Meadowbrooke Church

I have a confession to make, and I think it will help you understand why I believe our time in Revelation is the most important series I have ever preached at Meadowbrooke—and perhaps in my life as a pastor. Here’s why: I believe the book of Revelation has been hijacked by well-meaning Christians.
Before I explain what I mean, let me qualify that statement. This sermon series is the fruit of hundreds of hours spent studying Revelation, tracing its parallels throughout the Old and New Testaments, and writing two volumes on this remarkable book. That work does not make my conclusions beyond correction, but it has deepened my conviction that what I am showing you is, at the very least, what these passages are teaching. There may be more here than I have recognized, but my aim is to help us understand that message and respond faithfully to what Jesus is saying to His church.
The reason I believe this apocalyptic masterpiece has been hijacked is that it has too often been reduced to a puzzle to be decoded. Many who have claimed to have “cracked” the code have left Christians with the impression that it is not a book for today but for tomorrow.
Two passages often used to support this approach are Daniel 9:27 and 1 Thessalonians 5:9. The first is the primary passage used to establish a future, literal seven-year tribulation. The second is used to assure Christians that they will be removed—raptured—before that tribulation: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 5:9). But you need to consider this verse in the context of the verses surrounding it:
Now concerning the times and the seasons, brothers, you have no need to have anything written to you. For you yourselves are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. While people are saying, “There is peace and security,” then sudden destruction will come upon them as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they will not escape. But you are not in darkness, brothers, for that day to surprise you like a thief. For you are all children of light, children of the day. We are not of the night or of the darkness. So then let us not sleep, as others do, but let us keep awake and be sober. For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk, are drunk at night. But since we belong to the day, let us be sober, having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of salvation. (1 Thess. 5:1–8)
These verses do not promise that we will be raptured before the tribulation. They call those who have been redeemed by the Lamb and made “children of light” to stay awake and sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet of the hope of salvation. Paul uses the same armor imagery in Ephesians 6:10–18. These verses tell us how to live as we await the day of the Lord, which I understand to come at the end of the tribulation. Paul then explains why we can live as His people with confidence: “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him. Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (vv. 9–11).
 
The Second Cycle of Judgments
As you know, Revelation has three cycles of judgment: the seven seals, the trumpets, and the bowls of wrath. Their opening groups of four affect the earth with increasing intensity. Under the fourth seal, Death and Hades are given authority over a fourth of the earth. With the trumpets, we repeatedly read that a third is affected. With the bowls, we no longer read about a fourth or a third, for God’s wrath reaches its fullness. Do not forget that it is the Lamb of God who breaks each seal. The seventh seal leads into the trumpet judgments, and the seventh trumpet announces the judgment brought to its fullness in the bowls of wrath. None of these judgments comes unless the Lamb permits it to be so.
When we come to the final three seals and trumpets, the focus broadens. When the fifth seal is broken, we hear the cries of those killed for their faithfulness to Jesus: “O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” (6:10). Listen—the trumpets and the bowls serve as God’s response to the cries of those saints!
With the breaking of the sixth seal, we hear the cries of the wicked on the day of the Lord: “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (6:16–17). The answer comes in Revelation 7, where we see a great multitude standing before the throne and before the Lamb. Listen to their cry: “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (7:10). Who can stand? Those whose salvation belongs to God and the Lamb.
We see another distinction when the fifth trumpet sounds: the powerful and horrific locusts released from the bottomless pit are permitted to torment only those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (9:4). As you may recall, those who worship the beast have his mark on their foreheads or on their right hands, and those who worship the Lamb have His name and the Father’s name upon their foreheads (14:1).
Revelation describes only two types of worshipers. There is no third category, no fourth category, no seeker category, no purgatory category, and no good-intentioned person category. Only two types of worshipers exist in the world: those who worship the Lamb and those who worship the beast. In case you doubt what I just said, consider what the apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:
And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. (vv. 1–3)
If you are dead in your sins, you are a child of wrath and a follower of the “prince of the power of the air,” who is the devil and who empowers the beast. Then you have those who belong to the Father and the Son by no effort of their own but by the mercy, love, and grace of God made possible through His Son: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved” (vv. 4–5).
There are two types of worshipers in God’s economy.
Now I can explain what Revelation 8 is about, why it matters to us today, and why we must heed the warning of the trumpets.
 
We Must Listen to the Trumpets  
When Jesus opens the seventh seal, we are told that there was silence in heaven for about half an hour. I believe this silence is connected to what the prophet Zephaniah said: “Be silent before the Lord GOD! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice and consecrated his guests” (Zeph. 1:7). What happens next is why I believe the trumpet judgments serve as God’s answer to the saints beneath the altar, which I understand to be the altar of incense in the heavenly temple. We heard their cries in Revelation 6:9–11. Now an angel stands at the altar with a golden censer and is given incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne. The smoke of the incense rises with their prayers before God. Then the angel fills the censer with fire from the altar and throws it onto the earth! 
What does this mean? The prayers of the saints are heard, but that does not mean that they will be spared every trouble or delivered from all suffering. But God has heard them, and His answer comes as the trumpets begin to sound. The prayers of the saints pleading for God’s kingdom to come, for the curse of sin to be removed, the scales of justice to finally be balanced, for suffering and death to be swallowed up by life, and for all things to be made new are heard—and they will be answered!
After the angel hurls the flaming censer to the earth, “peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake” follow (v. 5). Then the blowing of the trumpets. 
Just as Revelation 6 and 7 spoke to the first-century Christians of John’s day, they speak to us today—and the same is true of Revelation 8. The imagery in these verses draws upon the apocalyptic language of the Old Testament. In particular, the trumpet and bowl judgments echo the plagues God brought upon Egypt, exposing the powerlessness of its gods and judging Pharaoh and his empire for oppressing His people.
Say what you want about the language used to describe what comes with each trumpet blast, but if all you see in the first trumpet is actual hail and fire mixed with blood, burning up a third of the trees and all the green grass, then you have missed the point of the first trumpet! If all you see in the second trumpet is a giant asteroid striking the sea and turning a third of it into blood, then you have missed the point of the second trumpet! If all you see in the third trumpet is a star named Wormwood poisoning a third of the drinkable water, then you have missed the point of the third trumpet! Finally, if all you see in the fourth trumpet is the light of the sun, moon, and stars being reduced by a third, then you have missed the point of the fourth trumpet!  
So what is the point of the first four trumpets? To answer that question, we must see the trumpets through the lens of the Old Testament, particularly the ten Egyptian plagues that God brought upon Pharaoh and his people. Before God judged Egypt with the plagues, He said to Moses, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians.... And now behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them” (Exod. 3:7-9). Before God brought the plagues upon Egypt, He heard the cries of His people. Likewise, before the trumpets sound in Revelation, the prayers of the saints rise before His throne (Rev. 8:3-5). So here is the point: The God who heard the cries of His enslaved and suffering people and judged Egypt again confronts a rebellious world in answer to the prayers of His people.  
 
The First Trumpet: Hail, fire, and blood (Rev. 8:7)
With the first trumpet, the land and vegetation are affected in a way that recalls how the seventh plague affected the vegetation and trees in Egypt, demonstrating the powerlessness of Egypt’s gods. The Egyptians worshiped Nut as the goddess of the sky and Geb as the god of the earth, yet neither could protect the land from the judgment of its Creator.
At the very least, the warning conveyed with the sounding of this first trumpet concerns the things we believe we are entitled to, such as our food and provision. We depend upon the harvests, the people who produce our food, and the systems that deliver it. We go to places like Sam’s Club, King Soopers, and Albertsons expecting to find, purchase, and walk out with what we want. We can place our confidence in those provisions without giving a thought to the God who makes them possible. We get up and go to work so that we can eat, drink, play, and go to bed with the conviction that we are entitled to it all. That sense of entitlement echoes Pharaoh’s conviction that the Hebrew people belonged to him to serve his purposes.
The trumpets warn us that judgment is coming on a world and a people who behave as though they are entitled to all that the Creator’s land produces, making the gift a god while ignoring the Giver. 
 
The Second Trumpet: The sea becomes blood (Rev. 8:8-9).
With the second trumpet, something like a great mountain burning with fire is thrown into the sea. A third of the sea becomes blood, a third of its living creatures die, and a third of the ships are destroyed. The burning mountain recalls God’s judgment upon Babylon, which He called a “destroying mountain” and declared He would make a “burnt mountain” (Jer. 51:25). Mountains can symbolize kingdoms (Dan. 2:35, 44–45), but even the strongest remains subject to the One who raises up kingdoms and brings them down (Dan. 2:21; 4:17).
The blood recalls Egypt’s first plague; the destroyed ships foreshadow the collapse of Babylon’s maritime commerce (Rev. 18). Don’t miss the warning: political powers and economic systems cannot guarantee the prosperity and security they promise. Kingdoms that appear immovable can fall, and wealth that seems secure can disappear. That is why I feel such urgency! Egypt, Babylon, and Rome could not secure their futures, and no nation today is immune to God’s judgment. If you think America is exempt, your ears are already deaf to the second trumpet!
Your wealth, your sense of independence, and your citizenship in one of the world’s wealthiest and most powerful nations cannot shield you from God’s judgment.
 
The Third Trumpet: Bitter, deadly water (Rev. 8:10-11).
With the third trumpet, a great star named “Wormwood” falls from heaven, blazing like a torch. It strikes a third of the rivers and the springs, making the waters bitter and causing many people to die. This recalls Egypt’s undrinkable waters during the first plague and God’s warning that He would give His rebellious people bitter food and poisoned water to drink (Jer. 9:15; 23:15). The water we depend upon for life becomes an instrument of judgment.
In the same way we walk into a grocery store expecting food, we turn on our faucets expecting clean water, rarely considering our dependence upon the God who provides it. The human heart oozes with idolatry! We trust the water and the systems that deliver it while ignoring the God who supplies it. The third trumpet warns us that even life’s most basic necessities cannot give us security apart from Him. It is the same kind of nonsense James wrote about in his epistle:
Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.” Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. For you are just a vapor that appears for a little while, and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and also do this or that.” But as it is, you boast in your arrogance; all such boasting is evil. (James 4:13–16, NASB)
Let me ask you a question. What keeps our technology and infrastructure from collapsing? Forget what other nations could do; consider what a severe solar storm could disrupt.
 
The Fourth Trumpet: The lights are darkened (Rev. 8:12)
With the fourth trumpet, a third of the sun, moon, and stars are struck so that a third of their light is darkened. This recalls the ninth plague, when God covered Egypt in thick darkness for three days (Exod. 10:21-23). We go to bed expecting the sun to rise and another day to unfold according to our plans. We set our alarms, fill our calendars, and live as though we are entitled to another day—that somehow tomorrow belongs to us and not to the One in whose image we are made. The lights (stars) that mark our days are subject to the God of whom the prophet Isaiah testified: “Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might and because he is strong in power, not one is missing” (Isa. 40:26). 
The fourth trumpet warns us that what we take for granted cannot give us security apart from its Creator. Our plans depend on the rhythms of creation—an order we did not create and cannot ultimately control.
 
Application
For starters, let me say this. The God who hears the prayers of His redeemed people rules creation, on which the enemies of His people depend. One difference between those who worship the Lamb and those who worship the beast is their sense of entitlement. Those who worship the Lamb know their God to be Sovereign, holy, and true (see Rev. 6:9–11). They know their lives belong to Him. Those who worship the beast live by a different creed, echoed in William Ernest Henley’s Invictus: “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
Now, my dear brothers and sisters, please do not ignore the sounds of the trumpets. Yes, they announce judgment on a godless world, but their warnings are for us too. Do you not see that every godless pursuit, every attempt to cling to earthly treasures while ignoring the God who gives every good gift, and every deliberate step into sin reflect the same spirit of self-rule? Whenever we insist on our own way over God’s, we embrace the creed of those who worship the beast: “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.”
That mindset, as we will see throughout Revelation, belongs to the spirit of Babylon. It is the same spirit of self-rule that characterized Pharaoh, the Babylonian Empire, and Rome, and that persists among the nations today. Regardless of our earthly citizenship, the trumpets warn us against such foolish and godless idolatry. We are commanded to flee Babylon: “Come out of her, my people, lest you take part in her sins, lest you share in her plagues” (Rev. 18:4; see also Jer. 51:6).

The book of Revelation is both a book filled with images of worship and a book about practical discipleship. It answers two primary questions: To whom does my allegiance belong? And how do I follow Jesus in the world that I live in?
Before I show you what Revelation teaches us about worship and discipleship, let me remind you of how this book is structured. As you can see in the diagram, Revelation presents seven distinct yet interconnected perspectives, much like the four Gospels present Jesus from four complementary perspectives. Throughout these visions, the book moves toward a new Eden, infinitely better than the first—where redemption reaches its climax in the new heaven and new earth.
At the beginning of this series, I put a little Slinky on each chair. As you noticed, I did so again. A Slinky advances by looping back over itself. In many ways, Revelation is structured that way. John repeatedly returns to the same redemptive realities—sometimes from the perspective of the earth, sometimes from heaven, sometimes through judgment, and sometimes through worship.
That is what I mean when I talk about the recapitulatory nature of Revelation. Rather than presenting a single, forward-moving sequence of events, Revelation shows us the same story from different vantage points, each one reinforcing the same central truth: God reigns, the Lamb has conquered, and His people are secure.
Revelation isn’t a puzzle book, but a picture book. Its purpose is to steady our faith, strengthen our hearts, and draw us into worship of the Lamb.
The Judgments Cycles 
During the week leading up to Jesus’ crucifixion, He was asked by His disciples, “What will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?” (Matt. 24:3). Jesus answered by first warning them that before He comes back, there would be false christs claiming to be Him, wars and rumors of wars, nations rising against nations, kingdoms rising against kingdoms, famines, and earthquakes in various places. Jesus said that these things would be “the beginning of birth pains” leading to the end of the age (Matt. 24:1-8).
After describing the abomination of desolation, which I believe was fulfilled during the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple by Roman forces under Titus in AD 70, Jesus spoke of the Day of His coming, which is also the Day of the Lord (see Matt. 24:15–28). He had already foretold the temple’s destruction, declaring that not one stone would be left upon another (Matt. 24:2). Jesus then said: 
“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matt. 24:29-31)
What Jesus describes in Matthew 24 follows the same basic pattern that Revelation shows us through the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments. The three judgment cycles are not three unrelated timelines; they revisit the same period from different perspectives, with each cycle intensifying until we arrive at what Scripture calls “the Day of the Lord.” 
Consider how each judgment cycle brings us to the same end. At the sixth seal, the great day of God’s and the Lamb’s wrath has come (Rev. 6:17). At the seventh trumpet, heaven announces that God’s wrath has come and that the time has arrived to judge the dead and reward His servants (Rev. 11:18). At the seventh bowl, a voice from the throne declares, “It is done!” (Rev. 16:17). Each cycle brings us to the final judgment, showing that John is returning to the same end from different vantage points.
At key points throughout these judgment cycles, John describes storm imagery associated with God’s presence and judgment. Just as birth pains grow stronger as the birth draws near, this imagery intensifies as Revelation unfolds. You can see this intensification in the way John describes the storm coming from the throne:
 
Revelation 4:5
Revelation 8:5
Revelation 11:19
Revelation 16:18, 21
Out from the throne came flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God; 
Then the angel took the censer and filled it with the fire of the altar, and hurled it to the earth; and there were peals of thunder and sounds, and flashes of lightning and an earthquake. 
And the temple of God which is in heaven was opened; and the ark of His covenant appeared in His temple, and there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder, and an earthquake, and a great hailstorm. 
And there were flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder; and there was a great earthquake, such as there had not been since mankind came to be upon the earth, so great an earthquake was it, and so mighty.... 21 And huge hailstones, weighing about a talent each, came down from heaven upon people; and people blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, because the hailstone plague was extremely severe. 
 
Notice how these cycles show things going from bad to worse. At the sixth seal, the kings of the earth and everyone else seek to hide from Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb instead of seeking salvation from the Lamb (Rev. 6:15–17). At the sixth trumpet, instead of repenting of the works of their hands, the wicked persist in their worship of demons and idols (Rev. 9:20–21). During the bowls, they refuse to repent and give God glory, and after the seventh bowl is poured out, they respond to His judgment by cursing Him (Rev. 16:9, 11, 21). As these visions unfold, we see not only the intensifying judgments of God, but also the depth of mankind’s determination to resist Him.
Think about the response of those who reject the Lamb and the debth of their rebellion. Instead of clinging to Christ, they cling to their idols. Instead of fleeing their sin, they persist in their sins. While recognizing God’s authority over the judgments, they curse Him instead of worshiping Him in repentance and praise. 
But notice what John sees next. Revelation 6 ends with the question, “Who can stand?” In Revelation 7, John sees a great multitude from every nation standing before the throne and before the Lamb (Rev. 7:9). Those able to stand are those whose robes have been made white in the blood of the Lamb (7:14). They stand because the Lamb has redeemed them, and they praise God and the Lamb for a salvation only God could provide through His Son (7:10). The wicked in chapter 6 seek to hide from the Lamb, but the redeemed stand before Him because they have found refuge in Him. The Lamb they worship is their Shepherd, who leads them to springs of living water, while God wipes away every tear from their eyes (7:17). This brings us to the contrast Revelation repeatedly places before us: there are only two types of worshipers in the world—those who worship the Lamb and those who worship the beast.
Which leads me to one of the truths that the book of Revelation shows us, and that it is a book about worship.  
Two Types of Worshipers 
In the book of Revelation, we see only two types of worshipers. There is no third category for those who are not sure, no separate category for the nice neighbor, and no neutral category for the seeker. Some worship the Lamb, and others worship the beast. Those who worship the Lamb praise God because His ways are just and true (Rev. 15:3–4). Those who worship the beast curse God because of their suffering and refuse to repent of their sin (Rev. 16:9–11, 21). The redeemed acknowledge that God is righteous in His judgment. The wicked respond to His judgment by continuing in the very rebellion for which they are being judged.
We see this throughout the book of Revelation, but let me give you a quick summary of the contrast between the two. Those who worship the Lamb do so because He gave His life to redeem them from their sins (Rev. 5:9–10). Those who praise the beast marvel at its apparent recovery from a fatal wound and declare, “Who is like the beast, and who can fight against it?” (Rev. 13:3–4).
Those who worship the Lamb praise God for what He has done, knowing that His ways are just and true (Rev. 15:3–4). Those who worship the beast are deceived by the signs the false prophet performs on its behalf (Rev. 13:13–14). Those who worship the Lamb cling to Him even when their faithfulness brings suffering and death (Rev. 12:11; 14:12). Worship of the beast, however, is reinforced by the threat of economic loss and death. Those who refuse its mark are excluded from buying and selling, and those who refuse to worship its image face execution (Rev. 13:15–17).
Those who worship the Lamb pursue holiness through obedience, truthfulness, and purity (Rev. 14:4–5, 12). Those who worship the beast resist God’s authority over their lives, refusing to repent even under His judgment (Rev. 16:9–11). Those who worship the Lamb follow Him wherever He goes (Rev. 14:4). Those who follow the beast marvel at its power and live under a system that enforces its worship (Rev. 13:3, 15). We are told that those who worship the Lamb bear His name and His Father’s name on their foreheads (Rev. 14:1). Those who worship the beast receive its mark on their foreheads or their right hands (Rev. 13:16–18).
Understanding the mark of the beast merely as something physically branded or inserted on the forehead or hand misses the point that the book of Revelation makes about worship. To understand the significance of this mark, we need to go back to passages like the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4–9:
“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”
God commanded Israel to love Him with all their heart, soul, and strength. His words were to be in their minds, upon their hearts, and seen in their actions. They were to teach them to their children and make speaking of God’s words part of the culture of their lives. Binding His words to their hands, wearing them as frontlets between their eyes, and writing them on their doorposts and gates expressed how thoroughly His words were to shape their lives. This is the biblical picture of worship. Listen, to worship God is to have His words govern your thinking, direct your actions, and order the life of your home. Worship is so much more than just showing up. It is the expression of a life that has not only encountered the living God but has been made alive by Him.
So, when Revelation describes the redeemed as having the seal of God on their foreheads and the wicked as having the mark of the beast on their foreheads or their right hands, I understand these marks to identify whom they belong to and what has captivated their hearts, minds, and lives. Their allegiance is revealed by whose words shape their thinking and whose authority directs their actions. So let me ask you, “Whose words shape your thinking?”  and “Whose authority directs your actions?” Revelation presents us with two kinds of worshipers: those who belong to the Lamb and those whose allegiance belongs to the beast.
In Revelation—and throughout the Bible—worship is not limited to music, although it includes music. It is not limited to preaching, although the faithful preaching and receiving of God’s Word are acts of worship. It is not limited to the physical gathering of God’s people in one place, although it certainly includes that. The worship of the redeemed, the angels, and the heavenly creatures is a response to the God who sits upon the throne and to the Lamb. They are not spectators observing an event. They are worshipers responding to the living God because they have encountered Him. And when you encounter this God, when you are redeemed by the Lamb and indwelt by His Holy Spirit, it is impossible to remain unchanged.
Meadowbrooke, we do not come together to observe a worship service! We come together because we have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and we long to encounter the God who made us alive together with His Son (Eph. 2:4–5).

I know this auditorium today holds an eclectic group of people. Most of you are born-again Christians; there may be a few here who are not yet Christians. Some of you have called Meadowbrooke your church home for decades, while others have found Meadowbrooke only in the past year. And there are very few among us who have been here for all forty years.
I want to begin by talking about the number forty for just a few minutes. When God flooded the earth in the days of Noah, rain fell for forty days and forty nights. Moses spent forty years in the wilderness after fleeing Egypt and later remained on Mount Sinai for forty days and forty nights. Israel wandered in the wilderness for forty years. The spies explored Canaan for forty days. Goliath taunted Israel for forty days. Jesus spent forty days in the wilderness before beginning His public ministry, and after His resurrection He appeared to His disciples over a period of forty days before ascending into heaven. I do not want to overstate the significance of the number or turn it into something Scripture does not, but the pattern is difficult to miss. Again and again, forty appears during seasons of testing, waiting, preparation, judgment, refining, and transition.
What is especially interesting is what so often follows. Noah stepped into a new beginning. Moses was sent back to Egypt for the defining mission of his life. A new generation of Israelites entered the Promised Land. David stepped onto the battlefield against Goliath. Jesus emerged from the wilderness proclaiming that the kingdom of God was at hand. And after Jesus ascended, His disciples received the promised Holy Spirit and were sent out as witnesses of the risen Christ. Again and again in Scripture, forty marks a season purposed to prepare God’s people for what comes next.
Sometime before my sabbatical, I stood in this auditorium early one morning, reflecting on the years I have served as a pastor and praying about the next season of ministry God had for me here at Meadowbrooke. I can honestly say to you this morning that I am convinced the first fourteen years I served as a lead pastor were, in many ways, preparing me for this church.
I do not say this to boast or to elevate your opinion of me, but there are three sermon series I have preached over the course of my ministry that I would keep if I had to delete every other sermon and series I have ever preached—and all three were prepared and preached here at Meadowbrooke: the Sermon on the Mount, our Identity series through Ephesians, and the series we are in right now through Revelation, and I believe this has become the most important sermon series I have preached in my lifetime.
I do not think it is a coincidence that the most important sermon series I have ever preached comes from the one book of the Bible I was most timid to address—and that I am preaching it during Meadowbrooke’s fortieth year at this location, in the eighth year of my tenure as your pastor. I cannot say with certainty that Revelation will prove to be the most important sermon series Meadowbrooke has ever heard, but I can tell you this: it has been the most important one for me.
I have never been more aware of my desperate need for Jesus than I am today. I have never been more frustrated and fed up with my sin than I am today. I have never been more aware of my faults, weaknesses, and inadequacies than I am today. And yet, I have never hungered and thirsted for Jesus as I do today! It breaks my heart that it has taken all these years—all the sermons preached, the people buried, the couples married, the babies dedicated, the counseling sessions, the suffering our family has endured, the Scriptures studied, and the books read—to bring me to this place. I would have said these words before I ever came to Meadowbrooke, and I would have meant them. But today I believe I can say them with a depth and conviction I did not possess then: if all I have is Christ, then Christ is all I need, and Christ is all I want.
This seems to me to be the Christian life. The more we grow in our relationship with Jesus, the more aware we become of our need for Him. The more aware we become of that need, the more deeply we grieve our sin. The more deeply we grieve our sin, the more desperate we become for His help. And the more desperate we become for His help, the more we hunger and thirst for the righteousness only Jesus can provide.
Most of you have not been Christians for forty years—some of you haven’t even been alive that long! However, what season are you in? What season do you believe you are leaving in order to enter the next season better prepared for? What is the angst you are experiencing right now that is creating in you a desire to do something meaningful and lasting that matters in light of God’s kingdom? When you hear the words from Ephesians 5:14, “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” Does your spirit turn within you? Do you find yourself saying in the core of your person, “Give me some of that!” 
I want to use the remainder of our time with you to reflect on some things many of you already know from our time in Revelation. For those of you who are newer, I hope I can demonstrate for you why you ought to be excited about the weeks to come for our time in Revelation. 
Look Up–and See Jesus
The book of Revelation was written to unveil the risen Jesus. It answers the question: “Who is Christ?” And the answer is staggering! From beginning to end, Revelation presents Jesus in the fullness of His person and work. He is the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth (1:5). He is the First and the Last, the Living One (1:17–18), the Holy One, the True One (3:7), and the beginning (Originator) of God’s creation (3:14). He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David (5:5), yet also the Lamb who was slain and the Worthy One (5:6, 9, 12). He is the Son of Man (14:14), the Word of God (19:13), and the King of kings and Lord of lords (19:16). He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End (22:13), the Root and the Descendant of David, and the Bright Morning Star (22:16). This is the Jesus Revelation teaches us to see.
Revelation gives us eight reasons to look up to Jesus. I chose eight because seven often represents completeness—the fullness of God’s work—while eight is associated with new beginnings. Eight people were preserved through the flood, when rain fell upon the earth for forty days and forty nights, and they were brought safely into a new world. And what comes after the seventh day? The first day of a new week—the day Jesus rose from the dead. In that sense, the first day is also the eighth day: the day after completion, the beginning of something new. And because of the resurrection of Jesus, that new beginning is ours as well.
1. Jesus is Our Great Liberator. (Rev. 1:1-8)
Jesus is the Great Liberator who conquered death and now reigns as the risen Lord, who loves His people, has freed us from our sins by His blood, and is coming again in glory. At His appearing, every eye will see Him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him.
2. Jesus is the First and the Last (Rev. 1:9-20)
Our Savior is the Everlasting One who stands in the midst of His churches as our great High Priest, the all-seeing Judge, and the omnipotent King. Nothing escapes His sight, no wound His people suffer goes unnoticed, and His servants are held securely in His hand. There is none like Him, for He is the Living One who holds the keys of Death and Hades, and for that reason we need not fear in life or in death.
3. Jesus is the Head of His Church (Rev. 2-3) 
Jesus is not the church’s sidekick, nor is He her mascot—no, He is the Lord of His church, walking among His people and knowing them completely. He sees the faithfulness, suffering, compromise, complacency, and sin of every person, and He knows who truly belongs to Him. Nothing within His church is hidden from Him. He comforts those who remain faithful, confronts what threatens their witness, calls His people to repent and persevere, and promises an eternal reward to those who overcome.
4. Jesus is the Heir of Creation (Rev. 4-5)
Jesus is the rightful Kinsman-Redeemer, the promised Messiah, and the true King. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah and the Root of David, who has conquered and alone is worthy to open the scroll and bring God’s redemptive purposes to completion. Every covenant, every promise, and every hope finds its fulfillment in Him. Because He has overcome sin and death, God’s promise to make all things new will not fail.
5. Jesus is the Lamb of God (Rev. 5:6-10)
Jesus is not just the Lion of Judah; He is the Lion who conquered as the perfect Lamb of God. He was slain for sinners like us, and through His blood He ransomed a people for God from every tribe, language, people, and nation. Through His sacrificial death, sinners are not only forgiven but restored. They are brought near to God, made citizens of His kingdom, and destined to reign with Him forever.
6. Jesus is the Crescendo of Heaven. (Rev. 5:11-14)
Jesus is worshiped in heaven. He is worshiped because He is no mere creature. He was not created, for all things were created by Him, through Him, and for Him. All power belongs to Him because He reigns. All wealth belongs to Him because He owns it all. All wisdom belongs to Him because His ways are perfect. All might belongs to Him because He has conquered. All honor belongs to Him because He is exalted. All glory belongs to Him because He is God. All blessing belongs to Him because all praise is rightfully due Him. Heaven does not make Jesus worthy by worshiping Him—all of heaven worships Him because He already is worthy. And listen, one day all creation on earth and under the earth will also acknowledge what heaven already knows: the Lamb who was slain is worthy!
7. Jesus Reigns Because He is Sovereign (Rev. 6:1-8)
Jesus reigns even when the world seems to be spinning out of control! He alone is worthy to open the scroll, and He alone has the authority to break each of its seals—releasing the four horsemen of the apocalypse and setting in motion the judgments that follow in the trumpets and bowls. War, famine, suffering, injustice, and death do not operate outside His authority! There are no rogue cells in Jesus’ economy! History is not driven by chaos, evil rulers, Satan, or death itself—Jesus Christ is Lord over it all, and nothing happens outside His sovereign purposes.
8. Jesus Sees the Suffering of His People (6:9-11)
Jesus sees the suffering of His people. Let that truth settle into your heart and mind. He does not overlook the pain of His people. The One who cried from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Ps. 22:1), sees you! Listen to me: in your suffering, He does not forget your faithfulness, and He does not ignore your cries. In Revelation 6, we are reminded that Jesus promises rest to His suffering saints and assures them that relief will come in His appointed time. When He tells His people to wait, it is not because He is indifferent, but because His purposes are not yet complete. Just as there are no rogue cells in His economy, there are no wasted tears and no forgotten hurts. The Lamb who died for us is the Lord who will bring everything He has promised to completion—for His glory and for our good.
So what are we to do with what we see of Jesus in Revelation? We must wake up, we must arise, and we must go. 
Wake Up – and Submit to Jesus
So what are we to do with the Christ we see in Revelation? For those of you who were here two weeks ago, you already know the answer: Go to Him! Do not just stand there—go to Him! “Where is that in the Bible?” you ask. It is right there in Hebrews 12:2: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (BSB).  To do that, we need to wake up! 
Two years ago, while preaching through Ephesians, I told you that repentance is never stagnant; it is always mobile in the direction where Jesus can be found. That truth is still true today. So, my dear brother or sister... if you have grown weary, go to Him. If you have become spiritually apathetic, go to Him. If you have wandered into sin, go to Him. If you are hurting, grieving, confused, or afraid, go to Him! Do not stand there and just gaze, run to Him, and do it with your eyes fixed on Jesus! 
Hear again the words of Ephesians 5:14 against the backdrop of all that we have seen from Revelation: “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.” 
Church, look up and see Jesus. See the One who is more beautiful than anything you could gain, more precious than anything you could lose, and more worthy than anything else that has captured your heart. 
Fix your eyes on Him. Wake up to Him. And go to Him!