This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

This is day five of our look together through Revelation chapter 11. We're going
to focus on one verse today, Revelation 11 verse 19. An amazing thing happens in
this verse.

John, you remember throughout this chapter, has heard the trumpet blast of the
seventh trumpet and right after that he takes us back to heaven where we hear
the praise song of the 24 elders, "You shall reign forever and ever and ever. "
And then he sees something. In verse 19, listen to what happens, "Then God's
temple in heaven was opened, and within his temple was seen the ark of his
covenant.

And there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, an earthquake,
and a great hail storm. " There is a temple of God in heaven. Now, what is this
temple in heaven that's being talked about here?

Well, we get some good information about it in Hebrews chapter 8. Hebrews 8. 5
says, "They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy.

" It's talking about the temple in Jerusalem in that day. "They serve at a
sanctuary that's a copy and a shadow of what's in heaven. " That is why Moses
was warned when he was about to build the tabernacle, "See to it that you make
everything according to the pattern shown you on the mountain.

" That's the mountain of Sinai where he went to see not only the Ten
Commandments, but how he should build this tabernacle. And he saw the plans in
heaven. There's a tabernacle.

There's a temple in heaven. And John sees it. He sees it being opened, and he
sees the things that are inside of it.

Now, the significance here is that it is opened. This temple is being opened.
Remember, there was a curtain between the people and the presence of God in this
temple.

There was a curtain that prevented you from getting into the Holy of Holies, and
you probably remember that when Jesus died on the cross, that curtain was ripped
in two from top to bottom, one of the great miracles of the Bible that's not
often enough talked about. God ripped it in two because he was saying the
presence of God is no longer hidden behind a curtain. Now, because of the
forgiveness that's been offered in Jesus Christ, the presence of God is with
men.

It is in people, in my people. The temple is opened, showing that God's presence
is with us. And as it's opened, he sees inside of it the Ark of the Covenant.

Now, you Indiana Jones fans and the Raiders of the Lost Ark, if you've ever
wanted to really see the real Ark, here John gets to see it. And I expect when
we get to heaven, we're really going to get to see it. That Ark was a place that
was the center of God's presence.

It was the place that God sat. It's the place also of our atonement. It's the
place where you and I recognize that Jesus Christ had paid the price so that we
can enjoy the presence of God forever.

God's presence is now with his people, within his people. That's going to be
very important as we come to the end of this book of Revelation. And as John
sees the temple open, as he sees the Ark, he is seeing the presence of God
pictured for him.

He's also seeing something else. At the same time, he sees flashes of lightning.
He hears rumbling.

He hears peals of thunder. There's an earthquake. There's a great hail storm.

The presence of God is pictured, but also the power of God is pictured. That is
who God is. He is powerful in his presence, and in his presence, he has great
power.

Sometimes we're a little afraid of that. And because of that, we want to make
God's goodness simply niceness. God is gracious.

God is patient. God is kind. And yet he is also a God of awesome power,
awesomely expressed power.

I've always loved that line from the Chronicles of Narnia, talking about Jesus
Christ, talking about God and who he is and his character. One of the children
asks, one of the characters, is he safe? Asking about Aslan, who represents
Jesus in that book.

And the answer comes back, safe, absolutely not. No, he's not safe, but he's
good. That is who God is in our lives.

If you want a safe God, if you want a little God, if you want a God that you can
control, if you want a God that you have more power than, that is not the God of
the Bible. That is not the God who came and gave his life for us. That is not
the God of the book of Revelation.

He is good, and I can trust in his goodness. He is a God of awesome power. So
here you have the open temple, and you have the lightning.

You have the ark, and you have the earthquake. And in both of those, you see the
character of God and who he really is. Here we are at the end of chapter 11 in
the book of Revelation.

As I come to the end of this chapter, I was reading through some things that our
research team had written, and one person wrote, "I cringed when you told us we
were going to be doing the book of Revelation together, but God is doing some
amazing stuff in my life as I read through this book. " God works in our lives
through his scriptures, through his truth, through his goodness. And my question
to you as we come towards the end of this 11th chapter is, what is he doing in
your life?

As we're walking through this study together, I know that it's more than just
figuring out what the sevens mean and who the beast is, and I know that it's so
much more than that, because God's word is so much more than that. What is he
doing in your life? Let me just go through a list.

Maybe it's one of these things, maybe it's all of these things. As we're
studying through this book, is he increasing your anticipation of heaven,
looking forward to what it's going to mean to be with him forever and enjoy his
presence forever, looking forward to what it's going to mean to be a part of
these worship services that we've been looking at together? Is he doing that in
your life?

Or maybe he's doing something different. Maybe he is decreasing your trust in
this world. I don't know about you, but I tend to hold on to this world much too
tightly sometimes.

Oh, I don't think I am. I think I have total trust in Christ in a circumstance,
but then I realize no, I'm really trusting in the way I've always done it
before. I'm really trusting in that little habit in my life.

I'm really trusting in some physical thing that I can hold on to that makes me
feel comfortable. The comfort comes not from the physical thing, the comfort
comes from him. So how are you trusting him right now?

Maybe as we're walking through this book, he is using it to decrease your trust
in this world. I know for myself the rest of my life on this planet, God's going
to be working to decrease my trust in this world and increase my trust in him.
Is he doing that in you?

Or maybe there's a third thing that he's doing. Maybe he is reminding you that
you can trust God to be just. Maybe you've been living with some unforgiveness
in your life or some bitterness in your life or some wondering in your life how
God's going to cause all this to turn out.

And just a deep sense, a deep feeling that life is just not fair. Maybe God's
using this book to remind you that in the end, you can trust. You can trust that
God will be just and his justice will prevail in the end.

Maybe there's another thing that God's doing in your life through this book.
Maybe he is deepening your desire to share your faith. There's a friend, there's
a family member, you don't want them to face any of this without knowing Christ,
without knowing his love and his protection.

As we've gone through this book, we've seen that some may be protected by being
taken out of this time of tribulation, but we've seen that even those who might
have to face this time of tribulation are going to be protected within that time
by the love and the power of God. And there's somebody you know that God's
motivating your heart, is working in your heart to deepen your desire to share
your faith. Or maybe there's something else that God's doing.

As we're walking through this book together, God's moving you from temporary
hope to eternal hope. As human beings, we tend to hope in things that we see,
but really those are just temporary hopes. Because anything that you see in this
world, any material thing, it can be taken away, so it's not going to last, so
it's not a sign of real hope.

We tend to try to put hope in things that we can see, people that we can see
even, when we all know that our eternal hope is in God, it's in Jesus Christ, in
his Spirit working in us. And maybe God is using these verses, verses you really
didn't want to study, things you really didn't want to talk about maybe, but
you've been faithful to be listening and hearing. He's using these verses to
move your heart from a place of temporary hope to a place of more eternal hope.

Which is it? How is he working? As we pray together today, just consider in your
own heart and mind, what's God doing in my life?

And thank him. Say, "Jesus Christ, thank you. Thank you that as I'm studying
this book, your revelation, thank you that you're increasing my anticipation of
heaven.

" Or you might want to say, "Thank you that you're decreasing my trust in this
world. " Your prayer might be, "Jesus, thank you that you're reminding me that I
can trust that in the end your justice will prevail. " As we pray, you might
want to just say, "Jesus Christ, thank you that you are deepening my desire to
share my faith.

" And I pray for this person in my mind right now, bring them to faith in Jesus
Christ. Let them know that you're real. Or your prayer might be this, "Jesus
Christ, thank you that you're moving me, moving my heart, moving my soul from a
temporary hope to a more eternal hope in you.

Only you could do that. Thank you that you love me enough to work in my heart in
that way patiently, moment by moment, day by day. Keep doing your work, Jesus.

I love what you are doing in my life. In your name I pray, amen. " Well, join us
next week.

Very interesting as we look at Revelation chapter 12, we're going to look at the
Christmas story Revelation-style.