prophecy chapter seven, where the Son of Man comes in the clouds of heaven to him that sits upon the throne, and he that sits upon the throne gives the dominion to the Son of Man and to the saints of the Most High, taking it for that purpose out of the hands of the four beasts who hitherto have held it. Again, to show that we are on the right track of the basic message of this part o- of the book, let us notice the details of chapter twelve. In chapter twelve of the Apocalypse, we see a vision of a woman, uh, about to give birth to a man child who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron. The old dragon, that is the serpent, uh, which would be a better translation perhaps of the Greek Drakon, the serpent that is Satan, stands before the woman, intent on devouring her child immediately it is born. With these ideas of the woman, her seed, and the serpent, we are taken right back to the beginning of things in the book of Genesis, where the woman was tempted by the serpent and fell, yet God preached to her his proto-evangelium that the woman's seed should bruise the serpent's head. Now this promise a- a- about the s- coming seed, first given to Eve, was particularized as the centuries went by. The woman's seed of Genesis chapter three becomes, in Genesis fifteen the seed of Abraham. The promise is confirmed to Israel, particularized later to the reigning house of Judah, and narrowed down to King David and his seed. Finally, of course, we come to the Blessed Virgin through whom our Lord was born. Now, another thing we can notice that all down the centuries, Satan has made his attempts to crush that seed, to destroy the royal line through which the Savior should come. He did so, um, when he tried to annihilate the princely house of Judah under the persecutions of Athaliah. He did so again, notably, of course, when our Lord was born and Herod tried to destroy him. The great climax was reached at Calvary, where Satan and his hosts thought at last they had won the battle. But just as in this vision in the Apocalypse chapter twelve, the man child is caught up to the throne of God, so in actual fact, our Lord on the third day rose again, and his triumphant session on the throne of God now is the guarantee of Satan's ultimate defeat, that however great is the empire that he and his minions are allowed to build, that empire will eventually perish. Finally, we come to the soteric element in this second series of judgments. It is given us in chapter fourteen. Again, there are two companies, not now the sealed and the saved, as in chapter seven, but here the redeemed and the ripened. The first company are again one hundred and forty four thousand, and we are told that they were redeemed, or if you like, they were bought out of the earth. Then later in the chapter, we are given the vision of the great harvest home at the end of the age, reminiscent of our Lord's parable in Cha- in Matthew chapter thirteen when he talked of the day when the angels should come forth, they would bundle up the tares into bundles and burn them, and then they would gather in the true wheat of God's children. It is worth, uh, thinking just for a moment more about these figures. The first company that are redeemed out of the earth remind us of God's tactics in this present age. Satan and his minions are allowed to triumph. Very frequently God's people appear to go to the wall. Even Christ himself has been rejected, crucified, and is no longer bodily present in the world. To some, all this seems as though Christianity itself has failed and is getting less and less influential as the years go by. To become depressed about that, of course, would be altogether mistaken. God's declared policy is to allow Satan to reach what appears to be a virtually complete triumph at the end of this age. God is not, uh, disturbed. He is going to let man discover by experience what it means to choose Satan rather than God. On the other hand, meanwhile, God is redeeming out from among men, uh, people for himself. And when the day of Christ's coming, uh, arrives, these people shall be, uh, given the government along with Christ. The other company are the great harvest. Just as the grain is ripened by storm and wind, so God ripens and matures his people by leaving them in this world during the time of Satan's grim opposition. He uses life's joys, he uses life's trials, he uses the persecution of the enemies of God themselves to ripen the character of his people. And when the day of persecution and suffering is done, it will be found that even these means have served to produce a character that is eternally fruitful and valuable for God, and a character that will qualify these people to take over the dominion that God will wrest from the hands of Satan and his followers and give into the hands of Christ and his people. With this, we have reached the end of chapter fourteen of the Apocalypse and the end of the second series of judgments. The third follows swiftly the judgments that come when the contents of certain bowls are poured out upon the earth. This section, beginning in chapter fifteen, has for its new feature the appearance of a woman called Babylon riding upon the beast and eventually destroyed by the beast. She is depicted as a false and faithless woman, and she stands in vivid contrast to another woman mentioned in the same section, namely the bride of Christ. The figures are not difficult to understand. If the bride of Christ represents his loyal believing followers, the true lovers of Christ, who are prepared until he comes to remain faithful to him in spite of all the advances made to her by Satan and the world, then Babylon represents the false bride, those who, pretending allegiance to Christ, have proved disloyal to him and have given their favors to Christ's enemies in an attempt to gain for themselves temporary power. Now, the background again to the judgments which destroy this unfaithful woman and the political power she tries to usurp, the background is the temple of God and the vessels of the divine service that was carried on inside that temple. The reason seems to be simply this, that here in this final stage of man's sin, we have an insult offered directly to God himself. In the first series of judgments, we had sin diagnosed as man's selfishness, his going his own wayward road. Here there is something worse, not merely man's selfishness, but here on earth is false religion encouraging, uh, men to take their worship from the true God and give their worship to Satan and his beast. This is such a direct and personal affront to God that the temple of God is filled with the smoke of God's indignation before these judgments begin. Another interesting feature in the background scene is the vision of the great sea, a sea as of grass mingled with fire. It is almost certainly, uh, true to say that this sea is the, uh, technical term used for the laver in the Old Testament temple, and here again, uh, the laver in that symbolic temple in heaven. If this is so, we at once see the relevance of it, for the laver stands for the washing of water by the word, and in this context in Revelation that is talking about this unclean and faithless woman, Babylon, and at the other extreme, the faithful bride of Christ making herself ready for the marriage supper of the Lamb, the matter of a laver and the washing of water by the word is exceedingly relevant. Our minds at once remember Paul's remarks to the, uh, Ephesians in his letter to them in chapter five, how that Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might, uh, sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water through the Word. Or again, we may remember Paul's remarks to Titus in his letter, speaking about the secret of Christian renewal. He says that we were once sinful and hating and hateful one another, hating one another, but when God's kindness appears, not by works done in righteousness which we do ourselves, but by his mercy he saves us, by the washing of regeneration. So then, this chapter shows us the, um, provision for the renewal, the provision for that cleansing of person and of character that alone can fit a man to become part of Christ's bride. Now, this sea, this great heavenly laver, is further described in chapter fifteen as being mingled with fire, and those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name stand beside this sea of glass with harps of God in their hands, and they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. These added features that the laver is mingled with fire and the people beside it sing the song of Moses as well as the song of the Lamb have led many exegetes to think that this is also a reference back to the Exodus. For when the nation of Israel was redeemed from servitude in Egypt through the blood of the Passover lamb, the nation was required to commit itself one hundred percent to the leadership of Moses by being baptized to him in the waters of the Red Sea, and to follow him with unswerving allegiance through all the experiences, foul or f- or fair, that would follow throughout the wilderness. Now, if this is so, it again would fit in with the tenor of the New Testament. Paul, in his letter to the Corinthian church in chapter ten, draws the same analogy. He reminds us how all the Jewish fathers were baptized to Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and warns us that some of them subsequently swerved away from their allegiance to Moses. And so he exhorts us, who have made profession of Christian faith by being baptized unto Christ as Lord, that we are expected to show thereafter unswerving allegiance to him, and not to be sidetracked or drawn away from him by the blandishments and allurements of his enemies. The satelic part of this, uh, third series of judgments, finally, is again, uh, quite easy to understand. It is given us in chapter nineteen, where we hear an invitation proclaimed to the marriage supper of the Lamb, for the Lamb's bride and wife has made herself ready. The marriage supper of the Lamb represents surely the consummation of God's redemptive activity. Christ is one day, so we are told by the Apostle Paul in that chapter of the Ephesian letter to which I made reference earlier, Christ is one day going to present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Again, Paul continues to remind us that this, uh, imagery is founded on the Old Testament story of Adam and Eve. Just as Adam was given dominion over the earth, and to assist him in his God-given task, he was given Eve, his bride, as a helpmeet for him. So when Christ comes to take over the dominion of earth, to rule it for God as it should be ruled, he is to have a help meet his bride, his redeemed people. To our Western minds, the imagery may sound a little grotesque, but in the Eastern symbolism in which the Bible is written, it becomes exceedingly sacred and precious. I quote the words of Paul. For no man ever hates his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it as Christ does the church, because we are members of his body. For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one. This is a great mystery. I take it to mean Christ and the church. Epistle to the Ephesians, chapter five verse twenty following, nine following. Finally, we reach the closing chapters of the book. After Christ has reigned for a thousand years, we read there is to be a final rebellion which will be summarily squashed. Then earth and heaven shall depart as the throne of final judgment is erected, and men, uh, come to their final and eternal destiny. Following that, there is to be, says the book of the Apocalypse, a new heavens and a new earth. This is very interesting because it shows that God is determined to have forever and eternally a physical expression of the mater- o- o- of the spiritual world. There is to be not merely a new heaven, there is to be a new earth. Linking the two is the new city, the eternal city, the New Jerusalem. It tells us, in figure, of the eternal destiny of God's redeemed people. God's salvation is aimed at saving not merely the individual, it is aimed at saving the individual and making him part of a redeemed community. This figure, likewise, has its roots, of course, in the Old Testament and once more in the book of Genesis, as so much else in the apocalypse does. We are told that when Abram was converted, he was drawn out from the great cities of the early civilizations in Ur of Chaldee, Nineveh, Kalni, and so forth. And the New Testament informs us that throughout his life of pilgrimage, he looked for the city that hath the foundations, whose builder and maker is God. And in the vision of the new and eternal city given us at the end of the apocalypse, one of the prominent features which is emphasized, uh, is the foundations of this city. On the foundations, the names are written of the apostles of the Lamb. It tells us that the foundation of that community life that shall be God's link between his heaven and his earth. The foundation of that community life is found in the redemptive work of Christ. The names of the apostles, not so much of Christ, but of the Lamb. And the Lamb, as we know in Holy Scripture, is a term, uh, full of sacrificial meaning. It informs us that God is going to build his eternal community on the basis of forgiveness and redemption through the blood of Christ, personally appropriated by those who shall become members of that city. Then that community shall act, uh, so we are told, as God's vehicle of administration of the new earth. The nations of the earth walk in the light of that. The kings of the earth bring their glory to it. The gates are not shut by night or day, and on those gates are the names of the twelve children of Israel. This again throws us back to the Old Testament and to the book of Genesis. The names of Israel's children, uh, so we are told in Genesis chapters twenty nine and thirty, were deliberately given to enshrine permanently the experiences of Jacob and his wives, as in the humdrum of daily life, they took their sorrows and their joys to God and used life as an experience that would lead them near to God, as a vehicle of the experience of God in their soul. Their joys and sorrows, as God led them through them and used them to produce character in them, are summed up and enshrined, as I say, in the names of Jacob's sons. These are the names that are to be placed on the gates of the city. It seems to tell us that for those that have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, life becomes a sacred thing. Our occupations, call them sacred or secular as you wish, if we take them to God, may become vehicles of the experience of God in this life, in time. And so by that experience, character is built into us that shall prepare us not only to be in God's heaven, but to exercise those wonderful tasks and commissions which God in his wisdom has devised to occupy his redeemed for eternity. So the apocalypse ends on a very cheerful note of hope. In many ways, it is the coping stone both of the Old and the New Testaments. The Old Testament begins with a beginning. It shows us the beginning of creation, then the beginning of man's sin. The Apocalypse shows us the end and final extent of man's sin. The book of Genesis, immediately upon man's sin, shows us the beginning of God's redemptive activities. The Apocalypse shows us the end of God's redemptive activities. But the end of the apocalypse is a new beginning, for it introduces us to the dawn of eternity, to the dawn of a day that shall know no end, that shall be everlasting, with the limitless surprises of the infinitude of God's rich imagination and boundless love.