Intro/Outro: Welcome to Garden Church podcast. We're in part two of a series on the book of Revelation. We're doing a deep dive into how to read and interpret this amazing amazing book. Enjoy.
Darren Rouanzoin: Amen. Good morning, 8AM. If you have your bibles, can I just see them? Hold them up proudly. Go to Revelation chapter 14.
Well done, 8AM. You've done one thing well so far. Good job. We'll see how the rest of the service goes. We're in the book of Revelation.
If you haven't been with us for the last, I don't know, eight months, then you're discovering we're in this book that's at the very end. So if you go to the, you know, the charts or the concordance, you went too far and turn to the left, you'll get to Revelation 14. Last week, I preached through 13 chapters of Revelation. Anyone enjoy that like I did? I'm just curious.
It actually was really good for me to like try to summarize the book. I I thought that was a a really cool Sunday to kind of go through. Obviously, I went through a lot of content. Now, we're gonna slow down and take passage at a passage at a time or so. We're gonna start in verse six.
We'll look at verse one next week because it goes with chapter 15 as well. But we're gonna start in verse six. But last week, we reviewed a bunch of chapters. It was intense, but let me say this, it's not gonna get less intense. From here on out, the rest of the book preaches itself.
So if you think, wow, he's really passionate. He's really intense. No. The scripture is really intense. I'm just matching it.
Okay? One of the most This is perhaps like chapter 13, which was kind of the end before we get to chapter 14. Is kind of one of the most fascinating chapters where a lot of people who are kind of obsessed with this kinda end times reading of scripture as like some type of literal futurist perspective. We we talked about the definitions theologically associated with that where they see like the economic pressure, the false signs, the beast from the sea, the beast from the land, the symbol of six six six. That can be quite confusing without context.
So let me just give you a quick review and then we'll jump in. Does that sound okay? Quick context, 8AM, you ready? Happy Mother's Day. We're getting into some serious stuff here.
Oh, that's the only way I would have it. So first of all, review. Chapter 13 has a bunch of features in it. Chapter twelve and thirteen, you have the dragon who we define as according to scripture as he represents Satan. He's the embodiment of chaos and evil.
He ultimately is defeated by the lamb and those who are faithful. And then, he uses his power over the earth to raise up these beasts in chapter 13. And one of them is the beast from the sea and people are like, who's gonna be the beast? What is the beast? The beast is symbolic and the beast represents oppressive political powers that are that are or co opted by the dragon and and these this beast from the sea represents corrupt empires throughout history.
So it's a storytelling of Egypt and Babylon and Rome and any future empire that's hijacked by Satan represents the beast from the sea. Does that make sense? Great. Then there's the beast from the earth, my personal favorite of the beasts. And between the dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast of the earth, have John mimicking the trinity.
So you need to pay attention. You have this unholy trinity that is presented in the scriptures and there's a constant contrast between team dragon and team lamb. Because the book is not about the future, although it is because if you know how the story ends, then it shapes how you live today. Amen? Amen.
We know how it ends. Well, some of you haven't got there yet. Some of us have read ahead. It ends with Jesus winning and reconciling and restoring and renewing all things. And we're gonna see how that kind of unfolds in detail with apocalyptic kind of style.
But the beast from the earth, he represents this religious deception that enforces the rule of the first beast by leading people into idolatry. And so, this beast from the earth is also called the false prophet and it represents the ideologies that corrupt the soul and draw you into worship, which leads to the end of chapter 13 with something that we really love. It's this the mark of the beast six six six. Remember this? You're like, yes.
Is it Amazon Prime? Was it the vaccine? Is it a micro is it Neuralink? You know, we're always obsessed with trying to read the present. And the answer to that question is, yeah, probably all of those things.
And no, absolutely not. What am I getting at? Well, the mark of the beast is symbolic. It's not a literal thing. It's a symbol of your allegiance.
And that passage in Mark, sorry, in, in Revelation 13 is it it counters the Shema prayer of Deuteronomy six four. That the first mention of the head, forehead, and the hands is Deuteronomy six four, and it represents the allegiance of the people of God to Yahweh. But what happens in in empire is your heart is transformed, moved, or I'll say formed by the corrupt powers of this world. The the longings of a heart that's been deformed by ideologies of culture. We are being formed by this other thing that John puts language is a mark of the beast or a beast from the earth.
And so this symbol represents your thinking. It represents your thought pattern. It represents your heart's longings and your behavior. So when I say is it that people are like, oh my gosh, you said the the vaccine. I'm like, no, guys.
If if you're out there following those websites thinking that that's it's not that. It's so much more insidious than a microchip in your body. It's that you've been hijacked by a belief system and you think you're a follower of Jesus but you're walking in the beast. Yeah. It's way easier to go, I'm just not gonna scan my palm at am's at Whole Foods than it is to say, where is the beast forming my belief systems in worship?
That's what today's about. You ready? So this chapter is this section is a response to the end of chapter 13 where you think the powers, the unholy trinity power is destroying the world and then God has a response song. You ready? Are you sure?
Darrell Johnson says, this section of scripture scripture is the most important sermon the world has ever heard. Not my sermon, but Revelation. There are what we're gonna see is a voice from heaven, a sermon from heaven. Three angels with one message. And this message is broadcast broadcasted across the cosmos to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
This is God's response to the beast. It's God's mercy interpreting the sorry, interrupting the madness of the chaos of culture. It's truth breaking in through the lies of an empire. Michael Gorman says, the visions of Revelation four fourteen portray the gospel and judgment as two sides of the same coin. What we're gonna see is divine justice is good news for those who are oppressed and bad news for those who reject the lamb.
You guys good? Yeah. One more, precursor before we jump in. This is not a fear based religion. This story right now we're gonna read is urgent mercy.
It's the final appeal from God's heart. And the question we're gonna land and ask throughout this entire sermon is simply this, whose image are you becoming? In the end, you will look like the lamb or you will look like the beast. Revelation chapter 14 verse six. I'm gonna preach expository.
So I'm gonna I'm gonna go a couple of verses and explain it and then we're gonna land together at the end. You guys good? Here we go. Verse six. Then I saw another angel flying in midair and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth, to every nation, tribe, language, and people.
He said in a loud voice, fear God and give him glory because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and the springs of water. So this is the first section. We're gonna get three sermons right now from heaven. From angelic beings who are messengers, who are doing things, speaking to creation, speaking to all people.
This is not a Jesus loves you and he has a nice plan for your life. This is the gospel in apocalyptic mode. It's not a whisper, it's a war cry. And the only response to the gospel is all out worship. This is worship language.
Fear God. Give him glory. Worship the creator. This is the worship language. What's the response to Romans chapter 12 after 11 chapters of everything God has done for you for all of creation?
Therefore, in view of God's mercy, brothers and sisters, offer your lives, your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God. This is your true and proper worship. What is invited to creation is now that you see the eternal gospel going out, you must worship. Worship is a resistance to the false worship that we see in our culture as we bow down to money and power and image and the self. This angel says, there's allegiance.
You have allegiance to the world or allegiance to the lamb. That's the only way forward. GK Beale says, it's a covenantal summons in the form of a prophetic lawsuit. That what the angel's doing is he's challenging culture to get right with the lamb who sits on the throne. Richard Bachman says it's anti idolatry manifesto.
It's a counter imperial propaganda. So you have this imperial, worship hymns being sung. Remember that word worthy, was first used for Caesar. This is not a Christian thing. This is not a this is not a a Jewish thing.
That phrase was first used for the Caesars in their imperial hymns. And this angel's going forth going, Caesar's not worthy, only Jesus. Because when you worship the lamb, when you worship the lamb, you reject the beast at the same time. Worship is formational. Worship is resistance.
When you give glory to God, you refuse to glorify the empire. When you choose to align yourself in the house of God, you challenge the cultural literate sorry, the cultural liturgy of consumerism, of upward mobility, of progress, of self focused financial habits, and you become aligned with the way of Jesus through worship. You live for the glory of God, not for self glorification. So the first response for creation is to worship. Remember I said this book is a discipleship manual and a worship manual.
So when we come here and we sing and I wanna tell you, we have a worship team that lives consecrated to the Lord, set apart for the task of bringing and offering to the Lord. We don't worship for your sake, we worship for his sake and we're inviting you to be the choir. And so we're seeing these songs drenched with theology. Rich language that draw our imagination, that draw our thinking, our hearts, our songs, our words, our bodies. The Psalms says, bless the Lord, oh my soul.
Why? Because I feel like it? No. Because I don't feel like it. So I'm gonna tell my soul what to do.
When I was speaking this week at our our school of ministry that we started, we were talking about worship and I was saying, we should be practicing all week long for this moment. So in my quiet time, I'll kneel at times because I need to get my body humble. Especially on Sundays when I stand on a a platform, God will almost always get me on my knees as a challenge to the elevation that comes from being up on the stage. Because this is not about me, it is about Jesus. If you don't have anything to sing, look to the cross and ask Jesus to reveal himself by a thorn, by the cross, and remember what he's done.
You don't need your finances in order to bring your best. You don't need your circumstances to change. In acts chapter 16 or 17 when Paul and bar and Silas are in stocks and beaten and flogged, they sing songs at midnight. And there's an earthquake and they're set free and then the jailer heals them and the jailer gets baptized and they're released into the world and they're like, alright, sorry we didn't mean to beat you up and they're like forget that I'm a Roman, put me back in the city, I'll go when I'm ready. But they worship through the pain.
I I think there's something significant about this first response that the only response fitting for the world is to bring proper worship back to God. So next time you get an opportunity to show up in the house of God with people who have developed a craft to bring an offering to Lord, make sure you're developing your craft on the way in. Starting on Monday. How we doing church? Let's keep going.
I didn't have that in my notes. That just can't That just happened. Heavenly beings call out to creation, worship the lamb. Verse eight, it says this, a second angel followed and said, fallen fallen is Babylon the great which made all the nations drink the maddening wine of her adulteries. I told you.
It's gonna get crazy in a little bit. I love it. It's like I would love to preach. Just don't worry. Jesus cares for you.
Like, look at the lilies of the field, which we did. Right? We already preached there but now we're getting into Revelation. It's like, what's going on? This is a judgment warning and I love this because it's basically inviting you in to see things from Jesus' perspective.
Right? It's from behind the curtain of the cosmos. So Babylon is not just a city and the word Babylon comes from the word Babel in Genesis. We know what happened at the Tower Of Babel. We know that Babylon in the old testament becomes a symbol of pride manifested in dominant domination in cities that form as a rejection of God.
Right? So these are places of success that have reject God. This is symbolic language. Babylon symbolizes worldly power, corruption, corruption, and oppression. Babylon represents the false allure of wealth and empire.
It stands as the antithesis of God's kingdom and it's destined for destruction under God's judgment. So what I want you to know is Darrell Johnson says it this way, Babylon's fall is proclaimed before it happens because it's already decreed by heaven. In other words, don't invest in the empire of Babylon. Don't invest your resources in what will be destroyed. Don't treasure what moths and and rust can destroy.
Instead, treasure things that will last for eternity. Right? Value relationships. Value the kingdom. Set your heart and mind on things that last forever.
Be formed by the lamb and you will keep on living in such a way that when you die, you just keep going. Does that make sense? Yeah. That's what discipleship is about. That you become the kind of person now that is entrusted with anything you ask of Jesus, it will be done for you.
What kind of power is that? That's a power that needs to be transformed in the heart. So you're only asking what Jesus would ask in that situation. Does that make sense? So in this situation, we have this decree that Babylon will fall and the beast is doomed.
Babylon is doomed, so don't link up what God is demand Sorry. Don't link your worth to what God is dismantling. Don't build your identity on a kingdom that's collapsing. So build your identity in Christ in the lamb. The third, should we keep going because it's We got a lot more to get through.
In verse nine, says this, it says, and a third angel followed them and said in a loud voice. Here we go. If anyone worships the beast and its image and receives its mark on their forehead or on their hand, they too will drink the wine of God's fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. They will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment will rise forever and ever.
Happy Mother's Day. Let's keep going. I'll make sense of it in one second. Hold on. There will be no rest.
Circle no rest in your bible. There will be no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and its image or for anyone who receives the mark of its name. Okay. Here we go. Now, we're gonna talk about future events like hell, Gehenna.
We'll talk about those things as we get to them. This is not a section that's talking about that. This is a warning of judgment. If anyone worships the beast, this is the most sobering warning in all of the scriptures. That not because God delights in judgment, but because God wants not for you not to perish.
The wine of God's wrath wrath is his settled opposition to evil. Because he is love, he must deal with injustice. Because he is holy, he must deal with idolatry. This is not cruelty, this is mercy. It's the most serious warning in history because the stakes are eternal.
We'll talk about this in a moment. I'm gonna explain this deeper because there's a clear there's a clarifying verse later on. So, I'm gonna come back to this so we'll make sense of what's happening here. But, the point is, you become what you worship. You either become lamb like or beast like and there there's something going on here that really draws in, this this contrast that the judgment for those who are following the ways of this world is that their rejection of the presence of the lamb will be met in eternity with a separation from the lamb's presence only that the lamb is seen as judge over the condition of their heart and life.
So this section where there's torment, this is apocalyptic language of of judgment finality under the authority of the lamb. They don't have a final say and there's no rest for them. There's no rest for what's coming. That Now, stay stay there. Let's keep going.
It says this. This is the centerpiece for the entire book of Revelation. This one verse, chapter 12. This calls for patient endurance on the part of the people of God who keep his commands and remain faithful to Jesus. This is the centerpiece of the entire book.
Here it is. Right? It's not, guess what, there's an escape plan for you. It's not, alright, here's here's the future events unfolding, know, locusts are helicopters, there's a holy word coming. That's not what's going on.
That And and actually, if you don't understand the the purpose of this book, you will misinterpret this amazing book that's designed for now. How you live now. It's about faithful witness, not escape. It's a path of discipleship. GK Beale says, endurance is active covenantal obedience under pressure.
This is the pastoral center of the entire book right in the middle of judgment, of chaos, of the angels bringing the gospel and a cosmic harvest. God speaks to the church, hold fast. Don't give up. Stay faithful in the face of compromise and opposition under pressure. Endure for my sake.
If you're reading this in in the time it was written with all the persecution, with all the opposition, as your business are being ransacked, as homes are being destroyed, as you're being forced into prison, friends are dying, this is the moment. Endure. Don't give in. Stay faithful. The miracle isn't the signs and wonders.
Endurance is the miracle. This is about maturing in Christ likeness. That doesn't mean great you have words of knowledge for everyone. It means that your character's overflowing which will make sense in the next section. It means the person that you become as the pressure comes looks more and more like Jesus.
Does that make sense? And that's what he's getting. It's a reminder that where we're moving through apocalyptic imagery is focused on the endurance of Christians. See, what I I I It's interesting, I've been posting sermon stuff and further notes online from from all the con because I'm reading so many 17 something commentaries over the last year just like digesting so much and what I'm realizing all the opposition is coming from people who have formed a theology based on fiction novels. It's true.
I mean, they there's scholarship for certain perspectives. And and and I'm not saying I I'm right, but the dominant narrative of those that have been formed by a a church in Southern California is not scholarship. It's popular fiction movies and novels. And as we present the truth, I'm realizing is they're missing the book. They're missing this whole thing which is about you being formed into the image of the lamb.
Not you stockpiling weapons for a holy war. That's not how it's gonna end. There's not gonna be much of a war when Jesus comes back. When the guy who speaks and life happens, it's gonna be line They're gonna line up for their judgment. You have to see that's what's gonna happen.
When you get into the language, yes, there's imagery of warfare, but when you read, keep reading in context, it's showing you that there's something else. It's kinda like the Christians who are obsessed with charismatic gifts, which I love the charismatic gifts. We're praying for healing every Sunday. Let's go. Prophecy, words of knowledge, we want all of it.
Yes. But what what happens is you get in these environments where that becomes the marker of faith. They they skip over chapter 13 of first Corinthians where Paul literally says, I If I speak in tongues of men or angels but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or clanging symbol. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge and if I have faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all my possessions to the poor and give my body to hardship that I may boast but do not have love, I gain nothing.
I guess I guess what I wanna say to the church that's listening in here is if you think revelation is about your escape hatch, you miss the purpose of the book which is forming you into the image of the lamb to endure the tribulations that we're in. Here we go. Thank you mom. I hear you. Happy Mother's Day.
Could hear that amen downstairs growing up all by herself singing joyful joyful sister act two. That was my mom. That was the environment. You did something right. Now we get into a transition.
Verse four or verse 13. Sorry. Let me get this and then we'll go to 14. Verse 13 says, here it is. Look at.
This is called the beatitude of the martyrs. Listen to the contrast. Ready? Then I heard a voice from heaven say, write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on. Yes, says the spirit.
They will rest from their labor for their deeds will follow them. This is a promise. Right? So this is an invitation to faithfulness. Right?
It's a promise of blessing. Blessing for those who are weary, doing the right thing, the good thing, the true thing and suffering along the way. Psalm 73 talks about Asaph, the high, chief priest who who who says, my foot almost slipped. When I looked to the people outside of of the temple, he saw amassing wealth. They're healthy.
They're taking vacations multiple times a year. This is my own language. Right? No. They have no worries.
They're fit physically. They eat pizza and have a six pack. He's looking outside. Their kids listen the first time. It's like all these things.
He's like, but he's comparing his life and he's like, oh, but then I realized when I got into the house of God, my perspective was off. So this invitation is for those who feel like quitting. I'm single and pure in a in a Christian world of compromise. I've remained pure in my sexuality in a world of compromise. He says, hold on.
You're blessed and your works, your deeds will follow you. What you have done in secret will be rewarded when the king comes. We don't talk about this because we're afraid of prosperity gospel. You will be blessed in death when you're faithful. He counts.
Nothing will go on wasted. All of those prayers are collected. All of those tears are collected. All of the struggle for your son who's not there as you pray and hold him up and push him up. You I I love the story of Augustine.
Can I tell you the story? I'm off but I'm just gonna do it. Forget this. It's mother's day. This is for all the moms.
Saint Augustine, one of the most influential Christians of all time. Alright. His work shaped the theology for thousands of years. Became Christian at 30 in his life. He was not a Christian.
His mom was a devout Christian. Would always talk to Saint Augustine, well, it wasn't a saint then, her son about God until one day God said to her, don't talk to him about me, talk to me about him. So he she began to pray and pray. Go to the the chapel, go to the cathedral and pray. And one day a bishop came in and this woman's crying and crying and and he's like, why are you crying?
And she says, son is not Christian. I'm paraphrasing. She's got tears and he says, get out of the house. Basically summarized, the bishop says, no son will perish with those mother's tears. A few years later, he accepts Jesus and he he writes, from that day forward, I became the son of my mother's tears.
Nothing will be wasted. That's for somebody. There you go. Amen. Hallelujah.
Thank you for the tears mom. Verse 14. I looked and there before me was a white cloud and seated on the cloud was one like the son of man with a crown of gold on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. Then another angel came out of the temple and called in a loud voice to him who was sitting on the cloud, take your sickle and reap because the time to reap has come for the harvest of the earth is ripe. So he was he who was seated on the cloud swung his sickle over the earth and the earth was harvested.
So now, we have this apocalyptic imagery of harvest coming. Another angel came out of the temple in heaven. He too had a sharp sickle, still another angel who had still another angel who had charge of the fire came from the altar and called in a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickles, take your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes from the earth's vine because its grapes are ripe. The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great wine press of God's wrath. They were trampled in the wine press outside of the city and the blood flowed out of the press rising as high as the horses bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia.
Again, happy Mother's Day. These I planned this perfectly. We have this great ends times story of harvest. This is where the sermon turns from announcement to decision. This is a sobering warning of two different harvests.
We conclude the heaven sermon with the gospel being proclaimed. Babylon foretold this falling, the sobering warning of what you will receive, a call to endure, a promise of rest and then heaven pulls back the curtains and shows what's coming for everyone, the harvest. It's not just what you hear, it's what you've become. Revelation 14, Jesus crowned and active, ready for two harvests. One is a grain that's gathered, one grapes that are trampled on.
This reminds me of one of the most famous stories in Matthew 25. If you have a bible, just go there. Jesus tells this story in Matthew 25. A similar story of a collecting of the sheep and the goats. It says, when the son of man verse 31, I'll let you get there.
Matthew 25 verse 30. Are you guys good? In it, it's gonna land. Don't worry. That Augustine story, I should put that in my notes.
That was good. Right? Remind me on Mother's Day, Saint Augustine conversion story. I love how God just works. Right?
Who is that for? Raise your hand. Raise your hand. Who is that for? Raise put them up.
Yeah. Lord, I just bless all the all the moms, all the friends, all the siblings crying out for their loved ones. May the prodigals come home. May we see a great harvest of grain gathered which we'll know what that means in a second. Verse 31, Matthew 25, when the son of man comes in his glory.
Oh, okay. So that's prophetic. This is Jesus talking. Right? He's saying this is what the end will look like.
Ready? And the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Listen.
Then the king will say to those on the right, come, you who are blessed by my father. Take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in.
I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was ill and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit. Then the righteous will answer, Lord, when do we see you? We when do we see you hungry and feed you thirsty and do something, give you a drink?
When do we see you as a stranger invite you in or clothe you? When do when were you ill or imprisoned and visit you? And the king will say, truly, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me. And then the goats will be like, we didn't see you. And whatever you didn't do, you didn't do it for me.
So go back to Revelation chapter 14. We have this story of the nations gathered. A harvest has come and what is the final judgment? Love in action. It's not a theological test.
It's who were you on this earth? What did you look like? The harvest is about your character. The harvest is fruit formed in your life by the lamb or by the beast. Neither group knew who are they becoming.
The sheep had become like the lamb, servants, lovers of the least. The goats become like the beast, self focused, indifferent, secure in their own power. Revelation 14 says there's two outcomes. Everyone gets swept away in judgment and this is old testament language. This is a reference to Isaiah 63 and Joel chapter three.
The prophet Joel speaks of the valley of decision where the multitudes gather. Isaiah gives us a wine press soaked with blood, a symbol of divine justice. This is not a literal war. This is not literalism. This is showing what judgment looks like.
But hear me, this is not some random fickle anger because God is not vengeful throwing lightning bolts down at earth. This is God's settled opposition. He's not reacting. He has a non anxious presence and he is moving forward towards evil. This judgment is justice.
This is what love does when it refuse refuses to let evil win. God's holiness and love cannot ignore evil. He sends his son to deal with evil. And then as it's playing out, evil always destroys God's good and beautiful creation which he intended for us to live in harmony and shalom. So God's judgment is an act of mercy because it removes the cancer of evil and paves the way for redemption and renewal for all things.
God's love requires wrath. In that love cannot stand by when evil rages on in the world. This is what we have to understand in the evangelical church. We have a hard time with the word sin and wrath and judgment. We don't understand it.
But if anyone here is a parent and sees an animal coming at their child, they will stand in the way and do whatever it takes so that that child is protected. That's love. And if you're like, what about the animal's rights? Well, what about the love for the child? You're gonna protect at all costs.
This is God's moving forward in love towards evil and the destroyers of his world. Are you with me on this? Yeah. For more questions on this, there'll be some stuff online I'll release because this obviously tugs on the heart for a lot of people. I I don't have time to go into.
I'm gonna throw out some words and you're gonna be like, oh, this is hard to hear. I love what Richard Bachman says. He says, the two harvests distinguish between those who respond to the lamb and those who serve the beast. It's that simple. God's holy and loving.
This is his holy and loving response to protect, heal and ultimately restore his creation. Here's what I was thinking about. I was like, how do I explain this in a modern day parable if you would? I had this thought and I don't know if it's gonna work, so 8AM you get to be blessed with this. It might not be in any other service.
So it's either gonna mess you up, forgive me or it's gonna add. Okay? And there we go. But I was thinking about the algorithm that's discipling you, formation through streaming. So imagine this, two people sign up for the same streaming streaming service.
Same subscription, same homepage, same endless scroll of options. But over time, their experiences begin to diverge. One learn leans into stories that stretch the soul, doc documentaries about justice, film films that are marked by beauty and courage and truth and sacrificial love. They're drawn to narratives that reflect what is good and noble and even hard. They cry, they reflect and they feel more human on the inside.
And then the other one gets swept away by a different stream. Rage bait videos, conspiracies, violence that's glamorized, endless episodes feeding you with fear and lust and numbness, and their algorithm gets darker and darker and more chaotic, more self absorbed. It feeds them in a way where they react to the things that they need. Same aspect or sorry, same access, different appetites. Both were streaming.
Both of them were shaped by the streaming bit by bit. Formation is always happening. We are always becoming something. Then one day just imagine system wide update, a divine reset. Now, everything you ever watch is fully exposed.
Everything you clicked on, every like is put out for display for everyone to see all the hours, all the videos, all the things you watch, but not just your preferences and patterns, but the content of the character that you've become. What you consumed didn't stay on the screen. It sank into your soul and it begs the question, in an age of endless scrolling, what is forming you in the into the image of Christ? Jesus look isn't just looking at your browser history, history, he's looking at your formation. He's not just asking what did you click on, he's saying, what are you becoming?
And the expectation for Christians is that we become more like him. Because your friends will shape you, your everyday habits will shape you, your choices will shape you. Obviously, your streaming and your attention, wherever it goes shapes you, but one day there will be a harvest. Revelation 14 is not a threat, it's a cosmic sermon. Three angels, one message, turn, endure, prepare because harvest is coming.
And it's not about fear. This is John's intention from the beginning. It's about clarity. It's not about fear and chaos and escape vehicles. It's about clarity to look at the lamb.
This section of scripture is asking the question, who are you becoming? Maybe ask that right now. If you were to evaluate from two years ago, from one year to today, are you becoming more like Jesus or less like Jesus? Are you becoming more centered, more grounded in the truth, more patient, more kind, more generous with your resources, more trusting or less. And if we were to map out our life here on earth, it's gonna be a a a you know, this much into this entire room of eternity.
And we will have the rest of eternity to look more and more like Jesus. And the question that he's asking you is are you being formed in his image or are you being formed by the beast of this world? Because everyone is marked and everyone will be harvested. So where's your allegiance? What kind of worship is shaping you?
Are you resisting? Are you slowly becoming more like the world? I love this language because it the world seems a little bit more casual, a little bit more neutral. But the question is, are you resisting the beast? Or are you becoming more like the beast?
Or are you enduring and engaging in the way of the lamb and becoming more like the lamb? Here's the truth and I'll end with this. You can't follow the lamb and bow to the empire. You can't carry the cross and wear the mark of the beast. You can't worship God and serve Babylon.
And here's the good news. This message, which I'm preaching, is being proclaimed by angels to all creation at all times. And they're calling you to worship the lamb. They're calling you not to panic. They're calling you to follow, to turn, to endure, to prepare because he's coming and he's the only one with you.
Amen?
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