The Testimony of Three Angels | Revelation 14:6-11 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (3/8/26)

Well, good afternoon. Baranatha Bible Church. Welcome to the Lord's Day service where we have another opportunity yet to praise and worship and exalt our Lord Jesus Christ. I hope you come expecting great things from the Lord this afternoon. As we begin our service, I'd like to read from Psalm 92.

May the words of the Lord call us to worship today. Call us to focus on him. Call us to celebrate and exalt in him today. Psalm 92. A Psalm.

A song for the Sabbath. It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, oh most high, to declare your steadfast love in the morning and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lutes and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, oh, Lord, have made me glad by your work. At the works of your hand, I sing for joy. How great are your works, oh lord.

Your thoughts are very deep. The stupid man cannot know. The fool cannot understand this, that though the wicked sprout like grass and all evil doers flourish, they are doomed for destruction forever. But you, oh, Lord, are on high forever. For behold your enemies, oh, Lord, for behold your enemies shall perish.

All evil evildoers shall be scattered. But you have exalted my horn like that of the wild ox. You have poured over me fresh oil. My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies. My ears have heard the doom of my evil assailants.

The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of our God. They still bear fruit in old age. They are ever full of sap and grain to declare that the Lord is upright.

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him. Father, we thank you. Lord, truly, you are lord and you are worthy to be praised, and there is no unrighteousness in you. And it is through that perfect righteousness, through the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ that we come before you today. And we offer, once again, our lives are fresh to you.

We offer our voices and our singing to you. We offer our minds and and how we pay attention to you. We offer our hearts and how we worship you from our inner being. Father, find these things acceptable in your sight. Lord, we love you.

Teach us to love you more. Lord, may we encounter you today. Open the eyes. Open our eyes that we might behold wondrous things out of your law. And teach us your way, oh Lord, that we may walk in your truth.

Unite our hearts to fear your name. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Church, will you please stand and worship the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords today?

Christ before me.

Lead me

onward into Zion. I've yet to see.

For my day. I deepen on you

I

deepen on you I deepen on you I Father, we've come to sing something that we have experienced and that we need to be reminded of. Oh, lord, we depend on you. We depend on you for our salvation. We depend on you for our sanctification. We depend on you for our peace, our joy, our hope, our love, our holiness.

We depend on you, Lord, for our needs, our healing, our sanity, our wisdom, our integrity. There is not one thing, Lord, that you cannot help with and that we do not need help for. We've come to gladly confess that we depend on you, and we pray, Lord, that we would feel and sense and realize the grace that you're ready to give to your people. We love you. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. Amen. Well, before you're seated, turn to someone. Welcome them to this Lord's Day service. If you're here for the very first time, a special welcome to you.

And, Dolores blessed us with a wonderful weather. Wonderful day. Outside is a reflection of the joy and the warmth in our hearts. Well, we we continue to worship in our giving, and so the ushers will help us as they always do, with our contributions to the ministry, ultimately, to God's kingdom. You know very well that we are saving up for building and we're saving up for God to bring us into a new place, with the least amount of debt as possible.

And we're even believing for no debt, zero debt. And God can do it. He's a God of miracles. And so as that's taking place, allow me to remind you of a few things. From time to time, it's good to just be reminded of what we do here on a weekly basis.

So in case you don't know, we meet here every single Wednesday night, 07:00 in this very sanctuary, and we pray. We pray as a as a church. We pray for people's needs, and we pray for those who may not even be a part of this church, but we come and we pray. It's a very special meeting. It's a rarity these days to see churches pray.

It's not that's not a reason for us to boast, but that is a reason for us to continue this service and to believe that God will bless those who pray in a church that prays. So let's let's remain on our knees, and we invite you to join us. If you can't join us in person, join us with your request. Send your request. It is a privilege of ours to be able to intercede for those that believe God to answer prayers.

So that happens every Wednesday. And every Friday, we go through the Old Testament. And we're going through the book of Ezra. We have two chapters left. And sometimes people feel discouraged of joining a Bible study halfway through or near the end.

They feel like I missed it. I missed the boat. You never missed the boat. Any study you come to, I'm sure you'll be blessed by because there's something that God wants to say in that moment to us. But, we're we're gonna be going into Nehemiah, right after that because it's just a perfect fit.

So join us on Friday at 07:00 also in this very room. And as you know, Sunday, the Lord's day, we meet here at 01:00, a very convenient time, I guess. And, we trust that God will bless these services. Besides that, we have AM. So men, brothers, those who wanna be a part of this church in a more, intimate way, that's one of the ways that we offer, an avenue into knowing each other on a deeper level.

So you can join us 10AM, March 21. We hear testimonies. We have breakfast. We pray for one another. We sing, and we look forward to that time.

Besides that, just another reminder that we do have a couple of ministries that are reaching out for help. And so ladies, if it's on your heart to serve in this church, in whatever way you, God would want for you, we have our Sunday school ministry and we would love for you to be a part of that. And what you do is you just send us an email at our church email. You can go to our website, m b chicago, to find our contact information. And just let us know in the subject line, Sunday school volunteer, something along those lines.

Let us know so we can let the ministry team leaders know that you're interested in serving in this capacity. Besides that, we have our hospitality ministry that frequently needs help. It is such a vital part of this church. Many of you know that every single Sunday we take our time and spend time with one another after the service. So we don't just whisk away once the the blessing, the benediction is given, We stay.

And one of the reasons why we stay is because there's food, and we like to eat. And because the food is there, we fellowship more. It's an instrument for our fellowship, but we need people to carry that weight. We need families to volunteer to serve in in providing food. We need people to organize some of the things on a weekly basis.

So men or women, if you wanna be a part of this hospitality ministry, which is really, keeping us together in many ways, we ask that you do the same thing. You email us and let us know. I wanna help serve, in that way. We look forward to that. You know, sometimes just reading the words of Jesus is enough to minister to us.

And I find myself frequently reading through the words of Jesus and making the same comment that most of his audience made when he was preaching in Galilee and at the temple, there was a remark that was, was known and it was this, there is no one who speaks like this man. If you just take his words at face value, you can't deny that he is God in the flesh. You can't deny that he is perfect. And I want you to just read some of these words for us in John 14 verse 18 down. He speaks to his own.

And you don't have to turn there. You can just receive these words. Jesus Christ, the one that we sang about, the one that we worship today, says this to us in his word. I will not leave you as orphans. I mean, just that thought alone.

I will not leave you as orphans. I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. In that day, you will know that I am in my father and you in me and I in you.

Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. You know, you read verse 21, you think that Jesus is speaking to the lost. He's not speaking to the lost. He's speaking to his disciples.

And that's quite confusing for some people because it says here that those who obey his commandments will be loved by the father and loved by Christ. But I thought God loved everybody whether you obey or don't didn't he love the world and sent his son in that state and condition of disobedience and rebellion? So how is it here that there's a condition on God's love? If you love me, if you obey my commandments, you will be loved by my father and I will love you. Here's the difference, he's speaking to his own and the love that he is speaking about is an experiential love.

Because in the same verse it says, I will manifest myself to you. It is true that God loves all but it is also true that not everybody experiences his love. And that is even true for some Christians. You know, A. W.

Tozer said that one of the paradoxes of the Christian life is that we have been found by God and we still pursue him. That we are saved and yet there's something of a seeking on our part to know more of him. And this is one of the greatest promises for our experience of Christ. That for those who love him enough to obey his word, he promises to manifest himself to us. What that means is he will make himself more and more real to you and I.

And that should be the craving of every heart in this place. To say, Lord, whatever that manifestation looks like, I want more of it. And it's promised to those who desire it. And my prayer is that it would be real for this church, that we would be a church that knows the manifestations of Christ. I'm not speaking about strange, mystical things.

I'm talking about heart knowledge. I'm talking about something that's deeper than the physical and the material. Something in your soul where you realize Christ's reality to greater degrees and it satisfies you and it changes you. And so my desire just reading these words is to relish in them and to ask God to manifest himself to us, not just in these services, but in our day to day lives. And that is something that he's willing to answer.

Can we ask him for it? Lord, we thank you that we never have to worry for a moment if you will abandon us. You promise that you will not leave us as orphans. We never have to wonder for one second if you will remove yourself as father, as protector, as savior, as leader, as guider. You will never leave us as orphans.

And there is a day coming where you will take us to yourself. But Lord, between now and then, you also promise that you're willing to manifest yourself to us. And Lord, we admit that we don't know what that looks like, but we know that we desire it. And we do pray, Lord, that you would even use this service to make Christ more real. And that Lord beyond this service that each of us would have a more sensitive and a more intimate walk with Christ.

And so Lord if what you require is our love manifest through obedience then take it. Help us obey you. And if the reward is greater knowledge of who you are, that is all we need. So Lord, we do we do pray that you would do what we can't do in our own strength and that's open the eyes of our hearts. Make Christ known to us today.

In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Let's stand. He's alive, and he's coming back for us one day. Let's seek him.

Me

you.

Stood beneath a tad we could now. Heavenly Father, we thank you for today. We thank you that we are in your house to worship you and to praise you and exalt the name of Christ. Lord, we come to you today with humble hearts and much to be grateful for, for what you are doing in each of our lives and in this place, in this church, and we give you all the glory, all the thanksgiving, and all the honor. Lord, as we continue our time together of worship, continue to be with us, Lord.

May your spirit lead and guide every part of our gathering today. We thank you for your love. We thank you for being a real God, a God that is alive, and we thank you, Lord, for saving us through Christ. And it is in his name we pray. Amen.

In Acts chapter 14 verses sixteen and seventeen, the apostle Paul stood before a group of people in a town called Lystra. And he was conveying to this group of people who were evidently idolaters that the true God throughout every generation has never ever left himself without a witness. Even gentiles who unlike the nation of Israel received direct divine revelation were not without evidence of God. Paul goes on to explain that God has made himself known through his providential and gracious provision. He he sent rain and he gave you fruitful seasons and abundant crops and harvest and even satisfied the hearts of men and women with joy and gladness.

In other words, Paul is communicating by the spirit that in every generation, God in some measure has revealed himself to all nations. And as we continue to explore what God has made known about the final chapter of human history, there are many new things that we have discovered but one thing remains unchanged, that God witnesses to the nations. That God will still even in that era make himself so clearly known. The only difference is as the world draws nearer and nearer to its end, God's voice will become louder and louder. And one of the ways this will occur is through, ready for this, unusual angelic activity.

This is what John sees next in the chapter that we started together in Revelation 14 recently. After getting a glimpse of Christ standing victorious with the redeemed on Mount Zion, shortly after the the brief reign of the Antichrist, there's something else that he is going to see. Extraordinary events during the tribulation period. And in this new passage, we're going to learn that at some point, there will be three angels dispatched from heaven, each carrying a unique message for the world. And we're going to look at these things more closely today.

And if you want a summary of what we're going to examine this afternoon, it is this, the testimony of three angels. The testimony of three angels, particularly in the last days. Let's read about it in Revelation 14 starting in verse six. Then I saw another angel flying directly overhead with an eternal gospel to proclaim to those who dwell on earth, to every nation and tribe and language and people. And he said with a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come.

And worship him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the springs of water. Another angel, a second, followed saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality. And another angel, a third, followed them saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger. And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night.

These worshipers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name. Let's pray. Lord, we know that the testimony of these angels are your words and we ask that you would help us understand them. And though we know that we are looking into the future, we pray that we would hear your voice for today. Give us your guidance, Lord, through these passages.

Give us an attentive mind and a receptive heart. We pray that your word would build us up and that it would destroy all lies, all deceptions, all dormant sins, all these things that seek to captivate us and draw us away from you. We pray that you would conquer our hearts afresh this afternoon. In Jesus name we pray, amen. You know as I read this passage repeatedly earlier this week, there were two main questions that arose in my mind that I had to answer before looking at these things in greater detail.

The first question that came to me is simply this, are these angels that we just read about, are they to be taken literally? Are they real angelic agents? Are they actual messengers from heaven? And the reason why I say that is because with a lot of revelation, there are many who want to see this as symbolic. And there are strange ideas of what these angels represent, everything from printed Bibles, to satellites in the sky, to a picture of believers throughout the ages.

But we shouldn't find it so difficult to see these as actual angels, should we? Because this is not the first time that we see something similar like this in the New Testament. May I remind you who announced the good news of the birth of the Messiah to a bunch of shepherds on a quiet night. What did Luke tell us in Luke chapter two verse 13? It was an angel with a multitude of hosts in heaven praising God.

Now listen, if you're willing to say that these angels in Revelation 14 are symbolic, are you willing to say the same about Luke chapter two? I doubt it. So if you're willing to take the angel and a heavenly choir visiting a group of shepherds, literally then why would you be hesitant to see these angels as actual angels? And if we're willing to see these angels as literal angels, which we should, then we can then answer the second question. When will this celestial set of proclamations happen?

And though we don't have the exact moment, we are granted the general timeline. How? Well, look carefully at the words of the warning of the third angel again. Look at verse nine of Revelation 14. And another angel, a third, followed them saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand.

That's quite telling, isn't it? Because this warning determines the context of it. What do we see here? That clearly, for the angel to say this means that the Antichrist marking system is already in operation. And if we can accept that, then we know according to Revelation 13 that the peak of the Antichrist control, his fiercest control will happen in the last three and a half years before Christ's return.

And so we know that these angels making their appearance, racing through the skies to make this very important announcement, few announcements, will occur in the latter portion of the tribulation period namely the great tribulation just before shortly before Christ comes back. But just because they are saying these things in the future, just because this is predictive, doesn't mean that they can't speak to us now. In fact, they do. And I want to simply divide our thoughts here with these distinct messages and consider what they have to say about the world and what they have to say about us as followers of Christ. So let's consider message number one from angel number one.

What will be said to alarm the world before the last set of judgments will be poured out and Christ cracks open the sky and makes his way toward the earth? It's not surprising. The first message is the gospel. It shouldn't surprise us that the first thing that is heralded to those who dwell on earth is the eternal gospel. And look at that.

The spirit of God is so precise. He didn't just say gospel, he said eternal gospel. And that means more than just the fact that this gospel is the means to eternal life, it speaks about how it is the ageless message. There is no room for alternative interpretations of what this gospel can be. There is no room for any other ideas.

For it to be the eternal gospel means it's the gospel that we've always known about. It's the gospel that has been prepared from eternity past. It's the gospel that the prophets of old have prophesied about. It's the gospels that the apostles spread to the nations. It's the gospel, the same gospel that is still saving souls today.

It's that very same gospel. And what moves me about that very important detail is that even in the last hour of all things, the gospel is still the only hope for humanity. That message hasn't altered. It hasn't diluted. It's still the same saving message.

It's the eternal gospel. In fact, the ministry of this angel at this time could very well be the fulfillment of one of the things Jesus said would happen before he returned. Do you remember what he said on the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 verse 14? He promised in Matthew twenty four fourteen, and this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come. So it is true that up to this point, we've seen the ministry of the 144,000 who very likely were preachers.

And we know that there will be believers here during this time preaching. And we know that in Revelation 11, there are two witnesses in Jerusalem with great power preaching the truth, preaching repentance. But on top of all of that, you have an angel who is suspended in the sky, flying through the skies and amplifying the gospel, ensuring that not one part of the world, not one nation, not one tribe, not one hidden clan would miss it. This is God's grace. This is his incredible mercy to a very undeserving generation who have ignored much of his warnings and his pleas and yet still one angel is sent from heaven to declare this gospel, which is an exception because we know that in this age, that privilege has been given to who?

Believers. Angels don't preach the gospel. We preach the gospel. Even when the angel visit visited Cornelius, I've always wondered, why set up a whole meeting with Cornelius and fetch for Peter and give Peter a vision and have have them meet together in Cornelius' home? I mean, you already made it there to Cornelius' house.

Why don't you just tell him the gospel? Right? Because that honor has been given to us. So let's not waste it. Let's not hide it.

But this is a different era. This is a different time. This isn't surprising. The gospel is the first message. But what may surprise us is the content of the message.

Supposing that we didn't read these verses, this is just me telling you upfront without any further information that there will be an angel preaching the eternal gospel to this last generation. What would you think he would say? Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead? What about there is no other name given among men. No other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.

There's salvation and no one else. Would you think that the angel would say something like that? Those are not wrong. Those are indeed messages that pertain to the gospel. But look again at verse 15 what he says.

Fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come and worship him. Fear God? Eternal gospel? How did these two truths relate? Well to some they don't.

And that has led some to actually say, because of this message, the gospel this angel's preaching must mean something different than how the New Testament generally summarizes it. But remember, this is the eternal gospel that's being exclaimed here which tells us something very very important about the good news of Jesus Christ. Fearing God is the appropriate response to it. There's a lot of misconception about the fear of God especially among Christians. And as many of you already know, one of my favorite passages to offer clarification is Psalm 33 verse eight.

In that verse, we read here, let all the earth fear the Lord. Let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Poetry was different in that time and we know here that this is Hebrew parallelism at work. What's Hebrew parallelism? Well, one way it works is when one line is given, the second one either expounds on that first thought or clarifies it or repeats it with different words and that's what's happening here.

Let all the earth fear the Lord. And then the second line says, let all the inhabitants of the world which mirrors, let all the earth stand in awe of him, which is the same as fearing the Lord. Fearing the Lord is being in awe of the Lord. And awe is a complex emotion. It can mean different things but it definitely doesn't imply that to fear God means to be an absolute slavish dread of him.

That would cause a lot more problems in our bibles and our understanding of how to worship and relate to God. But if it means to be in awe of him, then it makes complete sense. Now you might still be wondering, but hold on, I thought the fear of God is more of like an old testament mosaic kind of emphasis. But I wanna remind you that this angel tells us that it's the right response to the gospel. In fact, this is something that the New Testament confirms elsewhere.

Turn with me to first Peter and look at these verses with me in chapter one. First Peter chapter one, Peter is obviously addressing Christians. And notice what he says in verse 17 down through verse 19. Peter says, and if you call on him as father who judges impartially according to each one's deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time of your exile. Knowing that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your fathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

This is a fascination to me. This is staggering to me because in between the glorious truths of calling God as father in verse 17 and being ransomed with the precious blood of Christ in verse 19, you have the charge for us to fear God throughout our pilgrimage on earth. Calling God as father, being ransomed by the precious blood of Christ and in between that is what? Fear God. Well, again, you might run into some issues if fear means to cower away from God.

But if it means to stand in awe of him, then it makes sense. I get to call this holy Godfather? Oh, that's awesome. I've been ranted, my soul has been paid for. Not with things like silver and gold but with the blood of the Son of God.

He's worthy of my all. So even in this, we see that there are gospel realities attached to the response of standing in awe of God, fearing God. And that teaches us many things and one of the things it tells me that if someone professes Christ but lacks reverence, is void of seriousness, does not even have a hint of majesty in their worship or in how they relate to the Lord, I question if they've really tasted the gospel. Professing Christians who are overly casual make me nervous because fearing God is the appropriate attitude that one will possess and grow in if they really understand the gospel. You can't be trivial with this gospel.

You don't become buddy buddy with Jesus because of this gospel. You fear him. You revere him. Yes, you embrace him as the lover of your soul but oh, he is still king. He is still holy.

And as we're about to find out, even the lamb supervises hell. And so we consider these things. What the angel is saying, hopefully, is becoming more clear to us. But you may be wondering why this emphasis? Why couldn't the angel have highlighted a different component of our faith?

Why why not come with a different angle concerning the gospel? Well, when you factor in the state of the world, you realize that this angel is actually being very strategic with his message. What's happening in the world at this point? The Antichrist is ruling and reigning and because of that you have the masses standing in awe of him, glorifying him, adoring him. And so this celestial being now comes and he trumpets this message, fear God.

Fear God. Not this man, not this deceiver, not this false savior. Fear God, glorify him, worship him. And notice he highlights also that God is the creator of all things. This man didn't do anything even close to that.

So the problem with the nations at this point is not legalism. The nations are not struggling with self righteousness here. They're not drowning in their shame here. What's their problem? Idolatry.

And it's being confronted with this message. Misdirected adoration, that's the issue that this gospel presentation is pressing on but it's still relevant for us today. Listen, as a gospel people, you and I are called to be God fearers. We're called to be God fearers. And I wanna exhort you before we move on with this one thought from Proverbs 23 verse 17.

Let not your heart envy sinners, but continue in the fear of the Lord all the day. I love that last part. All the day. Is it possible to fear God some part of the day? I think so.

Depending on your environment, like in this place right now, it's much easier to stand in awe of God here. With the right music and a sermon and maybe even a building and its aesthetics may give us that impression that we're in a holy space. But you know what this charge says? Fear God all the day, not just on Sunday afternoon. Not just on Wednesday night, not just not just on Friday evening, all the day.

When in your car, fear God. When you're when you're at work, fear God. When you go on vacation, fear God. Stand in awe of God always. And I could assure you this, if you and I fear God all the day, it's much more difficult to sin throughout the day.

So stand in constant awareness of the majesty of God, the beauty of God, the holiness of God. The way you do that is you coat your mind with the scriptures. You spend time with him. You pray without ceasing. You include him in your plans and your worries.

Let him be in the forefront of your thinking, your meditation. Fear God all the day. I love Joseph in that story when he's alone with his boss's wife. Nobody's in sight. They could have gotten away with it.

But you know what Joseph had? Had it with a very difficult history and past. He had an awareness that God is in this place. How can I do this great evil against God? I wonder how Potiphar's wife reacted to that.

I would love to have gotten a picture of her face. No, no, no. It may be you and me here but listen, I know God is here actually. So we may get away with it with your husband, we may get away with it from the employees but God sees it all. That's a man who fears God.

That's a man who fears God all the day. May we be the same. So the first message that the first angel preaches is the eternal gospel but the emphasis here is fearing God which teaches me that if I really know the gospel, there's gonna be in seed form this fear of God and that's gonna grow the more I know my God, the more I understand the depths of the gospel. Message number two from angel number two. Look back again at Revelation 14.

We go from the eternal gospel to the world will pass away. That's the second message. Look again at verse seven and verse eight. Verse eight says another angel, a second followed saying, fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. Shu made all nations drink the wine of passion of her sexual immorality.

Babylon? Why is Babylon, this ancient capital city of a former world empire being mentioned here? Interestingly, this is not the only time it appears in the book of Revelation. This is the first time it's gonna show up a total of six times in this book. And so we're considering this Babylon and we're going to see this in greater detail especially in chapter seventeen and eighteen where chapters 18 details the destruction of this Babylon.

Here's how we make sense of this. Babylon according to the Bible is more than just a historical city. It is actually a symbol of a worldly system that opposes God, that rebels against God, that hates God. It is often a picture of a center of idolatry that promotes hostility against God's word, his will, and his people. And that is something that is acknowledged in this way elsewhere in the new testament primarily with Peter.

Turn in your bibles to first Peter in chapter five and look at how he ends this letter to his audience. First Peter five verse 13. Peter says as he is wrapping things up, she who is at Babylon, who is likewise chosen, sends you greetings and so does Mark my son. Babylon. Some are satisfied to say that Peter's speaking about literal Babylon here.

But it's more likely that he's using coded language to his audience to describe a location of a particular saint or a church that is sending their greetings. This audience that Peter is writing to is aware of she who is at Babylon. So you have to understand that there was persecution in Peter's day and even their letters could have been confiscated by the government. And so in order to protect those, especially who are under persecution, he would use cryptic language to identify them. And that seems to be what's happening here.

But what's more important is that this proves that this Babylonian analogy was common to the early church and it's no different with John in Revelation. Why is John applying Babylon here in Revelation chapter 14? Because he wants to use it to describe the empire of the Antichrist. That the system the Antichrist has built in these final hours carries the same defiant spirit that we see in Genesis 10 with Nimrod who founded Babel and the Tower Of Babel in Genesis chapter 11. As though to say that what we find here at the final moments is the culminating expression of this Babylonian spirit.

One of the main features of Babylon in the bible is that it seeks to create a one world government and unified false worship. Again, think about the Tower Of Babble. You have the collective world coming together to build this edifice to make a declaration that we want to have governance apart from God. That's what that was. Come, let us make a name for ourselves.

And you fast forward and you go to Daniel and you realize that Babylon is still in existence and it's at its strongest point ever. Nebuchadnezzar is the king. And what does he do? He gets a dream of succession of kingdoms. He's the first one and he's to be replaced and that one's to be replaced and that bothers Nebuchadnezzar.

And so what does he do? Well, if I'm the gold part of that statue and I'm only part of it, I'm gonna make a golden statue of myself saying I'm not going nowhere. No kingdom is gonna replace me. From head to toe, if this statue symbolizes the timeline of history, then Babylon is going to rule and reign forever. Worship this image.

So again, this combination of one world government and unified false worship. With the Tower Of Babel, they were dispersed by God's power. With Nebuchadnezzar, both he and Babylon were humbled. Now we come to Revelation and Babylon is making a comeback. And it will reach the highest point of its success.

It will achieve what it's always longed for, global dominance. Babylon is here, John is telling us. And we're gonna learn more about it because the Revelation the book of Revelation has a lot to say about it but what we have learned up to this point is enough for now. What should grip us, however, is how we see here that this angel is speaking about the fall of Babylon as though it had already taken place. Did you notice the language?

Fallen fallen is Babylon The Great. Well, hold on for a second. The fall of Babylon doesn't occur until chapter 17 namely chapter 18. So why is it being spoken of here in Revelation 14 as a past event? And this is why.

This angel is declaring that the future doom of this evil wicked system is so certain that we can address it as though it had already occurred. Fallen, fallen is Babylon the Great. You can imagine just how astounding and alarming this would be for those who hear this resounding proclamation. You gotta remember the nations here are gonna be under a very complex infrastructure and a network of commerce and military and policing. It's gonna be something that the world has never seen before.

It's going to be so impressive and so widely accepted that this Babylonian system that the Antichrist is going to support will appear indestructible. In fact, look back at Revelation 13 verse four, what the people said about the beast. Revelation 13 verse four, And they worshiped the dragon for he had given his authority to the beast and they worshiped the beast saying, who is like the beast and who can fight against it? So they're under the spell thinking that no one can defeat antichrist and with that no one can overthrow the empire that he has built. And all of a sudden this angel whisked through the skies and he says, fallen fallen is Babylon the Great.

Why is he saying that? Remember, he's addressing the nations, all the earth dwellers. He's saying that to help them believe the first angel's message. Fear God. Glorify him.

Worship him. The world as you know it with all its pomp and all its possessions and all its pleasures and all its promises will come to nothing one day. This world is passing away and you're giving your soul to something that will vanish? You're trading eternal life for something that's gonna be taken away? For something that is so certain to be demolished and destroyed that we can speak of it as though it already happened?

This is a message that the world needs to hear now. And if we're honest, this is a message that Christians need to hear from time to time. The same John who's telling us what this angel will say to the masses of unbelievers tells us this in his first epistle. In first John two verse 17, and the world is passing away. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

I love that. This is in the same breath where he tells believers, do not love the world or the things of the world. Don't love it. And he gives the reason why, at least one reason, because it's all passing away. You and I are just walking through the corridor.

There is a door that's gonna lead us into eternal life, which is true life. Don't camp in the corridor. Keep walking. Keep your eyes ahead. This world is passing away with all its desires, all those cravings that keep you up at night, all the things that you slave over, all the dreams that you wanna see fulfilled, all of that is gonna disappear.

Those things that you think will bring fulfillment and identity and wholeness, that's gonna pass away as well. It's not lasting. It's not designed to. It has an expiration date on it but those who do the will of God, they will abide forever. Forever and ever and ever.

This world will pass away. Then we come to the final message and you almost get the sense that they're building on one another. We have the the eternal gospel, then we have a reminder of this world that has unfortunately sabotaged so many people's faith and trust in Christ to this last message here in verse nine down to verse 11. Hell is real. And another angel, a third, followed them saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength.

Highlight that, poured full strength into the cup of his anger and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. We'll pause there before we go to verse 11. If you remember Revelation 13, what we have there is instruction to believers of how difficult it will be for those at that time to refuse the mark of the beast. You won't be able to buy or sell. You won't be able to do things that you think are your rights today.

And the reason why I know that it is in part addressing believers because in Revelation 13 verse 10, the last part of that verse, there's an there's a call for the endurance of the faith of the saints. So yes, it's speaking about the future and yes, it is addressing what the world will look like, but what God has in mind through his word is the believers in that time to be able to endure because it will be challenging to reject the mark of the beast on a daily basis. But then you come to Revelation 14 and you have this angel informing the unbeliever how difficult it will be to embrace the mark of the beast. And even though this is a warning to the lost, it still carries instruction for the Christian. How do I know that?

Peak at verse 12 of Revelation 14. Here is a call for the endurance of the saints. Those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. He's talking about hell here in verses nine down to verse 11 and immediately after he addresses Christians. What do Christians have to do with hell?

It's not really about hell. It's about comparing and contrasting experiences. Again, Revelation 13, it's gonna be challenging for those to stand for the truth and reject this mark, but it's gonna be even more tragic for those who take it. One thing to learn from this is that we must view our sufferings from heaven's point of view. This angel is not only warning the lost, he's also reminding believers.

Your suffering will be temporary, their suffering will be eternal. You know, one of the ways for you and I to endure anything, even the maniacal dictatorship of the antichrist is to frequently meditate on eternity. To compare everything in light of eternity. To inform your heart that there is something more real, more lasting than whatever you're experiencing now. And I wonder if one of the reasons why eternity is not spoken of as much as it should in Christian circles is because it forces us to confront an aspect of eternity that makes people very uncomfortable, namely the reality of hell.

And if pastors and churches don't erase hell from their teaching and their evangelism entirely, they try to redefine it to make it more palatable. But whatever theologians or podcasters may say about hell, no matter how clever or compassionate they may seem, every claim and every conclusion has to be measured with scripture. And given the recent debates about hell among prominent evangelicals, my question is this, do the most prevailing interpretations agree with the testimony of this angel? Is hell eternal? What does this word say?

Is hell a conscious place? What does this word say? Is hell a place of uninterrupted torment? What does the Bible say? And according to this testimony, hell is eternal, hell is conscience, And hell is unending torment for the wicked.

Doesn't mean it's easy to speak about it. That doesn't mean that we should enjoy thinking about it. But what it does mean is what God says is true and we need to submit to the truth no matter what. You know, I've come to realize that one of the main reasons we struggle to understand hell is because of our inability to truly grasp God's holiness. If we're honest, sin rarely outrages us, even the best of us.

And that's partly because we are tainted by sin. And if you can testify, however, that there are moments where you have sensed righteous indignation and disturbance or being unsettled due to wickedness around you or even in you, then how much more does the Lord feel being infinitely more pure and holy than us? There is something to say about the eternality and the severity of hell and God's holiness. And how sin is not just about us fooling around here on earth, it's an assault against God and his law. I won't say more about hell now because we will see it again at the end of this book.

But one thing I wanna highlight is how Christ is identified in this sobering passage about hell. Look with me here again in verse 10. He will also drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength. You know what that means? Full strength?

Undiluted. There is no mercy mixed with this wine. Full strength of God's wrath. Into the cup of his anger and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. This would make more sense perhaps to us if it said in the presence of the king, capital k, in the presence of the lion, in the presence of the judge, in the presence of the ruler of rulers, in the presence of the lamb.

You know this very well that the lamb is a consistent symbol associated with Christ's substitutionary atonement and sacrifice. It speaks of his humility. It speaks of his lowliness. It speaks to his willful surrender for our salvation. What is it doing here in a passage about eternal wrath?

And I believe one reason it's there is to highlight as a reminder that hell is ultimately for those who have rejected the one who drank the cup of God's wrath on our behalf. That's what hell is ultimately all about. Notice the imagery here. The wine of God's wrath poured full strength into the cup of his anger. That's a a very common symbol in the Old Testament.

A cup speaks of God's judgment being poured out. There are different cups in the Bible and this should remind us of the words of Jesus in Luke when he was in the garden in chapter 22 verse 42 and he said, father if you are willing, remove this cup from me. What was that cup? It was the cup of God's wrath. God's anger and justice against every sin that has and will ever be committed.

That was what was in the cup. And what Jesus asked here was, if it's possible father, let it be removed from me. Yet not my will but yours be done. And guess what? It was the father's will for Christ to drink the cup and he drank every drop of it.

You turn that cup over and there is not one drop that will come out. He absorbed all of God's justice for our sin. And here's what the gospel looks like. It's you being willing to admit and joyfully accept the truth that Jesus Christ, the son of God, drank your wrath. And here's what millions are doing today.

They reject that and because they reject that, there's another cup reserved for them and that's the wine of God's wrath. You reject the cup of salvation, you will have the cup of God's wrath to drink and it is eternal. It will never run dry. It is ongoing. Jesus Christ drank the cup of God's wrath and for those who choose not to believe it and surrender to the truth associated with it, there is a cup they will have to drink.

It will be forced down their throats. And they will be reminded for all of eternity that the reason why they are drinking it is because they have denied the son of God's salvation. The lamb of God. And the question for us today, though I hope that all of us here are followers of Jesus Christ, is if you have put your trust in the finished work of Jesus. You know, what's amazing here is the first angel began with the gospel and he ends with wrath.

The third angel comes to complete the message. And this is very descriptive. It's very direct, but it's needed for a generation that has been lulled to sleep because of a Babylonian empire and system. Let's not think that we're more wise than God and how we should address the lost. Are there different vantage points and ways of communicating the gospel?

Absolutely. But for you and I to deny the reality of hell is a great disservice to a people who need to know what's coming if they don't receive the free love of Jesus. The testimony of three angels for a future time are so relevant for us today, are they not? The eternal gospel, the world as we know it, it will pass away And hell is real. Let's pray.

Father, we thank you that you have given us a snapshot, another snapshot of how you are willing to go so far to get the attention of a lost world. And Lord, we think about this message this afternoon, how it is an extension of your grace also because love warns. Lord, we pray that we would be faithful to the word no matter what. No matter the trends that are being set by people who have great platforms online, help us stay true to your word, every part of it. And Lord, thank you for the wisdom of your word that in the same imagery of hell, we have vision of the lamb.

We pray that even through this message, people would see Christ and his love and sacrifice and they would embrace him. And Lord, for us who have put our faith and trust in you, help us grow in our fear of you. Help us not get entangled by the things of this world. Help us see it as all passing away. Our money, our bank accounts, our clothes, our cars, our homes, it would all pass away and the only thing that will last forever is the will of God, our service to you, our obedience to you.

So Lord, we pray that even this message would recalibrate us. And Lord, even with the subject of hell, help us to know how to communicate it, when to warn about it. May that message even energize us to be more zealous with the gospel. Lord, so much was said but we trust that you'll help us retain it. And now, Lord, we wanna worship you because you have saved us from hell.

We never have to fear going there. It is not our portion. We will rest with you forever and ever and we are undeserving of it. Thank you for drinking the cup of God's wrath. Thank you that we don't have to take a sip of it.

We are free forever and for this we glorify you. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. If you are free in this place because of the gospel, sing with your heart knowing that even though everything is taken from you, no one can take your salvation. No one can take my salvation.

I'm secure forever in Christ Jesus, and so are you. Let's stand and worship the Lamb of God. I remember years ago after preaching at a conference, somebody approached me, and they wanna have a long talk about hell and how this was the greatest struggle for them. This is not a Christian. This person admittedly said that they were living in sin.

And after a long dialogue, one of the things that stood out to me was this person saying, why can't God just leave us alone? I just wanna I just wanna live my life. Why do I have to have this thought that I can go to hell? Why why can't he just let me be and do what I wanna do? And I thought that's exactly it.

People don't want God. And whenever it comes to this debate or this discussion about hell, you know what's rarely brought up? What's really in in focus is our suffering. It's eternal. It's conscience.

It's all these things. Nobody ever talks about the suffering Christ had to endure to help us escape it. Nobody ever talks about it. That's what I've come to realize. Nobody ever thinks about what the Son of God had to endure.

And people say, well, he endured a few hours of suffering. That's blasphemy. That's blasphemy because not at the duration of the suffering of the one rather who suffered, who didn't deserve a millisecond of suffering. And the the quality of that suffering, things so deep, things so profound that we dare tread even exploring what happened on that cross for those hours. Nobody talks about what Christ had to endure in order to rescue sinners from hell.

And today, perhaps you're in this place and you don't believe on Christ. I want you to at least think about the implications of what he suffered on your behalf. And even if you're in this place and you struggle with the concept of hell, take your eyes off yourself for moment moment and plant them on Calvary and ask yourself what did Christ suffer and why did he suffer, and you'll come to different conclusions. Lord, we pray that you would help us. Oh, lord, we're so broken and fallen in our thinking, always thinking of ourselves.

Lord, thank you that you're not a god who just threatens and warns. You're a God who is much more willing to save us and redeem us. You don't desire that any would perish. Help us believe that. Help us believe that hell itself was not created for humanity intentionally.

It was created for the the devil and his angels, Lord. So we just ask in this in this final moment that you would win every heart to yourself and that we would accept what you suffered for. We thank you for your grace in this. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Would you be seated for a moment, please? Last week, we made a very important update that, a building came to our attention out in Barrington, and it is a beautiful building. And we spoke to our members about the potential of this building, and we have had a majority approval, virtually almost a 100% people saying this is this is what we desire. We believe that this is an answer to God's prayers. And so with that in mind, the leadership announced last Sunday that we would make an official offer and we did do that this past Tuesday.

We made and we signed a purchase agreement for the church that currently owns that property. Been an interesting week. And the recent update is, as of last Friday, they accepted our offer. Yes. You could do that.

So it is my absolute privilege to announce to the church officially and for the first time that we have a new church home. We have a new church home. Yeah. So here's what this looks like from this point forward. The official closing date on paper is May 4.

So that's a couple months from now. It could be earlier. It could be later. These things get complicated sometimes. So we are going the leadership is gonna be working very hard in these next few weeks.

There's inspections, there's paperwork, there's conversations with the village, and all these matters have to be addressed. So please be praying for us in these next few weeks. Also, please remember that as we approach the closing that we're still saving up and asking God that we would enter into this new phase debt free. And so we're believing God for 1,500,000.0 in the next thirty days or so and we trust that these funds will come in. He's already proven himself so strong.

I wish I can take the next ten, fifteen minutes to explain to you the many miracles attached to all of this. To deny it would be to deny a gift from God. I'm I'm I say that with total confidence. There is so much happening in the background in our favor that it is absolutely astounding. And there will be a time where we will be able to sit down together as a family and look at all these details.

But for now, I mean, it's amazing to think that we've been looking and praying and searching for four and a half years and things turned around within a matter of a week and a half, two weeks. And so you've seen pictures, God willing, if all clears, there will be a day where you'll enter into this property and I have no doubt that when you see it, you'll be even more happy. It's an amazing piece of land. There's gonna be again many meetings that we're having especially in the next couple weeks, so please be patient with the elders and the deacons and others who are working, because, this has already been a very, busy time leading up to this point, and it's only gonna get busier. So all hands on deck.

You might be called upon to help us as well because this is our home. This is our new home. This is the home for your children. And this is gonna be the home for many other souls who receive God's word. This is gonna be the home for fellowship and hopefully future conferences.

This is very likely going to be the home of a school in the days to come. Everything that we've ever hoped and dreamed for in a facility is offered in this place, and God in his great mercy extended it to us at this time. So rejoice in fellowship, give glory to God, and we will keep you up to date as much as we can. Alright? God bless you.

God is good. Have a wonderful week. Take care.