This Sunday is the final sermon in our series as we study Revelation 22:6-21. It’s always bittersweet to finish up a series. I have loved the chance to walk through this book with you all over the past six months. I hope you have seen that it is filled with hope and intensely practical and important for us. We are living in the Last Days. Not just because we have lived through uprisings, wars and rumors of wars, global plagues, and bugs that emerged from the ground after a 17-year slumber to torment our eardrums. We are living in the time between Jesus Christ’s resurrection and ascension to the throne, and His return to renew and restore all things. Jesus promised to return soon. This week we will talk about just what that means, and how we are called to live in light of His return.
Eternal Glory
June 6, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This Sunday is the penultimate sermon in our series in Revelation, we will wrap it all up next week. Revelation 21:9-22:5 gives us a portrait of the future glory of the New Jerusalem. It is a passage that is packed with beautiful imagery, ultimately showing us an image of the glory of God on earth. This is the end point of the whole biblical storyline and all of human history. Understanding it reshapes every aspect of our lives now.
Final Judgment
May 16, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This passage closes out the third vision of the book. It shows us the reality of final judgment before God that all people will face, and the eternal consequences of our lives. This passage also gives us a taste of eternity in God’s presence as we see the powerful and beautiful renewal and restoration of all things.
A Thousand Years
May 9, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This is the most hotly debated and deeply studied passage in the entire book – which is saying something! It is another that is filled with powerful imagery. Satan will be bound, only to be released to wreak havoc before his final demise. Chapters 19-20 show us three stages of final judgment, first for the Antichrist and False Prophet, then for the Devil himself, and finally for all of humanity. We will explore the nature of the millennium (1,000 years, not the Falcon) but we will ultimately focus on the main point of the passage, that Satan’s days are numbered and he will be defeated in the end.
Return of the King
May 2, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
We finally see the return of Jesus in this week’s passage! As we have seen, there is much more to this book than just the second coming of Christ. However, Jesus has promised He will return and reign as the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The second half of chapter 19 shows that return in its splendor.
The Wedding Feast
April 25, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This is a beautiful and glorious passage that shows us an image of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb. Life can be so hard, and the Christian life can be so hard. This passage shows us the great hope we have in Christ. And it shows us that the gospel is a celebration and a feast.
The Prostitute and Babylon’s Fall
April 18, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This Sunday we continue our series with Revelation 17-18. That’s right, we are covering two chapters again. After this, we will slow down a bit in the book. I think you will see that these two chapters really do hang together, though. In them, we see powerful imagery of a Prostitute and Babylon the great. Ultimately, it shows us that the indulgences we are offered in this world that draw us away from Christ look appealing but will be deadly in the end.
Justice
April 11, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
There is a massive debate within American Christianity over the topic of justice. In this week’s passage we see a major theme of divine justice brought to bear. It’s a heavy passage, but it shows us that God is working both for our salvation and to let justice roll.
The Great Harvest
March 28, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This passage has both glorious and terrifying imagery of the end. It focuses in on the great harvest as Christ collects those who are His, just as He said He would. It’s an important passage for us to consider and a timely call to repent and reset our priorities on Palm Sunday. As with so much of Revelation, it is a call to us to faithfully endure to the end in great hope.
The Beasts
March 14, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This Sunday we continue with Revelation 13. This is the passage many of you have been waiting for – the Antichrist, the False Prophet, and the mark of the beast. All of this flows out of chapter 12 as Satan, the great dragon, stands poised to make war against God’s people. We will see in our study together that in that war, Satan mimics God in his efforts to deceive and destroy. There is a clear call to us directly in the text that helps us to know how to live well in these last days.
The Woman and the Dragon
March 7, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
Revelation 12 starts a new section of Revelation. Chapters 12-16 take a pause to give powerful imagery that peels back the curtain to allow us to see the spiritual reality that exists throughout human history. Chapter 12 shows us the cosmic conflict between the woman and the great dragon. It’s a great passage that teaches us a lot about our enemy and the reality of suffering in our lives. I look forward to walking through it with you!
The Prophetic Witness of God's People
February 28, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This Sunday we continue with Revelation 10-11. These two chapters are an interlude that follows the 6th Trumpet and leads into the 7th. This week’s passage brings up one of the most controversial sections of the book. There are lots of opinions about the identity of the Two Witnesses in chapter 11. The good news is that this section ends with incredible hope and promise. It also answers an important question for each of us who follows Jesus – what is our role in this world? What purpose do we have and how do we know if our lives make a bit of difference?
The Trumpets
February 21, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This week takes a turn toward judgment in the end, but even that is not without reason or hope. As six of the seven Trumpets sound in these chapters, we are met with disturbing imagery and prophecy. It’s worth taking the time to read them before Sunday, but make sure you read all the way through the end of chapter 9. In our study together we will see that the Trumpets are wakeup calls, alarms sounding to open our eyes and lead us to repentance.
The Great Multitude
February 14, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
This Sunday we continue with Revelation 7. This chapter is an interlude between the sixth and seventh seals, and it gives us one of the most beautiful and compelling pictures of God’s people that is found in Scripture. We will explore together the 144,000 who are sealed as we look at the Great Multitude from every nation, tribe, people, and language. I’m eager to walk through the imagery and implications together.
The Seals: God’s Sovereignty Over Suffering
February 7, 2021 • Pastor Bill Riedel
So far in our study of Revelation the imagery and text has been relatively clear. Sure, there has been some symbolism to sort out together, but a vision of Jesus, and visions of the Throne in Heaven, along with the letters to the churches, are fairly clear. This week the drama of the book takes off as the seals of the scroll are broken. It’s the first of three major movements in Revelation – seals, trumpets, and bowls. The first four seals in our passage for Sunday are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. So, fasten your seatbelt and hang on for the ride. I hope we will see that this passage applies powerfully to our lives even with all of its symbolism.
