We wrap up this series on today and interestingly, it finishes much like it starts. What John sees and writes in chapter 22 mirrors what he wrote in chapter 1. But more interestingly, how Revelation ends, with a picture of a garden, reminds us of how the Bible begins and how God brings things full circle and makes all things new. 

In this passage things just keep getting better. It's a passage that builds on last week and is full of symbols and metaphors describing the grandeur and perfection and purity of the kingdom to come. A divine banquet awaits for those who are in Christ.

We move from last week's highly debated text to this week's, which may be Revelation's most beautiful. In this well-known passage we are comforted with the great promise of God one day making all things new one day, a work that Jesus began with His first coming and completes with His second.

This chapter sparks more debate than most, if not all, in the Bible. It introduces a millennium period about which people have differing views. We'll discuss some of those. But most importantly, it brings encouragement and comfort to those following the Lamb and the certainty of their future and defeat of their enemy. 

One of the big picture themes of Revelation is the trials the church undergoes. Imprisonment, martyrdom and war but a time is coming when that war will end. That’s the promise revealed in this chapter which ends with a wedding and a feast with the Lamb.

In last week’s message from Revelation 17 we looked at the deception of Babylon.

In this week’s we look at her destruction. A destruction coming because of her self glorification, her deception and her oppression. We end by considering how we respond as people who live in ‘Babylon’ today. 

Although Revelation 17 can be difficult to interpret, we must. For it’s a text written to encourage and strengthen those who follow Jesus while living at a time that opposes them and the Jesus they follow.

Revelation 15 reminded us of how certain our future is as God’s people. Together we sing the song of Moses and the Lamb, celebrating our deliverance by the blood of Jesus and the guarantee of a future with Him.

Revelation 16 goes on to tell us that God’s wrath against evil is equally certain and sure. His wrath is real, intense, and it is both a present and future reality for those who do not trust in Jesus, the Son of God.

The judgment and wrath of God as described in the book of Revelation are off-putting to many people. “Why would a loving God do that to people?” is a question many grapple with when confronted with the biblical realities of God’s judgment and hell. The assumption being that a benevolent, loving God would never administer such intense wrath to human beings.

However, how does the Bible, and the book of Revelation in particular, portray God in light of the intense judgments it describes that await the rebellious? Revelation 15 not only describes the preparations for final judgment and the victory of the redeemed, but also shows how the Bible portrays God during that dreadful period in human history.

The world today is filled with violence, murder, rebellion, self-indulgence and godlessness. It might appear as though the kingdom of Christ is a lost cause. When we read about the kingdom of the antichrist in Revelation 13,  the strategy of the dragon and his accomplices, the two beasts and how Satan holds sway over the whole earth, the future seems grim for the people of God in this world.

But in Revelation 14,  John looks and sees everything from a different vantage point. He sees Christ on Mt. Zion, standing, with the redeemed children of God! What are the implications of what John sees? What implications do John’s visions in Revelation 14 have on this rebellious, violent, murderous, self-indulgent, godless world?