Hello, and welcome to the Westside churches special Monday Morning Coffee podcast on this podcast, our preacher Mark Roberts will help you get your week started right. With look back at yesterday's sermon so that we can think through it further and better work the applications into our daily lives . Mark will then look forward into this week's Bible reading so that we can know what to expect and watch for. And, he may have some extra bonus thoughts from time to time. So grab a cup of coffee as we start the week together on Monday Morning Coffee with Mark.

Good morning. Good morning. Welcome to the Monday Morning Coffee podcast for Monday December the 16th. We're deep into the month of December. We're way into the book of Revelation. Had a great day yesterday at West Side and I am holding a great cup of coffee right here, and I do mean Great cup because I'm holding my Red Fellows mug that keeps coffee nice and warm while I do the podcast. And that's a throwback to last Christmas. It was an amazing Christmas gift and I appreciate that so much. Mugs are part of what makes coffee so great. You have memories, you buy mugs when you're on vacation, people give you a bug. Just incredible, just wonderful. Everything about coffee's great. Everything about yesterday at Westside was just great. Let's talk about it. Let's think about it. Let's read about it. So grab that coffee, get ready, get set. Let's go. Yesterday was the last lesson in our challenges to Christianity preaching theme this year. That has been a very helpful series for me. I would say this, those were some challenging lessons to put together. You don't just climb into the pulpit and wing it, gotta do some research, gotta do some study, gotta do some thinking before you can preach those kinds of lessons. The response has been incredible. I appreciate your encouragement just so very, very much. And I hope that these will be an ongoing resource and we'll continue to help you mention some of that yesterday. Continue to be a value to you. Send a link, send an email, send something, say, Hey, you gotta listen to this. This will help you as you think about Christianity. So what about what we worked with yesterday? Yesterday I talked about if Christianity is true, why is Christianity so divided? And here's an extra thought and I'm not sure that this is exactly the best beginning point with somebody who's attacking Christianity. But we could ask, what if there were no divisions at all? What if there was a hundred percent agreement on everything, on every point? Wouldn't, wouldn't that make unbelievers kind of suspicious? I emphasized yesterday that humans are really good at disagreeing and being disagreeable. We can argue about everything and anything. So thus, if Christianity had sailed along for 2000 years in absolute peace and harmony, somebody would say it's a conspiracy. There's something holding down discussion. There's somebody preventing honest study and questions. Someone is keeping everybody in line , something's up. And there might be a fair comparison there to Islam, which is very, very proud of the fact that there are no , uh, questionable text in the Quran. There are no different readings, different translations, that kind of thing. There's one Quran , this is the only Quran . Well E even that is subject to some de debate. But the reason for that is because when they put the Quran together, they burned all the competing copies. So there would be only one set of the sayings of Muhammad in that way. There would be no controversy or no difficulty, and people point to that and say, Hey, that's not fair. And you've eliminated the chance to really see other ideas that Muhammad may have advanced, et cetera, et cetera. This is obviously not about Islam today, but the divisions that we see among those who claim to follow Jesus are the result. They are the result of sin, mostly the sin of pride. But since people are sinful and are prideful, we should not be surprised that Christianity will have dissension in its ranks. And if there were not divisions among Christians, I think people would be very suspicious and say There's something going on. There's some kind of conspiracy because there's something there that has to be hidden, something that the Christians are keeping from the rest of us. So maybe that helps you if you get involved in controversy, if you get involved in answering that challenge. The, the fact that Christianity is is out here wide open, warts and all, and I'm using the term Christianity pretty broadly, I think is a testimony to its truthfulness, not to some kind of error or some kind of falsehood. Like I said. I hope that helps you. Let's get our Bibles. Let's get over to the book of Revelation. Let's see what we can make of this week's reading beginning in Revelation 19. It is Monday. Our reading today is Revelation 1911 to 21 . And this probably in many ways is one of my favorite text in the book of Revelation. I think I've said that about a dozen times as we've read through the book of Revelation. But I love this text very, very much. In fact, I used this as my sermon text last year in the youth lectures. You can go back and listen to that sermon. I think a very powerful way to see Jesus is to see Jesus, the warrior Christ defeating his enemies. And the emphasis in this is that Jesus is going to win. But I want you to notice those who are with him win so much about. The book of Revelation is summarized by saying, this book means God wins. And I'm one of the people who have said that in the past, and I'm going to quit saying that because I'm not sure that's really what the book of Revelation is about. I don't think anybody in the seven churches of Asia is doubting whether God wins. I I I think everybody assumes that God is going to win. The question is, am I going to win or am I going to get crushed? And the message in Revelation 1911 to 21 is that God wins. And if you stand with God, you win too . In fact, you don't even have to fight. Jesus does the fighting to top all of it off. There's not much of a fight here. Everybody talks about the battle of Armageddon. Battle. What? What battle? What battle do you see here? This is Jesus. He rides forth 11 and 12. This is the Jesus that we saw at the beginning of the book in Revelation chapter one. His robe is dipped in blood. Verse 13, lots of discussion about that. Is that the blood of his enemies or is that his sacrificial blood? Probably. I think this is the blood of the cross here by which he has overcome and by which he is victorious. Then there are the armies. Verse 14, that's you and me. But they're not even wearing armor. They're dressed like priest and fine linen, white and pure and they don't have to fight. Jesus does the fighting because verse 16, he is king of kings and Lord of lords. That's who He. That is who he is . Much of this image is drawn from the book of Ezekiel 39, which is gonna play again here in a minute in chapter 20. And like I said, there's just no battle at all. Instead, there's the gathering. Verse 17, gather for the great supper of God. Verse 19, the beast and the kings of the earth, they gather and what happens? They're on the menu. They are completely destroyed. They are. They are the ones that the birds of the air are going to eat and the rest are slain. Verse 21 by the sword. So it's all done here . You you step out in battle against Jesus and his forces and you just get steamrolled. No chance the beast is captured. The false prophet who had done these signs. He , he he , these two, they're thrown Verse 21 alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. There's a lot of bad ways to die . Die What ? What's worse than than being thrown into fire? So Jesus just absolutely overcomes, but again, his people overcome. Stand with the lamb. You will be victorious. That's the message here in Revelation 19, our reading for Monday. Revelation 1911 to 21 . Welcome to Tuesday. Today we read Revelation chapter 21 to six and true confessions Here, I probably have dreaded this chapter more than any other the entire year. I have thought about Revelation 20 since the beginning of this reading plan because this is such a difficult chapter. There's so many questions here and there's so many questions that we just don't have answers to. For example, the thousand years that's mentioned here, is that a literal period of time? What does that symbolize? What does that mean? What is this first resurrection that's mentioned here? Or as we move further in Revelation chapter 20, the devil here has been sealed and contained. Why is he let out? How about we just keep him sealed and contained? There's a lot going on here that we're not sure about and we'll just have to acknowledge our lack of certainty about these matters, which means that we need to be very careful about being dogmatic. Of course, this is the text from which many people have derived the doctrine of the millennial kingdom. The idea that Jesus will return to this earth and set up a literal physical kingdom in Jerusalem, in physical Israel and reign there for a thousand years. That's a very common belief. The rapture and pre millennialism, all those things, that's a big piece of that big part of that kind of thinking. The millennial kingdom Jesus is gonna return to establish his kingdom for a thousand years is just taught everywhere. But of course in this text, please notice there's no discussion of the second coming of Christ, the bodily resurrection, the reign of Christ on earth, the literal throne of David. Anything about literal Jerusalem and Palestine or the conversion of the Jews. It is amazing how much Old Testament , uh, illusions and discussion there is in the book of Revelation. John loves to pick up ideas out of the Old Testament and there is a bunch of Old Testament stuff here, but it's all out of Ezekiel, none of it, none of it is out of two Samuel seven talking about David and his throne or the continuing kingdom or any of that kind of thing. We need to be very careful then to draw conclusions out of the difficult text, build a giant theology out of that, particularly when that theology contradicts what the Bible plainly says about the kingdom being presently in existence in other passages. Mark nine one, Colossians one, 13. So many other verses talk about the kingdom, the spiritual kingdom of Christ, the church, the people given themselves to the reign and rule of the Messiah, the king of kings, Lord of lords, Jesus that presently exists. Jesus is not going to return to set up a kingdom. The kingdom is running right now. So having said what this is not about that was easier I think than maybe saying what this is about. It is clearly a heavily figurative text and we need to be very careful. No one will go looking on earth for the door to the great abyss where the ancient serpent, the dragon, the devil, verse two where he's been thrown, oh, let's, let's go find that door in the same way if the pet , the abyss isn't literal, what makes us think the thousand years is literal. If, if we don't need a map to find the abyss, why do we need a calendar to understand the thousand years? That seems to me to be a mistake. I think a thousand years is just a fullness of time. And probably what that does is in a book that began and ends, I should add by saying these things will shortly come to pass. It pushes the timeline way forward. These things won't happen in your lifetime. It's saying to the people of the seven churches of Asia, this is a long ways off. That's what I would take from Revelation 20 and verse three. And I would say that this material comes to say that at the end of this battle that we saw in chapter 19, the devil is severely restrained maybe, maybe by the preaching of the gospel. Is that where we're going with that and the righteous are reigning and that that's a clear allusion to passages like Acts two where Peter speaks of Christ sitting on his throne and Colossians one and Revelation one, we reign with him. And these witnesses, these are probably people who uh, are referenced earlier in the book of Revelation, the souls under the altar, those who've been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and, and and again, how literal do we wanna make this? People wanna make the thousand years literal. Do we want to have literal souls who've been beheaded? Is is that literal too? We really need to be careful about some of these things, don't we? They came to life. This is the first resurrection. Wonder if that comes about from the preaching of the gospel. The first resurrection would be uh , would be obeying Jesus coming to life when, when you submit to Jesus in baptism and they reign with Christ and you want to share in that first resurrection again the idea be with Jesus, be with the Lord, stand with the lamb. That's where this is and they're , they're gonna reign verse six, during this gospel age. I think that seems to be where some of that is going, particularly because in a minute the book of Revelation steps to the very end of all things. So during the gospel age, those who are persecuted, those who stand with the lamb, they go with to Jesus and they reign with him. So stand with the lamb. You'll be the winner. You will be victorious. The reading for Tuesday, revelation 21 to six, if you're part of the West Side church, we'll talk about this more in Zoom tonight. I'll be able to say I don't know a whole lot if you're not part of the West Side family. Uh , we'll continue the podcast tomorrow on Wednesday. But like I said, the reading for Tuesday, revelation 21 to six, welcome to Wednesday. Today we're reading Revelation chapter 20, verse seven to 15, the rest of Revelation chapter 20. This material seems to me to be a lot easier than the material that we read yesterday. When the thousand years are ended, verse seven, Satan will be released from his prison. I wish I understood why that is. Maybe that is a reference to the gospel losing its influence as society gets worse and worse and worse and people won't listen to the gospel, the devil is released if you will. He has influence. He has power yet again, and he comes out to deceive the nation. Verse eight, please notice that a thousand years of defeat for the devil have not changed him one bit. He's still the devil and he's still evil and he still opposes God. He didn't learn anything from that time when he was sealed up in the abyss and he comes out with Gog and may Gog . That's a clear reference to the book of Ezekiel in Ezekiel and Ezekiel chapter 38, verses 16 and 17, on down through the rest of the chapter, Gog and Mego are used there as catchall terms for the enemies of God's people. William Stewart's material revelation has been helpful to me here for Israel. That would be Assyria, the northern tribes. For Judah, it would be Babylon for Judea it in the first century it would be Rome. I'm thinking about the Roman Empire coming and destroying Jerusalem. And then I think here for Christians in Revelation chapter, the 20th chapter, it would be the influence of the spirit of Rome that brings persecution upon the church. But Gog in Mago , they're just the bad guys. They're just the bad guys. In apocalyptic literature, they show up with the bat with the black hats on and they do bad things. But verse 19, fire comes verse nine, I'm sorry, fire comes down from heaven and consumes them and the devil who dece them thrown to the lake of fire and so forth where the beast and the false prophet were. There'd be tormented their day and night forever and ever. Kaboom. That's the end of that. That's the end of that. Maybe you are thinking the devil would have a last stand and he would overcome. Nope, he does not overcome. He doesn't beat God and he doesn't beat God's people. Which introduces us then to this scene of final judgment beginning in verse 11. And while some have said maybe this is not final judgment, maybe this is just the judgment of those who oppose God's people. This seems very much to be a wrapping it up scene. We're getting ready to talk about heaven. We're talking about the end of all things. That seems very much to be where this is. And there are two books that are opened , and if your name is not found in the book of life, then we're gonna look over there in the book of your needs and that's not gonna go well for you. You need to make sure that your name is in the book of life. Sometimes people will say, it's not about what you know, it's who you know it. That will never be more true than on the day of judgment. It's all about knowing Jesus. If Jesus looks at you and says to the Father, yes, his name, her name is written in my book of life, I know this one. This one is one of mine, this one stood with me. You will know eternal life, endless bliss beyond anything that we can imagine. The incredible joy of standing with the lamb for all eternity. If you are not known by Jesus, if Jesus says, depart from me, you , worker of iniquity, Matthew chapter seven, then what happens? The worst thing possible happens. You are lost. You are lost and consigned to an eternity with death and Hades and the beast and the false prophet and the devil and the lake of fire. Anyone's name not found written in the book of life, he's thrown into the lake of fire. Jesus loves to use that language. Matthew, the 13 chapter verses 36 to 43. Uh , the story, the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, Luke chapter 16, Jesus loves to portray eternal judgment as being burned, which is easily the worst possible outcome. There's just no pain like that pain, and Jesus uses that figure of speech. There's no literal fire in eternity because you're not a literal physical body to be burned. But all of this is to say that judgment is real and it must be avoided at all cost . Stand with the lamb. If you do, you'll be victorious, but if you don't, the unthinkable happens. You are cast into the lake of fire. This material says judgment is real. Don't kid around with this. Eternity will happen and your fate is very much up to you. Do you choose Babylon or do you choose the lamb? Stand with the lamb. Tomorrow we get to talk about and we get to see that great home of the soul for those who stand with the lamb. The reading for Wednesday is Revelation chapter 20, verse seven to 15. It is Thursday and Thursday's reading is Revelation chapter 21, 1 to eight. What a wonderful reading. This really is. I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Revelation 21, 1 for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more the new heavens and the new earth. That does not mean that God is gonna renovate this terrestrial ball the earth that we are on now, that's gaining some traction in some circles, but I think without any question, the Bible teaches very clearly that eternity is an entirely different existence and that this earth, I'm thinking about two Peter three will be utterly destroyed. So this is just a metaphor. It's a figurative expression used to indicate a new order, new conditions following the defeat of Satan that will be conditions now that are completely different. No sin, no temptation. All of that is gone. And the important thing is verse three, behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. Two weeks ago I talked about Christianity being wonderful because of the hope of eternal life, and I talked about how this is eternal life being with God. This is the theme of the Bible. This is Eden restored. This is what Adam and Eve knew. They walked and talked with God. They were with God. This is what the Old Testament is about. Through the covenant of Moses, God is provisionally with his people, living amongst them in the tabernacle. I'm teaching that on Sundays now and then later in the temple, but now fully we can be with God and some have tried to say that the new heavens and the new earth, the new Jerusalem are the church and and I get it, the expression there is a bride adorn for her husband. That's an expression that's used by Jesus, by Paul for the church in Ephesians chapter five. And there's some people who have tried to make a play out of the book of Isaiah here, and that's just I I , I just think that's a terrible mistake. Nothing in verse four fits the church. And if I'm sitting in the seven churches of Asia and this is being read in the assembly, there is no chance that I'm hearing verse four and I'm looking around and saying, well, that's us right now. We have no tears and no crying and no mourning and no pain and all, all that's passed away. They're in the middle of terrible persecution and there is death. Anna Bass was killed. There is crying. No , this is a passage that says after a long period of time that a thousand years something better waits for those who stand with the lamb. Behold, I make all things new. I'm the alpha and the omega. Verse six, see how the book is coming back to its start. We began with the alpha and the omega. Verse seven, the one who conquers will have this heritage. There it is. There's the theme of the book of Revelation. Conquer. I'll be his God, he'll be my son. But as for the cowardly verse eight, that passage gets read sometime to talk about being a coward, lacking courage in many, many different areas of life. But in the context of Revelation, what does cowardly mean? It's those who quit the lamb and joined up with the hart. Those are the ones who are the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, the murderers, the murderers. Those who persecuted and drunk the blood of the saints, sexually immoral, sorc worth , idolaters liars. Those who gave up their faith said, Jesus is not the Christ. That's who we're talking about in Revelation 21, verse eight. Their portion will being the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. That's talking about disloyal saints. It's talking about Christians who defect. That's who . That's who's in Revelation 21, verse eight, because they'll not know the joys of heaven, the wonders of the new Jerusalem. We begin to read that description tomorrow, but the reading for Thursday is Revelation 21, 1 to eight . Welcome to Friday. Welcome to Friday. Our reading today, revelation 21, verses nine to 14, one of the seven angels who had the seven bolts full of the seven last plagues spoke to me and said, come , I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. He carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city's Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. This is the picture of our heavenly home and of course the glorified saints living in heaven. They are the bride. They are the wife of the lamb living in this amazing city with a great and high wall. Verse 12, very, very secure. We don't need walls in our cities today. That's not how we operate. We lose the significance of that. Remember in the book of Nehemiah, when Nehemiah hears the walls of Jerusalem are torn down, he's just beside himself weeping. 'cause that means Jerusalem is not a safe place. It's not a real city. This is a real city. Great in high wall , real city. Not in the , not in physical terms, but in a, it is a real place. It is a real place where we will be with God and notice the connection, the 12 tribes of the Sons of Israel, verse 12 and then the 12 apostles verse 14, the connection of the old and the New Testament made here in this city all through the book of Revelation. I've tried to be careful and not make too much out of the details here, 12 foundations or that the north has three gates of south, has three gates . It , it's just a beautiful and incredible city where we get to live with God. If there's anything that we ought to say here, I said this as part of the sermon two weeks ago, heaven is never portrayed as a retirement home where we get to do all of all the fun things that we didn't get to do here. Carnal pleasures, for example. Um , party and carry on. It's never portrayed as a place where we just have endless leisure time. We can golf and fish and hunt all we want. It's always portrayed as the place where we get to be with God, and there is no sin at all. Great high wall. That's what we're seeing here. That's what matters. I expect that you'll have a hard time stopping our reading today in verse 14. It's just impossible to stop. You want to go on and read more about this place where we will live someday . How wonderful it will be to be in that city with God. That's the reading then for Friday, revelation 21, 9 to 14 , and that's the podcast for the week. Thank you so much for listening. As always, I'd ask you to leave a rating or review and to tell other people about the podcast until Monday. Then when we'll open our Bibles together. Again, I'm Mark Roberts and I want to go to heaven. I want to go to this great city and I want you to come to , I'll see you on Monday with a cup of coffee.

Thanks for listening to the Westside Church of Christ Podcast. Monday morning Coffee with Mark. For more information about Westside, you can connect with us through our website, just christians.com and our Facebook page, our music is from upbeat.io. That's upbeat with two P'S U-P-P-B-E-A-T, where creators can get free music. Please share our podcast with others and we look forward to seeing you again with a cup of coffee. Of course, on next Monday.