If I’ve not met you, my name is Aaron, and I’m a preaching pastor here, and glad that you’re with us this morning. So if you have a Bible with you, if you’d open up to the book of Revelation, chapter 20. Today our text for study will be verses seven through 10.
And as you’re tuning in there, I also heard really good things from Women’s Conference, and so I was really happy that it turned out as well as it did, and I know not everyone was able to go, but it seemed like a large number of the women of church were able to make it, and so I was just really happy just to hear such a good report from this weekend.
Okay, so as mentioned, Revelation 20:7-10 is the text, so let me read it for us here, and then I’ll pray, ask for God’s blessing on this time, and then we will get to work.
7 And when the thousand years are ended, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will come out to deceive the nations that are at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle; their number is like the sand of the sea. 9 And they marched up over the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, but fire came down from heaven and consumed them, 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Rev. 20:7-10, ESV
That’s God’s word for us this morning, let’s pray.
God, thank you for gathering us together to not just sing songs, to not just enjoy fellowship, not just pray, but you gather us together to hear from your word. So Lord, I pray that you bless the preaching of your word. Lord, please keep me from error. And Lord, where there is error in my words, I pray that they would escape the thoughts of these good folks here. I pray whatever truth is there, that it would rule and reign in our hearts in ways that we would trust in Jesus more. In Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
So one way to look, just to refer to like the modern world or the modern era, which may be a time period from like 1500 or so to present day.
So there’ve been over, well over 100 major wars. The major war being defined as a loss of at minimal 25,000 lives in the conflict. And in those 100 plus major wars, there are plenty with death tolls well into the hundreds of thousands, and some even death tolls into the millions.
And depending on how you might mark beginning, the end of all these different major wars, there’s really just like a handful of years in the modern world where a major war was not taking place. So we really can’t tell the story of the modern world, the modern era, without talking about war, about battles, about ongoing conflict.
And we know it’s not like the reality of war is just part of the modern world that we live in. All of human history is filled with war. To the point that we can’t tell the story of human history without talking about war. We know this, war fills the timeline of the history books.
This morning as we gather together, as Red Village Church, we do so to talk about war. Like this morning, we’re here to talk about the greatest of all wars. A war that everyone will be involved in, on one side or the other. This morning, we’re here to talk about the last war. The one final battle that will bring this present life to an end.
Because this war, this greatest of all battles, at its conclusion, will finally bring about peace to the earth. As this last war, this last battle will usher in a new era. An era like none other, as this last battle brings in the comings of the new heavens and a new earth. Where war will never happen again. Where for the rest of history, war, battles, conflict, they’ll be absent. Where for the rest of human history, only peace and joy will be found that will never end.
Now, before we get to our text in this last great war, let me catch this up where we’ve been the last few weeks in our study of Revelation. We started a few weeks back in chapter 19. So in chapter 19, as you remember the start of that chapter, we read about a war, a battle. A war between God and Babylon. Who in Revelation, Babylon is resented as a woman.
Who is symbolic for things like sexual immorality, greed, all forms of hedonism.
Which are things that have been at war with God since sin entered into the world in Genesis 3. In that passage at the start of Revelation 19, you may remember how we read how heaven rejoiced as the Lord defeated Babylon. Where heaven gave out a collective hallelujah because Babylon was being judged, held accountable for her actions. Then the text in Revelation 19, after that battle, after the judgment falling on Babylon, we met a different woman, the Bride of Christ, who is symbolic for all of God’s people of all time.
And in chapter 19, as we looked at the Bride of Christ, we got to see a very different reality for her. One that stood in sharp contrast to the reality of Babylon. In that, for the Bride of Christ, she is welcomed as a guest of honor into an incredible party, an incredible feast. The text referred to as the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. Where Jesus Christ, who is the great Lamb of God, proves also to be the great, kind, and generous host who throws a party for his Bride, who he honors and loves for all eternity. Then after that, if you may remember the end of chapter 19, we’re back at another battle scene. We read about Jesus, who not only is the great Lamb of God, not only is the great, kind, and generous host, but at the end of chapter 19, Jesus also is a great and glorious warrior.
A warrior who rides in on a white horse. White horses symbolize his victory. Where in chapter 19, the end of it, the glorious warrior Jesus Christ and his army would defeat and destroy the army of a character referred to as the Beast. Which is a character who is either symbolic to represent a specific individual, or at least to me, most likely the Beast is a character meant to symbolize some type of worldview or religion.
A worldview or religion that was so effective that through the help of the Beast’s top lieutenant, his false prophet, the Beast was able to get many to worship him by placing his mark on them. Over at the end of the scene, the end of chapter 19, even though the Beast was powerful, even though his prophet was effective in his deception, he proved to be no match for the glorious Christ on the white horse. Because in the war, the glorious warrior Christ decimated the Beast and his army. And Christ decimated him in such a fashion that the birds of the air were called over to eat the flesh of the Beast’s dead army. At the same time, Christ then took and threw the Beast and his prophet into an eternal lake of fire as a just sentence for their war crimes, for how they deceived people into giving false worship to the Beast rather than giving to worship to God who alone is worthy of worship. Okay, so as you remember, that’s where we were in chapter 19.
And last week, we got to chapter 20, and we came to one of the most difficult passages in the scriptures to know how to best read and interpret, a passage that referred to a 1,000-year reign of Christ, which some think is like a literal 1,000 years, while most others think it’s more of like symbolic, a symbolic 1,000 years meant to symbolize a long length of time, which is what I tend to agree with. In addition, as mentioned last week, the literal symbolic nature of the 1,000-year reign is not the only thing debated in church history, only thing that’s difficult maybe to interpret and understand but the bigger debate in church history is the timing on when this reign of Christ starts.
For some in church history, we label themselves either as like amillennial or postmillennial. If you’re not familiar with those terms, let me invite you to stick around after church. Remember, Uncle Wes will be downstairs and he’s leading a study today that’s gonna have a video series that’s gonna, over the course of several weeks, gonna detail these different viewpoints as well as help give further definitions to these topics. So for the amillennial, postmillennial, in different ways they believe the 1,000-year reign has already started. With the amillennial believing this is like a symbolic reign where Christ is now ruling and reigning in hearts, where in postmillennial, they hold symbolic reign of 1,000 years as a bit of an unfolding physical reign on the earth, where over time, more and more will come to faith in Jesus Christ, which will bring with it more levels of joy and peace to the physical earth. That’s some, how they interpret the 1,000-year reign.
Others, myself included, believe this 1,000-year reign is actually not yet started, but this is something that’s still yet to come. And for those who hold to this understanding, we refer to ourselves as premillennial, which myself specifically fall into. I can’t refer to a historic premillennial, which is similar but different from dispensational premillennial. Again, if these terms are foreign to you, just join Uncle Wes at the end of the service down in the basement, okay?
So we worked through last week in the text with a historic premillennial understanding of the passage is that Christ will return. And as he returns, you have one of his angels throw Satan into a bottomless pit so that Christ will rule on the earth with his people, who he physically raises from the dead in the first resurrection, where Christ will rule and reign on the earth, his people, for a symbolic 1,000 years, where the people will live in peace, where in this 1,000-year reign, there’ll be no wars for an extended period of time, that is, until Satan is released from his prison cell, for one last battle, one last war to take place, which is our text today, where we read the battle, the war to end all wars, where at the end of this 1,000-year reign, the Lord Jesus Christ will finally, fully defeat all of his enemies, including the enemy of death, as he ushers in the new heavens and the new earth, which is mentioned, where war will be no more, where there’ll be only peace and joy forever and ever. Okay, so that’s a bit of an introduction of where we were. If you please look back with me in our text today, starting at verse seven.
As you look back there, please just keep your Bible open. We’re just gonna work through verse by verse. As you’re looking back there, let me mention something that I mentioned last week, that for those who see the 1,000-year reign as having already started, they would see the events recorded at the end of chapter 19, you know, Christ riding on the white horse, and this last great battle in our text today, they would see those as being as the same event, where the author of Revelation, John, was giving details in the last battle from one vantage point, recorded in chapter 19, and then from a different vantage point here in chapter 20. And there are many great Christians, many great theologians who come to this conclusion.
But as mentioned last week, humbly, I’m in a camp that sees the text laid out differently, where I see chapter 19 and 20 details two separate events, two different battles. Where there’s a great battle in chapter 19 of Christ against the beast and his prophet, but now there is a war, a battle, to end all battles in chapter 20, but this time against Satan. So verse seven of our passage, where we read that after the 1,000 years ended, Satan will be released from his prison, which also takes us back to our passage last week, where as mentioned, we read in verse one of an angel coming down from heaven with an authoritative key, by which the angel will open up a bottomless pit, where the angel then sees Satan, who in the previous passage we referred to as the dragon, the ancient serpent, the devil. And as the devil was seized by this angel, he’s thrown into a pit, where the door was sealed shut behind him, where for 1,000 years, Satan would sit in the pit before being released for a little while. So for us, in our text today, this was now taking place in verse seven of the passage. Satan is being released one last time for a little while. There’s one last attempt to overthrow the goodness of God for Satan.
We see that as Satan is released, he is released to come deceive the nations that are from all four corners of the earth, from Gog and Magog, to gather them together for battle. Okay, now just a few things here. First, just the four corners of the earth. I think that’s meant to help us see that this war to end all wars, this will involve everyone. This is truly a world war here. And because this war involves everyone, so one is actually not allowed to claim neutrality here. There’s no spiritual Switzerland.
Everyone is required to pick a side, including all of us here today. We have to pick our side. Second, Gog, Magog. This is a reference to the Old Testament book Ezekiel.
It also details one last great battle. You see that in chapter 38 and 39 of Ezekiel. Now the scriptures, the first time we actually come across these names, Gog and Magog, they actually are individuals. So Magog is the descendant of Noah.
So his name came up in the genealogy in Genesis. Gog is listed in the genealogy of Reuben, one of the sons of Jacob. His name comes up in genealogy in 1 Chronicles 5. But outside of that, we don’t know anything about these individuals. And really even the timeline of these individuals, they’re from different eras. So they’re not linked together in life as contemporaries. So it is a bit interesting and a little confusing on how they’re now linked together here, but they are.
In addition, here in Revelation, as well as Ezekiel, it’s not really certain who Gog and Magog might represent. Although in Ezekiel, Gog seems to refer to a king, Magog as an evil nation, a nation who wars against God’s people, Israel. Where in that passage, the Lord himself enters into the battle to destroy Gog and Magog, to defend his people. Now for us, I think all we can safely say is that Gog, Magog, in this passage here, they represent evil. They represent that which wars against the goodness of God. They’re enemies trying to destroy God’s people once and for all in the text. As Satan is released to deceive the nations of the earth, we see that he is gathering his followers to battle, including those under the influence of Gog and Magog, who seem to be like maybe leading the way.
And this army that Satan is able to bring together is one that is so great. Our text tells us it is like the sand of the sea. Okay, now here, at least for me, this is where it gets a little confusing. I’m like, who makes up this great number?
And by the way, this is one of the reasons I can feel a little unsettled even in my historic pre-millennial camp. Like where did Satan get this huge army that he could so quickly deceive during this thousand year reign of Christ? So some argue that this huge army is made up of demons, perhaps trapped with Satan in the abyss. Is it really possible?
Others argue it’s maybe a combination of demons along with all people of all time who did not trust in Christ. The people who rejected God, who rejected Christ and the gospel of forgiveness. All right, as mentioned, in this battle, everyone has to choose a side. So those who reject Christ and his life, Scripture teaches in the end, they’re actually choosing to fight in Satan’s army. Okay, so while this is confusing me, this does make at least some sense in my mind, that this huge army here of Satan is made up of all individuals of all time who have rejected Christ. Meaning this massive army is made up of those who are not part of the first resurrection that our pastor talked about last week. Remember that?
Having the first resurrection for all those who had faith in Christ will be physically resurrected to rule and reign with Christ for a thousand year reign. But at the end of the reign, when Satan is released, it appears those who rejected Christ will then be resurrected to join Satan for this last great war. This is the second resurrection, which verse six of our text last week referenced. Now to say it again, this does feel a bit odd to me, but best I can tell, this is what’s happening here in verse eight. Satan and his demons and all in this life who have rejected Christ, all come together for one last war. Keep going.
As Satan rallies this massive army for this last great war, in verse nine we read that this army marched over the broad plain of the earth. And as they marched, we see that they did so in ways they’re able to come and surround the camp of the saints in the beloved city. Okay, now a few things here.
First, just notice that Satan and his army, they want this war. They’re not like passively being thrust into battle here. You know, where they’re maybe like kind of minding their own business. You know, kind of living in Magog, doing life together. And then like out of nowhere, a war is thrust upon them, which by the way, I know for some in our congregation, you know that reality far too well, far too personally, how devastating that is.
You know, there’s a psalm here almost two years ago that was thrust upon you, war.
That’s not Satan and his army in this passage. They want this. They want this battle. They marched a great distance for this war to take place.
And this really is true of all different battles of revelation are presented. Forces of evil that war against God. This is what they want.
They hate Christ. They hate his people to the point that they’re actively engaging in battle where they’re seeking to eliminate them.
Second in the text, the saints. These are those who belong to the army of Christ. These are the people who put their faith in him.
These are the ones who Christ resurrected at the start of his reign. The first resurrection.
Third, the beloved city that the saints were camped in.
This seems to be presented in the text as Jerusalem. And Jerusalem’s actually gonna come up again in chapter 21.
We read about the new Jerusalem that is to come. So for me, this beloved city seemed to be referencing Jerusalem. But I think it’s actually given more like symbolic terms. So in scriptures, Jerusalem presented as being like the holy city, which I think is actually the bigger point our text is making that God’s people, they’re dwelling together in holiness.
So maybe not like literally Jerusalem, possibly. Although as I say that, I do want you to know I do think this is a physical dwelling place where God’s people were encamped together. So in both the thousand year reign and the new heavens and new earth that we’re gonna get to in chapter 21, Jerusalem, new Jerusalem, new heavens, new earth.
So in the scriptures, in Revelation, they’re presented as like physical places where God’s people will physically dwell. In the gospels, Jesus talked about going ahead of his people to make a physical place for his people where there’ll be like physical rooms for them to live in. Now we’re gonna talk about this more once we get to chapter 21 and chapter 22.
But in the scriptures, eternal life, so it’s not presented as some type of like out-of-body experience. It’s not presented as like where our souls are kind of just like floating around in the clouds in some type of like out-of-body euphoria. Rather, scripture teaches that God created us physical body and soul.
And the eternal life that is to come, that’s what we’ll be, physical body and soul, where our physical bodies will dwell in physical places, even in eternal life. By the way, a little side note to this here. This is one of the reasons why we wholeheartedly reject any worldview that is almost attempting to like separate body and soul or any teaching that’s promoting like emptying our minds from our bodies. Friends, that’s not biblical.
In fact, that’s like anti-biblical. In eternal life, we’ll be physical body, physical soul, or not physical soul, but physical body and soul. Okay, back to our text.
As Satan and his massive army arrive at the beloved city, we see that they’re able to surround the beloved city. They’re able to like fully pin God’s saints in, which seems to imply that inevitably, Satan and his massive army is gonna overthrow the city and defeat God’s people. It’s presented almost like a matter of time before Satan and his army would come out as decisive victors of this last great war. However, in our text, we see that’s not the reality of how this is gonna end here. In the text, we see that God would not allow for his people to be overcome.
We see in the text that God will actually rain down fire from heaven on top of Satan and his army. It’ll rain down in ways that the enemy of God will be consumed, where the enemy of God will be fully defeated. And this fire from heaven here, this is actually something that came up in the book of Revelation prior, chapter 11.
So we read, or you can read in chapter 11 where there’s opponents of like two of God’s witnesses. And these opponents sought to consume the witnesses of God only for God to deliver his witnesses with fire from heaven. And that fire from heaven in Revelation 11, and now again in chapter 20, I think are meant to take our minds back to two different Old Testament passages. So first, there’s a story of the prophet Elijah.
So in 2 Kings 1, so there’s an evil king who sent a series of captains and officers to surround and capture Elijah. But as the captains and the officers came, God himself protected Elijah by raining fire from heaven to consume the enemies. The other place in the Old Testament is actually back to Ezekiel 38, 39, Gog and Magog. Likewise in Ezekiel, God’s judgment came to defend his people through fire. Fire consumed the enemies that were seeking to destroy God’s people. For us, I think the main emphasis here is that God himself personally protected his saints.
Or God himself personally entered into this great final battle. Meaning God in his great love, mercy, and grace that he has for those that he calls his own, he didn’t just leave his people. He didn’t forsake his people. As they were surrounded, God didn’t passively sit back to perhaps see how well his people could fight the battle on his own.
No. In this passage, God actively got involved. God, the great king of kings, the Lord of lords, enlisted himself into the army to put himself on the front line where he stepped into the fight, knowing that without his intervention, indeed, his people would have been consumed.
In this scene, in his grace, in his love, his kindness, God fought where his people could not fight as God himself decisively brought victory to save his people. And by the way, this is also one of the great ongoing themes of the book of Revelation. This book actually kind of circles around this like over and over again, whom we already looked at in the battles in chapter 19 and ultimately this end battle today. Friends, God fights for his people.
No doubt, Revelation continues to circle around this truth, that God himself will fight, God himself will bring victory for his people as a means to encourage, comfort us. Especially at the times where we feel like opposing forces are like consuming us, which perhaps is actually some of us here today. When we walked in this morning, feeling like surrounded by enemies, whether the enemy of sin, of discouragement, maybe bodily ailment, fear, anxiety, we’re feeling almost like consumed by these things. Friend, if that’s you, let this last great war in Revelation 20, let it encourage you, let it comfort you, let it give you hope. In the end, God will defeat all of his enemies.
He destroys any and all things that war against his people. So again, Revelation tells us this over and over again. Why? So we don’t miss it.
Friends, we must see this great truth. Let me say it again. God fights for his people and he’ll continue to fight for his people all the way until this last great war.
I keep saying it, God will be so decisive in this last great war, that this last great war, this last great battle, in the end, he’ll be so decisive, all we will know is peace. Friends, yes, Scripture tells us to fight the good fight of faith.
I know that’s one of the ways that we worship the Lord, where we fight to follow him in all areas of life, declaring him to be worthy. But friends, in the end, our hope is not how well we fight. Likewise, it’s not like God needs us to fight for him. It’s like the enemies don’t consume him. That’s not our hope. Rather, our hope, that we see all throughout the Scriptures, all throughout Revelation, our hope is that God’s the one who fights for us. Friends, that’s the hope that we have.
That’s the hope in this scene, in this passage, in this great final battle. And friend, if God is for us, who could be against us? Keep going. As God himself entered in to fight this last great battle, this last great war, in the scene of verse 10 of the passage, that Satan’s time is now fully up. At the occlusion of this last great war, there’s not gonna be another time for Satan to ever be released for a little while to deceive. At the end of this great war, our text tells us that the devil, the great dragon, the ancient serpent, the great deceiver, will be captured, and he’s gonna be given an eternal life sentence. Where he’ll be thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur.
That’s gonna be his final, eternal place of residence, as the punishment for all of the evil he unleashed. As mentioned, the lake of fire that burns with sulfur, chapter 19 tells us, and verse 10 reminds us, it’s the same lake of fire and sulfur, it’s the eternal place of torment, where the beast and the false prophet were, the place where they’ll be tormented day and night, forever and ever. And by the way, this is another place, at least to me, where it seems like Stacks is presenting two different events. Where one event happened in chapter 19, that a different event happened in chapter 19. So chapter 19, the beast, the false prophet, thrown into the lake of fire. Then, after this last great battle, Satan joins him, where he also is thrown into this great lake of fire, where for all eternity, the beast, the false prophet, Satan, almost form like an unholy trinity, will be united together in eternal punishment.
It’s mentioned the just payment for the evil, heinous war crimes that they’ve committed. And for us, that’s where we’re gonna stop today. We’re stopping, we’re leaving off for the rest of Satan’s army, waiting for judgment to come their way, which is actually gonna be our text next week, which perhaps is one of the most sobering passages in all of the Bible.
Of a judgment day that’s coming for everyone. We’ll be judged, in many ways, by which side of the war we chose to fight on, for or against the Lord Jesus Christ.
But now, as we begin to close here, just a few thoughts I want to remind us from this passage, and then we’ll be done. Just a few things. So first, as I think through this text, let’s just be reminded that the world is at war. And this is actually really important for us to understand and be mindful of. We live in a world at war, always at war.
And outside of the thousand year reign that is to come, which our text talks about last week, we’ll be at war until this last, final battle of the text. And here, I’m not referring to all the wars that have filled the earth in the modern era, or throughout all of human history. But I’m referring to the spiritual war that’s being fought.
The New Testament tells us this. We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers, against authorities, against cosmic powers, over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.
As the spiritual war takes place, Scripture further tells us this battle’s being fought on three major fronts, the world, the flesh, the devil. But the world represents worldviews, ideals, philosophies. They’re at war at us, in ways they’re trying to capture our hearts, even though they stand in opposition to the Lord. We also, even in our converted life, we can war against the flesh, which represents sinful desires that can have such a grip on us that these desires almost become like idols to us.
We’re putting more hope in our sinful desires, like having them fulfilled, than we actually are hoping in the Lord. Satan, we see throughout Scripture, is the great deceiver, the great accuser, the one who comes pretending to be an angel of light. Friends, this morning, as you see our text, in this last great war that is to take place, let us remind you that we do live in a world at war, a spiritual war, which is, again, there’s gonna be ongoing spiritual battles that will continue to take place until this final battle. Okay, so with that in mind, just a few other things, just on this note here. So first, we all have to decide which side of the war we’re on. This is something I mentioned a few times in the sermon.
You can’t be neutral here. We all are on a side. Scripture tells us that actually by birth, by choice, we actually start out on Satan’s side, warring against Christ. The Testament further tells us this. It says, you were dead in your trespasses and sins, and whence you once walked. Following the course of this world, following the prince, the power of the air, the spirit is now at work in the sons of disobedience, on whom we once all lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out desires of the body and mind.
And we’re by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. And friends, we will continue to be at enmity towards the Lord until we turn from our sin in ways we’re trusting in Jesus Christ, where we’re bowing the knee to Jesus, where we’re putting our faith, our trust in Jesus Christ and his death on the cross and resurrection from the dead for the forgiveness of our sin. We’re going to talk about more in just a bit. But one last time, friends, we all are involved in this war. It’s just what side we are on. Second, as we think about us being at war, we must fight this war by being faithful to the weapons God has given to us. And it’s actually one of the ways that we trust him, where we worship him, is by trusting the good word he has given to us.
And his word tells us this about this spiritual war that we’re in. It’s also in the New Testament. It says, finally, be strong in the Lord in the strength of his might. It says, put on the whole armor of God. You’ll be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
We don’t wrestle against flesh and blood, but against rulers and against authorities, against cosmic powers in the present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in heavy places. Therefore, take up the whole armor of God. You’ll be able to stand in the evil day. And having done all to stand firm, stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances, take up the shield of faith with which you can extinguish the flaming darts of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
Praying at all times in the spirit, with all prayer and supplication to the end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplications for all the saints. And this really is part of fighting the good fight of faith that I mentioned briefly. It’s fighting by putting on the armor of God that he’s given to us. We have to trust him in ways that we listen and obey to what he’s telling us about this fight.
Third, friends, we must fight this war that we’re in by living in community. This is actually one of the other things that God instructs us in his word. It’s actually one of the more important ways that we trust him, that we do so when we’re living in community. That is how God has designed us to live. That’s how he has designed us to fight this fight, by living in relationship and community with others. In the New Testament, particularly those within the local church. This is one of the reasons why we talk so often as a church about the importance to connect with one another.
We don’t engage in this battle in isolation. We engage together, particularly as a local church, together, where we serve one another, where we care for one another, where we’re actively seeking to build each other up in the Lord.
Fourth, because of this reality that we’re at war, friends, we must fight the war by seeing the end result, which is the text today. The end result of God being the victor. Friends, we cannot lose sight of this. In the end, God will make all things right. In the end, he will prove that greater is he who is in his people than he who is in the world. In the end, we must see that our faith, our trust in the Lord is never in vain.
Friends, we know this. Even if we’ve never been on the front lines of like an actual war, like we know war is weary. War can take everything out of a soldier. You know, sure, maybe when a soldier first enlists, you know, maybe he has like bright eyes, there’s some zeal, some excitement, some anticipation that comes with the fight. But then the longer any soldier’s at war, at battle, the more sobering and discouraging the effects of the war can have on them, leaving the soldier more and more weary. And that’s true even in the spiritual war that we’re in.
For sure, maybe when we first come to faith in Jesus, we feel such zeal, such excitement, such hope. But then as the battle wages on, we find ourselves on different front lines of the battle. We know that that same zeal we once had can quickly dissipate, where all we can start to feel is weariness that comes from doing good. And friends, because of the reality of weariness that comes with war, we have to fight by continuing to remember how this war ends.
Victory in the Lord. The Lord, He is the one who’s on the winning side.
This actually is the second thing I wanted to mention before I close this time for us.
Friends, take heart. God fights for His people.
This is how we know that we’re on the winning side. It’s because God Himself fights for His people. See, and this is the reality of the entire scriptures. All throughout the scriptures, God Himself entering in to fight for His people.
You know, for those of us who were through the 1 Samuel study last year, we worked through that. That’s something we saw multiple times. God entering in to fight for His people. It’s been true. This is also one of the themes of Revelation. God entering in to fight for His people.
And this really is the story of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. Where God came to His people in such a way that He entered in, in such a way that through the eternal Son, the second member of the blessed Trinity, God became one of us to enter in, to fight and defeat our sin, which He did on the cross, where Jesus stood in our place. That’s how in He was in. He stood in our place to take on the punishment of our sin, to die, only to rise again on the third day to prove that He is the victor over sin, death, and the devil. Listen, friends. Our sin that has so surrounded us, there’s no way we could ever defeat it or escape it on our own. We can’t fight this battle on our own of sin.
But the good news is that Jesus Christ entered in to fight for us. And through the Holy Spirit, the third member of the blessed Trinity, dwells in the hearts of His people where God continues to be in the fight for us. And God promises, we see in our text, that He will be in the fight for us all the way to this final war. Yes, friends. This fight we’re in, this fight of faith, it can be weary.
It can be discouraging. At times it might feel we’re being overcome in ways that we’re gonna be defeated. But this morning, please take heart. God, for His people, He doesn’t leave us. He doesn’t forsake us in the fight.
Rather, He keeps saying it. He fights for His people all the way to the end until He secures the eternal victory. Which is the last thing I want to mention here before I close this in prayer. Friends, take heart. God will bring about peace. So there’s an early church father named Augustine, which I’m sure some of you are familiar with.
So he’s famous for a number of reasons, one of which is the thoughts referred to of a just war theory. So I’m not gonna get into all the ins and outs of a just war theory, but basically what he means is that at times, the morally correct, right thing to do is actually to engage in war. To fight against those who are causing a grave injustice. Those who are inflicting evil on others. And through that war against injustice, against evil, that’s the only way peace can actually come.
So war is just, in that sense, is the end, it can bring about peace. Okay, now, there’s a lot more to be said there, but I do think there’s truth to the just war theory.
And one of the reasons why is actually our text today, where we see God justly fights against His enemy. His enemy who caused so much harm and destruction through so many heinous, evil acts.
God fought the enemy, defeated the enemy, so that peace might come. Which is how the story of history will eternally go on forever and ever. Not with war. That has filled human history since Genesis 3. Rather, how this will continue to go on forever and ever, the story of peace. Peace that will fully come in Revelation 21, 22. Eternal, everlasting peace and joy for God’s people.
Red Village Church, may God give us the grace to trust and believe that indeed God fights for His people. And may not only trust and believe that this is true, but may we also long for this eternal peace that He has promised to us to come.
Let’s pray.
Lord, I pray that you’d help us to trust in you. Help us to trust that if you are for us, who could be against us. Lord, thank you for giving us Revelation 20 to help us see that which is to come. That through this great war, you will bring about peace. And Lord, please help us just to trust in you as the battle still wages in this life. Help us to trust your word. Lord, please help us to fight together well. And Lord, I pray that for this little church family here, they’d help us just to make much of Jesus. Lord, it is so sweet to trust in Him. So, in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
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