The First and Second Resurrection

So we continue our journey through the Book of Revelation, which, believe it or not, is actually hastening to a close. We find ourselves in that second paragraph of Revelation, Chapter twenty, Revelation Chapter twenty, verses four through six. And before I read this text, I want to read to you snippets from three different stories. How they relate to this particular text will become more evident as we go along. Story number one and a deadly shooting. On October twentieth of this year, four Christians, including two young girls, were killed and another eighteen people were wounded as they were attending one of three weddings held at the Virgin Mary Coptic Church in the Iraq district of Cairo, Egypt. Two masked gunmen on a motorbike opened fire on the crowd standing outside the church building. Fami Aser Abud seventy five, lost two granddaughters, ages eight and twelve, his son, and his wife's sister, Camilla Atia. Camilla was the mother of the groom. Of the eighteen wounded in the shooting. Seven are members of Abud's family just going to a wedding standing outside. Folks getting married exciting times. Story number two. The Voice of the Martyrs is working to bring assistance to those who were injured and those families whose loved ones died in the September twenty second suicide bombing at the historic All Saints Church and Pashawar, Pakistan. That Sunday, over five hundred worshippers were between services at the church and some were gathered for a special meal together when two suicide bombers accessed the church grounds and detonated the bombs. That attack killed more than eighty Christians and wounded over one hundred and fifty just. Going to church story number three. A member of Afghanistan's parliament has suggested that anyone who converts from Islam to Christianity should be executed in order to stop the rapid growth of Christianity among Afghans. If you remember, we have boots on the ground there. We're spending blood and treasure there to liberate Afghanistan. The declaration by Nazi Ahmad Hanafi is the latest in a series of anti Christian statements by Afghan public officials, and Afghan News Service quoted mister Hanafi as saying numerous Afghans have become Christians in India this is an offense to Islamic law, and according to the Quran, they need to be executed. And I could go on and on and on, as martyrdom is as real today as it has ever been in the history of the Church. More martyrs, for example, in the last one hundred years than in the previous two thousand years of the existence of the Church combined. Let me say that again, more martyrs in the last hundred years of Church history than in the previous nineteen hundred years all put together. Martyrdom is a reality for Christians today all over the world. We don't understand this reality because we live in one of the few places in the world where you don't see martyrdom of people living openly as Christians, one of the few places in the world, in one of the few times in the history of the world where it hasn't been the norm. This is one of the few places in the history of planet Earth where Christians have not had to fear for their lives because of situationtions like this. But make no mistake about it, in the rest of the world, our brothers and sisters live under these kinds of threats all the time. What does that have to do with our text. Let's see Revelation chapter twenty, beginning in verse four. There was a change of perspective here, as we've seen a number of times and Revelation. Then I saw. Thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testemony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image, and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and Holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection over such the second death has no power. But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for one thousand years. Amen. It seems strange to our ears that in the midst of this text, dealing with the consummation of all things at the end of the age, that would be such an emphasis on martyrs and martyrdom, that there would be such an emphasis on individuals who are dying because they refuse to bow the knee the beast, to the false prophet, to the dragon. And again, we've spoken. About these before and have already alluded to the fact that this idea of bowing the knee, this idea of taking the mark, is the idea of offering worship to the adversary, offering worship to the evil one, either number one offering it because we have been seduced by Babylon the Great, or if we haven't been seduced by the carrot, we're afraid of the stick. What's the stick, the fear of. Martyrdom, or, if not the fear of martyrdom, the fear of not being able to buy and sell, which, as we've seen here, is this fear of not being able to advance economically unless we play the game, not being able to advance economically unless we are willing to keep our mouths shut about this Jesus whom we worship about not being able to advance economically unless we pay homage the God of the age. So here in this text, right after we dealt with those first three verses and the idea of the millennium, the idea of a thousand year reign. We have this idea of what's going on during that time. If you remember, on last week we answer the question of when this sort of millennium takes place. There are those, on the one hand, who argue that this millennium takes place. They are post millennial. They believe that the millennium takes place when Christ returns. This millennium takes place before Christ returns. He returns after this millennial age, after this thousand years of peace and advancement of the Gospel. So they are post millennial generally, not arguing that the thousand years is literal. Secondly, there are those who are pre millennial, those who believe that this thousand year reign happens after Christ returns. Christ returns, and then there is this thousand year reign of Christ on the earth. He said this is the most popular view, but that neither of these views was satisfactory when you look at the text. Instead, there is a third view, the ah millennial view. This view that says not that there's no oh millennial reign, but this view that says that this description of the thousand years is a description of the reign of Christ between his first and second comings. That the idea is that when Christ returns, it's over. Christ is going to return, and when he returns, it will be the end of the age. When he returns, he's not going to usher in anything but the end. And so the idea of the thousand year reign is symbolic. It's symbolic of this period of this time right here and right now. Now we have a change in perspective. One of the things that will help us in understanding how to interpret this properly is to see the parallel between Revelation twelve and Revelation twenty. This is important because if you remember, the premillennial argument is that Revelation twenty follows chronologically after Revelation nineteen. If you remember we've talked about the fact that there's recapitulation in the Book of Revelation, that we see the same thing over and over again from several different angles. That in chapters thirteen. And sixteen and nineteen we have seen the consummation of God's judgment and wrath, and then in you know, fourteen and seventeen and twenty we are going back and telling the story again from a different perspective. If you remember we've used the number of illustrations, one illustration being the illustration of watching a sporting event. And nowadays all the sporting events are using instant replay, and even baseball is now going to use instant replay, if you can believe it. I think we need a moment of silence for the end of baseball as. We know it now. But they are all using instant replay. And if you notice during instant replay, it's fascinating because you watch a play happen and then all of a sudden, there's a call that's questionable, and so they show the same play from a different angle, and from a different angle you see something very different. Then they show the same play. From a third angle, and a fourth angle, and a fifth angle, and then sometimes they will combine what you see in one replay with what you see in another so that you can determine what's happening. So from this angle you see that the ne goes down here, Well, if you coordinate this with this angle, you see that when the ne goes down, the ball is already out, so it's a fumble. Revelation does that very same thing you see from one angle, and then you see the same thing from another angle, and then you see the same thing from another angle, and it's not until you put all of these angles together that you actually understand the fuller picture. As such, Revelation twenty is a recapitulation. Revelation twenty does not follow chronologically after Revelation nineteen, and there are many reasons for this, not the least of which Revelation nineteen ends with the destruction of the nations. It's done, it's over. What does Revelation twenty start with the binding of Satan so that he can't deceive the nations? You mean, the ones that were just destroyed. That makes no sense whatsoever unless Revelation twenty is backing up and telling the same story from another angle and from another perspective. But it's also much like Revelation twelve, because you're getting the big picture perspective all in one chapter. When you see Revelation twelve and Revelation twenty, it becomes obvious that this is recapitulation. And again there are many who argue there's no recapitulation in revelation. It's all chronological, and you have to read the whole thing chronologically. There's none of this telling the same story over and over again from multiple angles. And that's why you have to read Revelation chapter twenty from a premillennial perspective, and it has to be the thousand year reign of Christ after he returns for the first time. Well, listen to this Revelation twelve seven through eleven and Revelation twenty one through six. Revelation twelve seven, you have a heavenly scene Revelation twenty verse one. Heavenly seen Revelation twelve seven and eight. You have an angelic battle against Satan and his host. Revelation twenty and verse two. You have a presupposed battle with Satan that ends with this binding Revelation twelve verse nine. Satan is cast out of heaven and to Earth. Revelation twenty verse three. Satan is cast into the Abyss. Revelation seven verse nine. The angel's evil opponent called the Great Dragon, the ancient Serpent, the one called the devil and Satan, the one deceiving the whole inhabited Earth. In Revelation twenty verses seven and eight, the angel evil opponent is called the Dragon, the ancient Serpent, who is the devil and Satan restrained from deceiving the nations any longer in verses two and three, but then to be loosed later to deceive the nations throughout the earth and verses seven and eight. Fifthly, in Revelation twelve twelve. B Satan's expression of great wrath because he knows that he has little time Revelation twelve three, Satan is to be released for a short time after his imprisonment. Revelation twelve ten Satan's fall resulting in the Kingdom of Christ verse ten, and the Saints verse eleven, not the conquering Thing. Revelation twenty verse four Satan's fall resulting in the kingdom of Christ and his Saints, and finally, Revelation twelve eleven the saints kingship based not only on the fall of Satan and Christ's victory, but also the saint's faithfulness even to death in a holding to the word of their testimony. And then in Revelation Chapter twenty and verse four, the Saint's kingship based not only on the fall of Satan but also on their faithfulness even to death in holding to the testimony of Jesus and to the Word of God. These parallels are unmistakable. We're looking at something from a different perspective, from a different angle. Well, then that raises the question if we are dealing with Christ's reign here and now and and through his people, the church, if that's what's being referred to here by the thousand years and again, the number thousand is symbolic. Virtually all the numbers in Revelation are symbolic, and a thousand is symbolic. It's ten to the third power. The number ten is the idea of completion. The number three is this number of God. So you have a complete godly reign ten times ten times ten. It's the idea of a massive. Number of years communicated symbolically with the number a thousand. But what's this stuff about. People seated on thrones, Because the pre millennial idea is that this would be earthly thrones during Christ's earthly reign, during a literal thousand years. Let's look at it again. Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads. So where are these people? Are they on earth? That's the pre millennial position, that these are those who rule on earth during Christ's thousand year reign. They point to the term first Resurrection later on and say you have to take that literally, that this is after the rapture, or are they in heaven? What's the evidence? Well, first look at verse four. Then I saw thrones. The word thrones appears in Revelation thirty seven times. Not once does it refer to anything earthly. Every time the word thrones appears in Revelation, it refers to heavenly thrones every time. So when he says, then I saw thrones, he has obviously changed his glance from Earth to heaven. Then he says, and I saw the souls. Notice that. So then I saw thrones and seated on them with those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also, I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded. For the testimony, He didn't say I saw the resurrected bodies. He said, I saw the souls of those individuals. If we're talking about the millennial reign of Christ after his first second coming, before his second second coming. Then you would be talking about people sitting on physical thrones in a physical place. With spiritual bodies that dog won't hunt. Well, then there's the argument from the premillennialists that actually, no, no, no, they have been given their resurrected bodies. Then you have a whole host of other problems. Will get to those momentarily, but it's hugely problematic, especially when you look at the fact that this is an allusion to Daniel chapter seven. Every verse in Revelation is. Pointing back either the Old Testament prophecy or to the life and ministry of Christ. I mean everything in here is pointing back. And when he looks and he sees these thrones in this judgment, it screams Daniel seven. And that's heavenly thrones and heavenly judgment. Dennis Johnson writes the allusion to Revelation four and Daniel seven. Remember Revelation four, these thrones are in heaven signals to John's hearers that these thrones are located in heaven. The identification of the enthralled rulers as the souls of those who have been beheaded because of the testimony of Jesus and because of the word of God confirms the heavenly locale. This is not an earthly reign, It's a heavenly one. And this is obvious. Okay, So question one, where are these people? It's heaven. Who are these people? That's the other question, the description the authority to judge. They are martyrs. They didn't worship with the beast. They didn't receive his mark. They reigned with Christ. They share in his resurrection. They are blessed and holy. The second death has no power over them. They are priests. Who are these people? The options option number one. These are the martyrs who will assist in the final judgment Revelation two twenty six to twenty seven. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him, I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received the authority from my father Revelation three twenty one. The one who conquers. I will grant him to sit with me on my throne, as I also conquered and sat down with my font on his throne. So that's one option that these are those martyrs referred to in chapters two and three. Option number two, These are all God's people. It represents everyone. The First Resurrection brings the King of Heaven into the hearts of believers, and because believers are in Christ, they are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Hesians one to three. So this is all believers. Option three. This is an angelic court. Option four. These are angels who represent saints. Option five. These are believers, exalted believers along with the angels who reign with Christ. Which is the answer? I'm gonna answer that, Yet I believe it's a combination of a couple. Of those things. I believe we do have martyrs who have endured, that's obvious, but I don't think it's only referring to individuals who died because of martyrdom, but also it relates to all individuals who have not taken this mark. It's all believers who die before Christ's last coming, all who will reigned with him. But I believe it's more than that as well. It's all believers even before they die. How's that? Well, you gotta wait for the answer. Got to keep you listening. Three, What are these people? See where they are and who they are? But what are they? Verses four and five. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended. This is the first resurrection. The premillennialists argue that these are saints who have been given resurrected bodies who were sitting on physical thrones with Christ during a literal one thousand year reign. John Wolford, for example, one of the probably the most famous Dallas Seminary professor theologian, and his comment on this, he says, the fact that John could see them implies that they had received intermediate bodies in heaven and were awaiting their resurrections. Let me read that again. The fact that John could see them implies that they had received intermediate bodies in heaven and were awaiting their resurrection. So now we have an intermediate body in heaven. Where does that come from? It comes from the presupposition that this has to be earthly and it has to be literal. If that's your presupposition, and John is seeing these individuals, then you've. Got to have some explanation. Unless you look at the text and say John is using symbolic language here like he does in the entire book of Revelation. That's his argument. There's several problems, however, with the idea of this being a literal thousand year reign of Christ on the earth and believers in whatever kind of bodies reigning with him during that time. Number One, the nations have already been destroyed. How can they exist again? Think about this for a moment. Why do we have nations? Are nations part of the creation ordinance? Did God create us in nations? No, nations are part of the fall. We divide from one another because of the fall. Remember the Tower of Babel. That's because of the fall. So Christ destroys the nations in Revelation nineteen. Right, they're destroyed. The nations are destroyed at the end of Revelation nineteen. The premillennialist argues that what's going to happen at the end of Revelation twenty is there's going to be another uprising of nations. But the question is, why would you have nations and ethnic diversities during the literal physical reign of Christ on the earth, He's ruling with a rod of iron, and he's breaking people up into ethnic groups. That doesn't work. Secondly, the nations have already been destroyed, so how can they revolt again at the end. So the first question is why do we even have nations because we wouldn't The second question is if we do have these nations, which we wouldn't have, why do they revolt at the end? Remember, Christ is ruling and reigning physically on the earth, lion laying down with the lamb. All of that, this is, this is, this is supposed to be that period. Three how do you explain the presence of sin during Christ's thousand year reign? Four? How do you explain the second fall at the end of Christ's literal rain? There's a second fall at the end of Christ's literal rain. Five? How do you explain people and physical bodies in the Age to Come? There's nobody in physical bodies in the Age to Come? How do you explain procreation because there is no marriage in the Age to Come? Luke twenty thirty four to thirty six. The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are considered worthy to attain to that age, to the resurrection from the dead, neither Mary nor are given in marriage, for they cannot die anymore because they are equal to angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection. So how do you have a thousand years of civilization with no reproduction? There is another option that we're talking about, Exalted saying, in the current millennial reign of Christ, why does this work? Number One, the scene is heavenly, not earthly. The scene is heavenly, not earthly. Two, the bodily resurrection of saints happens at the end of the age. There is no bodily resurrection of saints before the end of the age. One Corinthians fifteen fifty one to fifty five. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on imperishable, and when the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass. Saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory, Oh death, Where is your victory, Oh death, where is your sting? That's the end of the age. It's not a millennial reign. That's the end of the age. Earlier in one Corinthians, Chapter fifteen, verses twenty one to twenty four makes this clear for us. By a man came, death by a man has come. Also the resurrection of the dead. For as an atom all died, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Very important phrase. But each in his own order. Christ the first fruits. Then at his coming, those who belonged to Christ. Then comes the end, Then comes the then comes the millennium, Then comes the end. It's over. It's over, New heavens, new Earth. The use of first and second is a clue because again the argument from the premillennial perspective, the argument that this has to be physical, is a couple of things. One, you have to use this literalistic cromeneutic. You can't see this symbolically, which we've already alluded to the fact that that's impossible. But Secondly, the word resurrection is used here, and the word come to life is used here, and the word resurrection means resurrection. The word resurrection has to mean resurrection. And so the problem you are millennial people have is that you have this word resurrection meaning one thing in one part of the verse and something else in another part of the verse. And that's a problem. Resurrection means resurrection, means resurrection. So if this is the first resurrection, then this has to be the first group of people who are raised from the dead, who are part of the last group of people who going to be raised. From the dead. The use of first and second is a clue. Listen to this from Bale. In contrast to this literal approach, it is important to recognize that resurrection is found in Revelation only in Chapter twenty, verses five and six. Moreover, the ordinal. First with resurrection occurs nowhere else in the Old Testament or the New Testament. The idea of first resurrection doesn't exist anywhere else in the Bible. Nowhere else in the whole Bible. Do you have the concept of first resurrection, second resurrection. Not there. This is a hint that lexical study of the words expressing the ideas first and second need to be conducted in order to comprehend the full meaning of resurrection in the present context. What does that mean. Here's what it means. Instead of saying, you got the word resurrection here and you got the word resurrection there. Therefore they have to mean the same thing. You ask yourself this question. You have first resurrection and second resurrection. We know that resurrection can mean a physical resurrection or a spiritual resurrection. But nowhere else do they use first and second. So here's the question. Is there somewhere else in revelation where they use first and second that might give us a clue. Yeah, first death, second death is the first death exactly the same as the second death. No, the first death is physical, the second death is not. So people who are arguing you've got resurrection and it's the same passage, resurrection over here has to mean resurrection over there. It's got to mean the same thing. But you got first resurrection, second resurrection in a passage that talks about first death, second death. First death, second death, they're not the same kind of death. There's another issue. That's the issue of the first heaven. In chapter twenty one, turn over to chapter twenty one. Then I saw a new heaven and a new Earth, for the first heaven and the first Earth had passed away, and the sea. Was no more. Is the first Earth and the second Earth the exact same thing? Do we have a series of earths? Where was one of those and one of those spiritual? So when you look at this issue of first and second it becomes clear that not. Only do you not have to see first. Resurrection and second resurrection as referring to the same thing, but it's inconsistent to see first resurrection and second resurrection referring to the same thing. Then there's the rest of the Bible. The Bible frequently speaks of the new birth in similar terms, does it not? Ephesians Chapter two, verses one to five. We know this, don't we? And you were dead in your trespassors and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the Prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the deeds of the body and of the mind, and whereby nature children of wrath. So now we're dead but still doing stuff. This is different kind of death. But God being rich in mercy because of the great love with which he loved us, even when you were dead in your trespasses, made us alive together with Christ. There's the first resurrection. Same thing happens in Romans six four to thirteen, Romans eight ten to eleven, Ephesians two five to seven. Even when you were dead in your trespasses, he made us alive together with Christ. There it is by grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ. Jesus, whoa wait a minute, Now, I've been made alive in Christ. Right, that's a form of resurrection, first resurrection. And what's the result of my first resurrection? I'm seated with him where in the heavenly places. Whereas Revelation twenty verse four through six take place heavenly places where we're seated with Christ. What's Christ seated on in the heavenly places? That would be a throne. So if I'm seated with Him in heavenly places, that would also be a throne. John even overlaps physical and spiritual revelation elsewhere, same author, same author, Because remember, the argument is, you've got resurrection, and resurrection has to mean resurrection. It's got to mean the same thing. You can't have the same idea in the same passage that means two separate things. Well, the author of the Book of Revelation would beg to differ. John Chapter five, beginning of verse twenty four. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever hears my words and believes him who sent me. Has eternal life. He does not come to judgment, but has passed from death to life, which is what resurrection. And it's already happened. But you're not physically dead, so this is a spiritual resurrection. Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who here will live. For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself, and he has given him authority to execute judgment, because he is the son of man. To not marvel at this, for an hour is coming when all who are in tunes will hear his voice and come out. That would be the second Resurrection, same passage, two different meanings for the same concept, same author who does it in real relation Chapter twenty. So no, we don't have to play fast and loose with the text in order to get here. And the clincher, of course, is the idea of the second Death. Well, now here's the question. When are these people? We know where they are and who they are and what they are, but when are. They verse six. Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the First resurrection over such the second death has no power. But they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with Him for a thousand years. Is this somewhere in the future and a literal millennial kingdom? Or is this in the present? I think we've pretty much answered this question. This is in the present. This is in the present. Here's what we have. What we have is this two stage idea. This one stage of the idea is the idea that all who are born again are alive in Christ and see that with Christ in heavenly places. But then there's the second stage of this idea. The second stage of this idea is that those who are faithful to Christ. Those who do not accept this mark, those who do not worship the beast, those who do not accept this idolatry, who are faithful to the end, who die in Christ, are absent from the body and present with the Lord and reigning with him right here, right now. That's what's happening. That's what's happening. And it is a continuation of the same idea that becomes a reality when we're born again. So why do these people matter? Why is this important? And that's a real question. So we figure out who these people are. Good, Yeah, yes, we'll figure out who these people are. So what. These saints personify the vindication of God's persecuted elect God will vindicate his people. But not only does he vindicate his people at the end of the age when he comes in judgment, but he vindicates them even instantly. Remember those three stories that we read earlier. Saints are going to a wedding, they're going to celebrate a union, and people ride by on a motorcycle and gun them down because they're Christians. How are they vindicated? They're vindicated because they are absent from the body and then present with the Lord and the one who desires for them to be annihilated, is now face to face with the reality that they are reigning with Christ. You go to church Pakistan, you're enjoying the. Church service is over and you're getting ready to go have a meal together or go to another service. And two people walk in with bombs trapped to themselves and they blow themselves up injuring one hundred and fifty, killing eighty, killing eighty, and those eighty are instantly vindicated. Why as from the body present with the Lord reigning with him? Right now, the Afghan government says, you walk away from Islam and convert to Christianity, you'll be executed. There's the adversary once again. There's the blood thirsty horror of Babylon once again, drunk with the blood of the saints. And what does God say the moment you take their life, I give them life that is truly life, and they reign with Christ. That's why this matters. Secondly, this matters because these saints change our view of the afterlife. I mean, let's just be honest. I mean, how many of us, how many of us really really are attracted to the idea that when this is all over, we get to sit on clouds and play harps. Come on, now, that's that's not no. First of all, you don't find that anywhere in the Bible. But the reign and rule with Christ that's different. That's different. It's amazing. We have this idea and we almost have we have we have this pagan idea that we brought into Christianity. My life is out of town right now at a funeral of kind of the matriarch of her family who's over ninety years old. And oftentimes when somebody that old dies, we go right into paganism and the pay an idea that the flesh is bad, the flesh is evil. Death is a release, it's wonderful, Like life was horrible. Being in this body was horrible. Now they're out of this body. First of all, death is always an enemy and never a friend. There is no good death, amen, somebody. Death is always an enemy, never a friend. When Adam died, he's over nine hundred years old, you better believe his family mourned him. Death is an enemy, never a friend. Secondly, death is not saying, well, all the living is over now you just get to kick it. No, you're ruling rain, Amen, it's not some passive of existence. You rule and reign with Christ. That's what's glorious. Thirdly, these saints change our view of the current battle in which we are engaged. We all have a tendency to lose sight of it, especially those of us who live here. Listen to these words from J. C Ryle that someone sent me. The saddest symptom about many so called Christians is the other absence of anything like conflict and fight against spiritual apathy in their Christianity. They eat, they drink, they dress, they work, They amuse themselves, They get money, they spend money. They go through a brief round of formal religious services once or twice every week. But of the great spiritual warfare, it's watchings and strugglings, its agonies and anxieties, it's battles and contests of all things. They appear to know nothing at all. Let us take care that this case is not our own. What an indictment. How many of us are really just like everyone else around us. I mean, if you boil it down, we want good food and good drink, and we want ease and comfort, and we want amusement, and we want family, and we want friends, and we want these are the things that we want, but. We are engaged in a warfare. How often is that register in our minds that there is a battle raging all around us, and that we've been enlisted. This battle is not a battle for ease and comfort, But this battle is a battle for who will be worshiped. This battle is a battle to whom will I give my worship? To whom will I give my energy, my effort, my life, my all? To whom will I bow? And many of us have been lulled into a softness and an apathy that has shaped our Christianity into something that can't remember the last time it had any conflict, stirred up, any trouble. We can't pray the same, not when we understand this reality. We can't live the same, We can't interact with lost sinners the same. We can't face opposition and persecution the same. Because this picture of these saints changes our understanding of the battle in which we're currently engaged. Finally, these saints change your view of suffering. So many times we look at suffering and our immediate response is I'm suffering because God has forgotten to do his job. Two Timothy two eleven and twelve. The saying is trustworthy, for if we died with him, we will also live with him. If we endure, we will also ring with him. If we endure. Praise God for every day that you spend where you're not in active suffering. It's a blessing. It's grace from God in your life. But don't confuse that with the idea that when you do suffer that somehow God's not on his throne, because that's just as real, and even in fact. It's more real than anything else. We experience the life of ease and comfort, the life without strife, the life without suffering. That's what's not real. Because there's a war going on, and this. World hates our God and our Christ, and we belong to Christ, so that declaration of war covers us. There is a banner over us, and it is a banner that identifies us as an enemy and a foe in the world in which we live. And as we march proudly under that banner, ease and comfort cannot be what we expect to be the normal. That's okay, because for me, to live is Christ and to die is Gain. And you will never understand that more than when you understand it in light of Revelation twenty verses four through six. Let's pray a father. As we bow before you, we acknowledge that we've been humbled today, humbled by this vision of saints whose rest is won, of saints who have had to endure, of saints who have resisted to the point of death. Because the fact of the matter is we's so desire to seek ease and comfort that we will often compromise in order to achieve it. And we confess to you that that is sin. We confess to you that that is the harlot lulling us towards ease and comfort, and that is the beast who's threatening us with pain and discomfort if we don't go along. And as we bow before you, we confess our desperate need for Christ to rule and reign in us, that we might be faithful as He is faithful. Lord. As we bow, I know that there are those under the side of my voice, for whom is not the remotest reality. There are those under the side of my voice who have not come to you in repentance and faith, who have not embraced your son, those who have, perhaps even unwittingly taken the mark and bowed the knee. Because they have failed to bow the need of Christ. Grant by your grace that their eyes would be open, that they might see their desperate need of redemption, that they might see the dark sinfulness in their own souls, and that in seeing they might flee and run to Christ. For all of us who have lost loved ones, Grant by your grace that this truth might transform the way we think of that loss, not as pagans who merely see and escape from the flesh, but as Christians who see our brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers, friends and loved ones who've gone on before us, as having attained to that heavenly reign of Christ. Grant by your grace that this might change the way we view the afterlife. That might change the way we view the battle in which we're engaged. Then it might change the way we view those who have gone on before us, And it might change the way we view even the suffering that we endure. And as in all things, we pray. This because we believe it's in accordance with the will and the nature and the authority of Jesus, who is the Christ, who is ruling, who is reigning, who is enthroned at your right hand, even at this very moment. In his name, we pray and ask all these things Amen.