This morning we continue in the book of Revelation. Wow, we’re approaching the end. For those of you who have been reading ahead, I encourage you to do something different this week, and read through the first 20 chapters, preferably all in one setting!

I’ll just remind you of two parts of the approach we’ve taken in these weeks.

The first is the reminder that this letter was written to young churches, first century Christians whose faith and even lives were sometimes at risk from persecution. And secondly, the value of Revelation is not primarily in decoding all of the symbols to calculate the days we have left before the end of time. The Revelation is a revelation. It’s not about hiding, it’s about opening. It’s not about secrets, it’s about explaining, about God communicating with us.

This morning as we consider parts of Revelation 19 and 20, the wild images continue to fly at us from every angle. Chapter 19 begins with another heavenly scene of worship at God’s throne…I’ll pick up reading from chapter 19:11-21.

Well, in my continuing quest to watch the cars in front of me as I drive, I found a good bumper sticker a few weeks ago. It was a little painful, actually. It was not on a car with a Christian fish or anything, but it was a prayer that simply said “Lord, Protect Me from Your People.” Ouch. It was softened just a little bit, though, by the sticker right below it which said “Republicans for Voldemort!” But it made me think of another bumper sticker you see occasionally, just two words, that says “Jesus Saves.” Jesus Saves.

On the one hand, that seems a little redundant. The very name “Jesus,” after all, means “YHWH Saves,” or “God saves.” So saying “Jesus saves”…is a little like saying “God saves…saves.” Which may actually help us underscore the message that comes out of these chapters of Revelation this morning. God saves…saves. God saves now. And God saves later.

Most of Revelation, but especially chapters 15-16-17-18 that we talked about last week, convinces us of one thing: there is a big, big problem. The writer John’s very first readers - whether they saw the big problem as Rome, or more generally the culture around them, or more specifically their own response to it- could not miss the fact that there was a problem. And we can’t miss it in Revelation either.

• Evil
• Catastrophe
• The bowls
• The seals
• The trumpets
• The plagues
• The opponents: dragons, beasts and the whore of Babylon.

Evil is all around. Evil is inside of people, as they chose the beast over God. There is a big, big problem. And what people need, is salvation. Need to be saved. From the monsters on the outside. From the demons on the inside.

It is almost like this writer John, as he stirs up our imaginations, is daring us. It’s almost like he says “Sit yourself right down here in the middle of Revelation, and let me surround you with darkness, with monsters, with fearful creatures, with other people who are under the awful spell of evil. I’ll surround you with the actions of other people and reflections of yourself. Sit right down here in the middle of all this junk, and go ahead and speak the mantra you’ve been repeating and living by: “I don’t need to be saved.” Go ahead.”

I have a friend who is a serious alcoholic, in denial. A number of years ago, as his drinking was putting his business, his marriage, his family at great risk, some people who loved him gathered at his house for an intervention. And right there, with everyone gathered in his living room, people who cared a great deal for him…my friend excused himself to go the restroom. He went in the bathroom, closed the door, opened the bathroom window, climbed out it, jumped down…and ran away as fast as he could. When I talked to him on the phone later, he said “Dan, I don’t need help.”

What do we do when there is not a perceived need? If people don’t believe in sin, they don’t believe they are sinful people. If people believe they live in comparison to others, then things don’t seem too bad. If we believe that humankind is making great strides of progress, then we don’t need outside help. What do you do when people are so comfortable materially, or so immunized by cultural wisdom that they see themselves lacking nothing? What Revelation says is: things are so bad, it is time for a desperate rescue mission. You need saving.

Salvation is first of all a God-thing. Sometimes when we hear the four spiritual laws, or get handed a sentence prayer to repeat and told that means we’re “saved,” it can sound like salvation is our thing. It’s not. It’s God’s. It is an action of God. Nothing wrong with thinking about the four spiritual laws, nor a prayer of invitation. They are doors and windows that can get us started toward God, ways we can respond. But they are a response to an act of God.

Sometimes I wonder if we would spend more time thinking and talking about our own need instead of what we have to do, we would end up with more of us coming to Christ out of sheer gratitude, sheer thankfulness. Salvation.

To illustrate, John the writer shows us, in several different pieces, the great battle of Armageddon. The beast, the false prophet, the kings of earth, the armies. All are lined up. It is fear-inducing opposition, and if we read seriously we shiver a little. But it is not yet the end. And then, standing once again in the midst of it all, is Jesus. In the worst possible situation, he’s there for at least the 10th time in the book of Revelation. Jesus comes, again. Just when he is most needed.

It’s my story. I suspect it is many of yours as well. At the very lowest point of my adult life, surrounded by monsters of self-doubt and lack of faith and feeling very alone, Jesus appeared for me and said simply “I love you.” Just words. Words that meant everything, and were far more important than fixing a circumstance.

So here’s how the story unfolds.

Jesus appears on a white horse, wearing crowns and with his robe dipped in blood, leading the armies of heaven. The only weapon he has, a sword, comes from his mouth. The Word of God.

He is called Faithful and True, a righteous judge. His name is literally called the Word of God. On his robe and thigh is written his name, “King of kings and Lord of lords.”

Jesus leads the way in battle. Instead of tanks, bombs and spears, he has only the word of God, which he uses to battle the dark forces that, as Eugene Peterson says, “make life small and put our souls at risk.”

Remember that he battles creatures called the false prophet, the deceiver, the tempter.

The battle clashes. Jesus wins. Beast and kings are defeated, and the beasts are captured and thrown into the lake of fire.

The dragon (the devil/Satan) is bound for a thousand years. A thousand years. But it is not yet the end.

Perhaps the battle imagery makes you a little uncomfortable here. It makes me a little uncomfortable. We’re far more at ease with the idea that Christ is a lamb, not a lion, and that he is a sacrificing lover, not a warrior. We might legitimately wonder “why the military scene?” It’s a whole separate topic, of course. But let me say at least this much:

First, military might and power were the rule of the day in the Mediterranean in the first century and understood all too well by John’s readers. At the very least, it should remind us: this is serious business. It’s not a game. We’re not just dinking around with theological musings. This stuff is life and death.

Second, a couple of things about Jesus, the leader of heaven’s armies, might reassure you. He bears only the Word of God as a weapon. And He wears a robe already stained with his own blood, the blood of the cross. And notice that Christ’s army, from heaven, wear not armor but white linen…pure and unstained. Because Christ’s own robe is stained with blood, theirs is not. The battle is fought with the Word of God and the sacrifice of the cross. It’s the same Jesus we know.

We also need to talk about the thousand years, the “millennium.” For people who are interested in reading Revelation as a timeline of the last days, or building a kind of theological system, this 1000-year millennium is a key component, this thousand year time of God’s good reign. For many years, it was almost as important to put yourself in a particular camp as to how you thought about the millennium…as it was to identify yourself as a Christian! We can’t spend a ton of time on this. But stay with me for just a second with these three terms:

Premillenial refers to an approach believing that the kingdom of God will arrive through tribulation. That is, they believe Revelation teaches that earthly conditions will get worse and worse until Christ returns before the millennium (premill), which is a thousand year period of the good reign of God.

Postmillennial thinkers read Revelation believing that the kingdom of God will come gradually through the progress of evangelism and reform, and that Christ will return at the end of the millennium (post mill).

Amillennialism tries to sidestep a bit by not believing there is a literal earthly thousand year time frame we should be counting, but that we are in the midst of the millennium, where the kingdom of God is here…and not yet.

Then there are the old seminary jokes from those who claim they are “pro-millenialists,” meaning they are generally for the millennium. And the pan-millenialsists, who say “I’m sure it will all pan out in the end.” It gets worse! You should go to seminary!

Regardless of how you might categorize things, at the end of the millennium, the thousand years, Satan is released and once again prepares to do battle on the earth, along with the nations of Gog and Magog that align with him. This time fire from heaven comes down and destroys them. Finally Satan is cast into the lake of fire and sulphur along with the two beasts…for eternity.

And finally, John sees the throne of God with myriads of people standing before it, and some books opened. Some books had written in them the deeds of the people. Another book was called the book of life, and anyone whose name was in it…was not thrown into the lake of fire.

I suspect that the line was much longer at the book of life (grace)…than the book recording their deeds (works). If we have any sense at all of what we need, we will line up at grace and forgiveness, not our accomplishments.

At the end of the day…Jesus saves. Jesus saves now and later. Salvation for this life and for the next. Jesus is saving us, and has saved us. Salvation is both more simple and far more complicated than saying the right words. We are saved from sin, from ourselves, from turning life into something small.

In Deuteronomy, Moses pleads with the people of God to obey God’s commandments, and chose to live, to truly live…not for the sake of living with the right boxes checked, but for the chance to live with their arms open to life as God intended.

In this life, Jesus does not always rescue us from hardship or death. But he certainly intends to save us from ourselves. To turn us from living lives that are filled with bitterness and greed and envy of other people. To keep us away from the things that make life small and trivial. Jesus saves. Here and now.

But salvation is not only about life here and now. It is about eternity as well. And though it is difficult to hear things like “lake of fire, the pit, tormented day and night forever and ever, the book of life which does not contain everyone’s name in it,” those are some of the images of the Revelation.

It’s not a game. It’s a war. We are saved from the consequences of sin, eternal death. Salvation has been won by Christ, at great cost…and it is God’s desire that all people come to know it. He saves us not only from ourselves and from evil, but for Himself. His desire is for us to draw near in a relationship that renders time irrelevant. Jesus saves, now, and later.

But notice one thing, as we approach the end of this book of “last things.” That in the end, when all is said and done, the picture is this: we come face to face not with a new character in Revelation, not with a stranger or a newcomer, but with the Jesus we know.

When I became a pastor, I hadn’t thought much about memorial services. I figured it was just part of the job, marking the end of life. Now I’ve come to know what a privilege it is to commit a brother or sister who has believed in Christ into the trustworthy hands of someone they already know…for eternity. What holy ground. Imagine the people we love having a place ready at the heavenly banquet table with Jesus.

Outside on the front lawn, if you walked by this morning, is another of a series of art installations from Bethany artists. It’s still evolving. It’s a long, large table. And around it will eventually be thirteen chairs.

I came over and looked at it just before dark last night. I think it’s God’s table. Sitting out there in front of the big green lawn. There’s room there, plenty of room. In fact, when you see it, feel free to sit down and just be aware of the spaciousness. And wonder.

At this table this morning, all of these things come together. If you chose to come for the Lord’s Supper, you admit your own need for God’s salvation…now, and forever. When we come here, we affirm that Christ has provided for our every need. When we come here, we can come with confidence, knowing that in Jesus there is room for us. It’s a spacious table.