On May 27, 1943, a young American soldier named Louis Zamperini was flying over the Pacific Ocean during World War II. Some of you might know his story or read his autobiography, Devil at My Heels. Before the war, Louis was one of the greatest of America’s young runners, competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics and destined for an extraordinary athletic career. But when the war broke out, he joined the Army Air Forces and became a bombardier, fighting in the Pacific region. That day in May of 1943, Louis Zamperini’s B-24 Green Hornet went down.

Of the 11 men on board, only three survived. Louis spent the next 47 days on a lift raft, drifting across the Pacific ocean, when one by one, his comrades died. After nearly 2,000 miles at sea, Louis finally reached land. You would think that the Louis’s situation would improve, but it does not. He was captured by the Japanese. For the next two years, Louis was held prisoner of war, enduring starvation, sickness, beatings, and unimaginable abuse.

Back home, no one knew where Louis was. As far as his family knew, he had disappeared somewhere over the Pacific Ocean. Eventually, the United States government declared him dead. His parents received his Purple Heart. They thought their son was gone, but he wasn’t. Eventually, the war was won, and finally in 1945, Louis was liberated. On October 5, 1945, more than two years after his plane disappeared, Louis finally came home. Now after returning home, he was traumatized, drinking heavily and consumed with anger toward his former captors. But in 1949, he walked in to a Billy Graham revival meeting in Los Angeles, heard the good news of Jesus Christ, professed faith in Christ, and he was saved. He would later return to Japan and personally profess forgiveness to his former prison guards!

Now when I read his autobiography, I felt joy when I got to the part about Louis being reunited with his family. Can you imagine? A man pronounced dead for two years, going home. Can’t you see the joy, the happiness, the embrace? But I felt even more joy as I kept reading it, and saw that Louis was not only reunited with his family, but he was united with Christ.

We’re turning the corner the corner in the book of Revelation this evening. We’ve walked through the hard stuff- the tribulation, the seals, the trumpets, the bowls of wrath, and tonight we see the battle is won, the end is written,

We have victory in Jesus.

And we’re looking forward to our reunion, and when He comes to make all things new. So take your Bibles and turn with me to Revelation chapter 19 and let’s get started.

After this I heard something like the loud voice of a vast multitude in heaven, saying, Hallelujah! Salvation, glory, and power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and righteous, because he has judged the notorious prostitute who corrupted the earth with her sexual immorality; and he has avenged the blood of his servants that was on her hands.A second time they said, Hallelujah! Her smoke ascends forever and ever!

-Revelation 19:1-3 CSB

You’ll remember from last week the prostitute, the beast from the abyss, the antichrist, and Satan, who were all fighting for world domination. This was the battle of Armageddon. The prostitute is destroyed, but the beast, the antichrist, and Satan remain at large. By the way, if you missed last week’s message, you can get all of our messages, and sermon manuscripts, on our website at ourcitychurch.com. But this is the moment when there is celebration in heaven because the battle is won. As Christians, we rest on the promises of God, that our end is written. There will come a day that we will be a part of this multitude, singing praises to the Lord, celebrating the end of the war, the end of sin, and the return to God’s original design as it was in the Garden of Eden, that we will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Then the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, who is seated on the throne, saying, Amen! Hallelujah!

-Revelation 19:4 CSB

You’ll remember the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures from Revelation chapter 4. It’s crucial that when you approach the book of Revelation, you approach it as a whole. That’s important for the whole Bible, but particularly the book of Revelation, because the book of Revelation is cumulative, the events continue to build on themselves. These twenty-four elders are the Christ Followers in heaven who are seated around the throne. Remember they’re casting their crowns toward the throne. These are the believers who earned crowns here on earth for their faithful following of Jesus Christ. The New Testament gives us details about these crowns, crowns that are given for faithful living, for evangelism, for making disciples. And there are twenty-four elders at a time, but there are much, much more than twenty four who will be in this position. These elders are made up of the entire church. This is a resemblance of the tabernacle and the temple of the Old Testaments, when the priests would rotate their service. And these four living creatures, like a lion, like and ox, like and eagle, like a man, have been part of the plan throughout the entire book of Revelation, we met them in chapter 4 as well.

A voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all his servants, and the ones who fear him, both small and great!

-Revelation 19:5 CSB

Now who is this voice? We don’t know exactly, this could be God Himself, it could be the voice of an angel, or the voice of a cherubim. But the source of the voice is not what’s important, what’s important is what this voice is saying. This voice is quoting Psalm 134, and 135, the message of the Lord that has echoed through eternity. This is the purpose of our life, to praise the Lord, to fear Him with a reverent fear. That no matter what you have accomplished, where you are, what your plans, we begin and we end here, with praise to God.

Then I heard something like the voice of a vast multitude, like the sound of cascading waters, and like the rumbling of loud thunder, saying, Hallelujah, because our Lord God, the Almighty, reigns! 7 Let us be glad, rejoice, and give him glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has prepared herself. 8 She was given fine linen to wear, bright and pure. For the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.

-Revelation 19:6-8 CSB

This is a different voice than the voice from verse 5. This voice is inviting John to join in on the worship! The bride is the church. The church is the bride of Christ. And all the righteous acts of the church are rewarded at this last day, the marriage feast of the Lamb.

Then he said to me, “Write: Blessed are those invited to the marriage feast of the Lamb!” He also said to me, “These words of God are true.”

-Revelation 19:9 CSB

Then, John falls down at the feet of this voice, and he says “Don’t do that!” I’m a fellow servant with you. Worship God! But I want to explain a little bit about this marriage feast before we move on to Revelation 19:11.

Do you remember Jesus’s parable of the wedding feast, from Matthew 25? It goes like this. There were 10 bridesmaids, and they were standing outside a wedding venue. Now back in this day, the groom would make all the preparations to take his bride home, and weddings didn’t have a set start time, the wedding party would wait until the groom had prepared everything for his bride, and the wedding feast would start whenever he arrived. Now we don’t know all the details around this tradition, there might have been something like golf too, we don’t know when bachelor parties started. But in Jesus’s parable, half of the bridesmaids were prepared with enough oil for their lamps, while the other half were not prepared. You ever listen to that Johnny Cash song, When The Man Comes Around? “The virgins are trimming their wicks.” That’s about Revelation 19, and Jesus's parable, looking forward to Revelation 19, from Matthew 25. This was way before electricity, so you needed lamps to light the room. Trimming the wicks made the lights brighter. So the unprepared bridesmaids had to go and get more oil, while the prepared bridesmaids were standing ready to greet the groom. The groom shows up when half the bridesmaids are gone, and nobody waits for them. They’re banging on the door, and the groom says,

“Truly I tell you, I don’t know you!” “Therefore be alert, because you don’t know either the day or the hour.”

-Matthew 25:12-13 CSB

Jesus was warning us about what’s about to happen next in Revelation. Those who are unprepared are going to see the barn door locked, and Jesus doesn’t know them.

Now I want to remind us all, in the Bible, Jesus comes twice. Jesus came the first time as savior. He emptied Himself. He came in humility, for the purpose of saving us, so long as we decide to follow Him. The second time, he comes as the righteous judge.

Then I saw heaven opened, and there was a white horse. Its rider is called Faithful and True, and with justice he judges and makes war. 12 His eyes were like a fiery flame, and many crowns were on his head. He had a name written that no one knows except himself. 13 He wore a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God.

-Revelation 19:11-13 CSB

Now Faithful and True is one of the ways Jesus identified Himself at the beginning of Revelation. You’ll remember John’s depiction of Jesus, eyes like fiery flame. Now His many diadem crowns are on His head. His robe dipped in blood comes from the prophecy of Isaiah 63, the trodden winepress that we saw come fulfilled in Revelation 15. And do you remember John 1:1? In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God. I get asked sometimes, “How do we know this is talking about Jesus?” Well here is your answer: His name is called the Word of God.

The armies that were in heaven followed him on white horses, wearing pure white linen. 15 A sharp sword came from his mouth, so that he might strike the nations with it. He will rule them with an iron rod. He will also trample the winepress of the fierce anger of God, the Almighty. 16 And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.

-Revelation 19:14-16 CSB

Jesus Christ is Lord of all.

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he called out in a loud voice, saying to all the birds flying high overhead, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, 18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of military commanders, the flesh of the mighty, the flesh of horses and of their riders, and the flesh of everyone, both free and slave, small and great.”

-Revelation 19:17-18 CSB

Now this is clearly a different supper than the marriage feast going on in Heaven. You’ll remember in Ezekiel 39, God said something similar, and it was the outcome of Israel’s enemy Gog in the land of Magog. The birds will feast on the enemies of the Lord.

Then I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to wage war against the rider on the horse and against his army. But the beast was taken prisoner, and along with it the false prophet, who had performed the signs in its presence. He deceived those who accepted the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image with these signs. Both of them were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. The rest were killed with the sword that came from the mouth of the rider on the horse, and all the birds ate their fill of their flesh.

-Revelation 19:19-21 CSB

Remember that the beast is the Antichrist, the false prophet is his henchman. And they’re thrown alive into hell, and the rest of their army are slaughtered by the Lamb and eaten by the birds. Sounds unsettling, but this kind of thing has happened before in the Old Testament to the enemies of God’s people. Remember Ezekiel 39. We’re living right now in the age of grace. What a time to be alive. That God sent His Son, the Lamb of God, to take away the sin of the world. We’re living during the time that we can respond to His invitation to follow Him, and we’re saved from destruction. The question really isn’t “Why would I become a Christian?” The question is, “Why wouldn’t you become a Christian?” He is God and we are not, and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather be at the marriage feast than the bird feast!

Now we’ve seen the defeat of the antichrist, and the false prophet and the unrepentant people who are following them, but we have one loose end: Satan. Look what happens next:

Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven holding the key to the abyss and a great chain in his hand. He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent who is the devil and Satan…

-Revelation 20:1-2 CSB

Now I get all sorts of deep questions about the Bible, and one time a kid asked me, how do we know that the snake in the Garden of Eden was the devil? Well the answer is right here in Revelation 20:2.

…and bound him for a thousand years. He threw him into the abyss, closed it, and put a seal on it so that he would no longer deceive the nations until the thousand years were completed. After that, he must be released for a short time.

-Revelation 20:2-3 CSB

More on this after a couple short verses.

Then I saw thrones, and people seated on them who were given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and who had not accepted the 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 completed. This is the first resurrection.

-Revelation 20:4-5 CSB

This is the millennial reign of Christ. Satan is bound up in prison in the abyss, Christ is reigning, visibly, with all of the people who were martyred during the tribulation. This is their reward. Now I want to take a minute to unpack what’s happening here. Remember that before the tribulation, the entire church was raptured. Caught up. Harpatzo. And all of those who had died before the rapture, their bodies are in the grave. But remember 2 Corinthains 5:7- to be absent of the body is to be present with the Lord. The moment anyone dies who is in Christ, they are united with Christ. If they’re not in Christ, it’s outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, eternal hell. But Jesus taught about the bodily resurrection, and the entire New Testament promises the bodily resurrection. This is when your soul, which is with Jesus in Heaven, is reunited with your earthly body, in the likeness of His resurrection.

During this millennial reign of Christ, the first round of resurrected bodies is for the martyrs of the tribulation, those who came to Christ during the tribulation. If you’re thinking, “I wish I were one of those people.” Listen to our previous messages through Revelation, and you’ll probably change your mind. Don’t be concerned! Your soul will be with the Lord, and your body will be resurrected at the end of the millennial reign.

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection! The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years.

-Revelation 20:6 CSB

When the thousand years are completed, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations at the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them for battle. Their number is like the sand of the sea.

-Revelation 20:7-8 CSB

Now wait a minute, Satan gets released, and he goes out to deceive people, and they fall for it? What?! That’s exactly what happens. You see, we’re seeing here that the same rules apply for human agency. That we’re all given a choice whether or not to follow Jesus. You have the multitude of people who have been bodily resurrected, and they must be reproducing, because there are a number of people, like the sand of the sea, who choose not to follow Jesus and to be on Satan’s side of the war. Isn’t that unbelievable? Well, it’s really not that unbelievable when you think about it. All creation declares God’s glory, and yet there are people in this world who ignore Him. The only scientifically viable explanation for the creation of the world is right here in our Bible. We are created as spiritual beings, and yet the overwhelming majority of people on this earth worship the creation instead of the creator. And why would they decide to follow Satan instead of follow Jesus? Pride.

Isaiah 53 promised the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus, and also reminds us that the biggest problem of our sinful nature is that each of us has gone to his own way. If you’ve walked in here tonight, and you have not decided to follow Jesus, if you are going your own way instead of His way, you have an opportunity, tonight, to be saved. To decide to follow Jesus. The outcome for these people at the end of this 1,000 years is the same as yours if you don’t make that decision to follow Jesus.

They came up across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the encampment of the saints, the beloved city.

-Revelation 20:9a CSB

They legitimately thought they would win. Their pride had gotten the best of them. They thought they had it all figured out on their own, trusting in everything except the one true God who was the only way to actually be delivered from destruction.

Then fire came down from heaven and consumed them. The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

-Revelation 20:9b-10 CSB

If anyone ever tries to tell you that hell isn’t eternal, this is one verse of many that you can point them to.

And if you’re thinking, “At least those people who followed Satan and the antichrist weren’t thrown into hell too,” think again.

Then I saw a great white throne and one seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books. Then the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them; each one was judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.

-Revelation 20:11-15 CSB

Now the book of life is the book of the names of all the true believers in Jesus Christ. We’re first introduced to it when Jesus is teaching His disciples in Luke chapter 10. Paul writes of it, rejoices of his fellow workers whose names are written in the book of life. And throughout Revelation, we see the promise of our Lord,

When you’re in Christ, your name will never be erased from the book of life.

To be a Christian is to have your name written in the book of life. It’s a yes, or a no. I got to have a conversation with a fella just this week. We had a shared passion for conservative values. We began talking about Christianity and spiritual things, and I asked him my favorite question. I’ve asked some of you all this question too. On a scale of 1 to 10, if you were to die right now, how certain are you that you’ll go to heaven? In fact, let’s take a moment to reflect on that question here in this room. On a scale of 1 to 10, how certain are you, if you died right now, that you would be in heaven with Jesus? If your answer is a 10, think about someone you know who you could have this conversation with this week. If your answer is anything less than a 10, that means that you don’t understand the concept of salvation. You see, when you’re saved, when you decide to follow Jesus, all of the sudden, you’re full of the Holy Spirit. From that moment on, you’re guided by the Holy Spirit, and your life’s purpose changes, you’re serving the Lord. Now we do that naturally, in the way we work, the way we have relationships, the way we parent, the way we lead our spouses, the way we lead others to Christ. But it’s really a yes or no answer. Your name is either in the book of life, or your name is not written in the book of life. And once you’re saved, you’re always saved.

Like Louis Zamperini from our opening illustration, right now, before you die or before Jesus comes back, we’re behind enemy lines. And what we do with that time is important. To make disciples, to serve the Lord. It was a miracle that Louis was physically saved and reunited with his family, but the greater miracle was not his physical rescue, the greater miracle was when he walked into that Billy Graham crusade and accepted Jesus as His Lord and Savior, and now he is at the marriage feast forever.

How are you living out your faith in Christ?