The Dramatic Narrative: Jesus Wins

Marc Jolicoeur · Tidal Church Moncton · March 23, 2025 · Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation series

Marc Jolicoeur explores the seals, trumpets and bowls of Revelation and the vision in Revelation 12, showing that these judgments point to evil's defeat. Jesus has already won, so believers can stay faithful through suffering and join His team.

More from Marc Jolicoeur · The Apocalypse: The Book of Revelation series

Topics: Hope, Faith, Suffering

Transcript

[0:01] Oh man, that's such an intense trailer. I wish I had, like, a parental guidance warning for the rolls. I'm just like, hide your kids. That's scary stuff. It is a weird book, guys. It's such, I mean, the Bible is a weird book, but goodness gracious. This one here at the end, it's a weird and wacky book. Welcome. As has been mentioned a few times, my name is Marc and we're gonna take a look at some sections of this book. It is, as I said, kinda wild and wacky, but also it's wonderful and it has a lot to say. I have goals this morning. I got goals, and my goals are for Christians in the room. My goal is that you'll be encouraged that Jesus wins and that we are able to, because of that, be part of the team that wins.

[0:47] It's amazing. And then, if you are in the room and you're not yet on Team Jesus or Team Lamb, I hope that by the end of this morning, you'll actually want to be. I hope that's the case. I also hope that you feel very, very comfortable and welcome here as you explore this. So it won't be a strong arm sell, I promise, but I've just gotta be honest with you up front. It is my hope that you'll think that's worthwhile. So the bottom line here, as we take a look in the third week of this series, is the dramatic narrative of Revelation is kind of like, it's pretty simple. It's Jesus wins. That's kind of what the whole thing is about, is the fact that Jesus wins. It is not simple in how it's laid out, but its goal is simple. And in fact, just as a way of recapping, this isn't on the screen 'cause I wasn't planning to do this, but as a way of recapping last week, I just wanna read a little bit from Revelation 5, which is where we left off last week with this beautiful upside down image.

[1:40] I'm gonna pick up at verse 9. After we had the big reveal about who it was, who was actually sitting on the throne. It was a lamb, not a lion. It was a lamb who looked like it had actually been slain. When we pick up, whenever the living beings give glory and honor and thanks to the one sitting on the throne, the one who lives forever and ever, the 24 elders fall down and worship the one sitting on the throne. I'm not realizing that I'm reading from chapter 4. It's a lot of overlap here. Chapter 5 actually says, they sang a new song with these words, "You are worthy. We sang that this morning. You are worthy to take the scroll and to break its seals and open it, for You were slaughtered. And Your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation.

[2:29] And You have caused them to become a kingdom of priests for our God, and they will reign on the earth." And I looked again and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. And they sang in a mighty chorus, "Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing." I think that's such a beautiful image of this kind of upside down reality that we're seeing in heaven and how that upside down reality is coming to earth. So moving forward, the central chunk of the Book of Revelation actually kinda leads from here for the next 10 chapters or so.

[3:15] And there is just an absolute onslaught of imagery that comes to you, just all these different images, and it's kind of hard to keep it straight sometimes. But the central thing is that essentially the core of these chapters is what we call like a motif or whatever of judgment. And there's actually a lot of different kinds of judgment, but they're all being judgments cast against, and by extension, the people surrounding the dragon. So you remember we talked about Team Lamb, which is the Jesus team, and then Team Dragon, which is the other guy's team. They lose. So the judgments are cast against that and it's actually being represented as being kind of total or perfect judgment, total or perfect judgment. How could that be? Why, how is that done? Because of the way that it's laid out, in some respects, it is three times seven judgments.

[4:07] So there are seven judgments that are kind of proclaimed three different times, since you'll remember there's kind of value in how numbers are presented in the book of Revelation. Seven is this perfect number. And then three is also kind of a type of perfect number, right? There's three people in the Godhead, and so there's something to do with this. So we are not going to read through them. It would take forever to read through them, right? Well, actually, no, I'm gonna make a case later today. It won't be, it wouldn't take forever, but we won't actually read through them all this morning. It's my hope that you guys will engage with this text on the side. But the judgments themselves are, there are seven seals, there are seven trumpets, and then there are seven bowls: seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. And you maybe will remember the seals because that's actually where we left off last week when we were reading.

[4:55] And people were saying, "Whoa, who is able to open the scroll?" The scroll was sealed with seven different seals. And so the one who sits on the throne, the Lamb who was slain, He's the one who's worthy. So we start with those seals, and the kinds of things that the seals are a bunch of different horses. So there's like a white horse, which represents war. There's a red horse, which represents peace, a black horse that seems to represent famine, and then a pale horse, which represents death. And then there are signs of these martyrs who are praying and there are cosmic signs. And then at the end of that particular set of judgments, there is silence in heaven. And then you move on from there to the seven trumpets, which are trumpeted by the angels.

[5:42] You have hail, fire, blood. There's also a fiery mountain that's like thrown into a sea. You have something that's like a star, maybe unclear, it's called Wormwood. That is cast into the rivers. There are the sun, the moon, and the stars. There are locusts that are unleashed on the earth, but a third of the population seems to be wiped out. And in the end, there is an acclamation of victory. Jesus wins. And then in some kind of an other scene, you have seven bowls, and the bowls are sores that are released on humanity. There's blood in the sea, blood in the rivers, which obviously represents death. There's, you know, being scorched by the sun. You have frogs in rivers.

[6:28] And then again, at the end, in case you haven't gotten the gist of this point in time, there's an acclamation: Jesus wins. So seven seals, seven trumpets, and seven bowls. Now as I mentioned, we're not gonna read through all these, but I wanna give you just a couple points before we move on here later and actually read through a passage of Scripture in a little bit more detail. But about these, because a lot of people have been confused, I'm maybe still a little bit confused, but a lot of people have been quite confused about these. It really unsettles them. So we wanna just release you and give you some confidence and peace about how this is, how these work together in the book. So just a few points about 'em. First of all, these are likely, I'll say very likely, not sequential.

[7:15] So in other words, it's not likely that you have these seven things that happen and these seven things that happen, and then these seven things that happen. Now, while that's not impossible, it is just not the most obvious reading of it. You know, this, if you've actually read through it. So I won't ask for a show of hands for who has read through the book of Revelation, but if you have, especially if you've done it kind of cover to cover, it's, you will notice that some things happen and then you go, but that just happened. So like as a single example in Revelation, near the end of Revelation chapter 16, there's a description of Babylon's fall. So it's a description that is falling, but then as you turn to the next chapter, chapter 17, the angel says, come with me and watch the fall of Babylon. And he's like, but that just happened. So this is this constant kind of interplay with how things are happening in terms of like the timeline.

[8:04] So it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And one way of knowing this for sure is if, or knowing this more likely is by listening through to the book. So just kind of as an aside, you know, the overwhelming majority of people through history who would've engaged with this book would not have been doing it by reading, but they would've been doing it by having it read to them, right? And so, I actually had a long drive yesterday, and I was by myself. You could do this with other people too. But I was like, you know what, I'm gonna put on the book of Revelation. And so I listened to it from top to bottom. It took, now I was listening at 1.5 speed. I find that 1.5 speed is still very legible. Once you get up into the 1.7, 1.8, the person starts sounding like a chipmunk. So, but I was, if you're unfamiliar with this technology, you know, free audio Bible available on my phone.

[8:54] So I listened to Revelation, from, you know, 1 to 22 all the way through. It took just about an hour, but an hour at 1.5 speed. So I guess that means probably be about an hour and a half at regular speed. It's not unthinkable, it's the length of a movie. So I would encourage you, if you're ever interested in it, listen to it like from the beginning to the end, this is how this would've been engaged by people. Is it worth digging into individual verses and taking a look at themes? Absolutely. But it's not how it was designed, for lack of a better word. It was designed to be given as a whole so that you get the whole sweep of it all at once. If you do that, then you'll start to see, oh, these things are not always just, it's not just playing through like a timeline. It's a lot of different images. Now about these three sevens I mentioned, each of the three endings have this kind of great thing that happens, right?

[9:45] So at the end of the first one in Revelation 8:1, there is a half an hour of silence in heaven, which sounds crazy. What would that be like? We won't find out this morning. After the next one, after the trumpets, we have loud declarations coming from somewhere in heaven that, quote, "The world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ. And He will reign forever and ever." That's from Revelation 11:15. And then of course, there's more things that happen. And at the end of the last set of seven, there is a mighty shout from the throne in the heavenly temple. This is in Revelation 16:17. And it says, "It is finished," or "It is done," depending upon the translation, which obviously calls to mind what happens on the cross when Jesus Christ declares, "It is finished."

[10:35] Now, just to kind of make this a little bit more clear, in one of the commentaries we've been using to prepare ourselves for this, it is said, each of the seventh judgments announces the end. That is, each of the three times seven judgments lead us right up to the eradication of evil and the establishment of New Jerusalem. So they're likely not sequential, rather they're to give each and in total an image of what it's like when judgment comes. So the next thing is they're highly symbolic. They're highly symbolic. Now, symbolic doesn't mean that they're not real, they're real, but they contain within them significant meaning that goes well beyond just the surface level.

[11:24] So the images of the horses from the seven seals, I mean, they very clearly connect to the Old Testament prophecies of Zechariah and Ezekiel, where those same images are actually contained, or the images of the plagues from the trumpets and the bowls. You know, the blood in water, frogs, hail. If anybody's ever watched The Prince of Egypt or read the Old Testament book of Exodus, you'll know that these are, you know, things that are contained within the story of the Exodus. And then the cosmic signs that occur, you know, the sun going dark, the moon turned to blood, stars falling. This is all throughout the Old Testament. But then also Jesus Himself mentions it in Matthew 24. He gives us, He Himself calling back to Isaiah. So these images are scattered and all throughout the Old Testament and all throughout the New Testament, and they are all kind of interconnected and giving us symbolic meaning.

[12:15] So don't just look for what it says, look for what it means and what it brings to the table. And lastly, and this language is tough, but this is what we have right now. They are judgments more than they are punishments. They're judgments more than they're punishments. Now, I don't know, I wrestled with this a lot. I mean, might say like they are about restoration, kind of versus retribution. Maybe another way of saying it, the point, that semantics are, you know, a pastime for me. But the point is, is that they have a purpose. They have a purpose. And the purpose isn't just to be angry. Again, we'll kind of take a look at the quote from Gombis and McKnight. "A mistake is sometimes made by those who press these judgments into literal earthly realities in which God supposedly kind of makes havoc of His own creation. Rather, these are all each and in totality graphic images of judgment on the dragon, the wild things, and Babylon.

[13:20] These judgments have a clear purpose as well, the elimination of evil in the world so the people of God can dwell in peace in the new Jerusalem." So two passages of Scripture from Revelation, just to kinda help illustrate this, in case you're thinking, well, actually these are just about God being mad. So Revelation 9:20, but the people who did not die in these plagues still refused to repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. In other words, the hope was that they would repent of their evil deeds and turn to God. That is the point. But the people in this image have chosen not to do that. Or Revelation 16:9 says they cursed the name of God who had control over all these plagues.

[14:08] They did not repent of their sins and turn to God and give Him glory. So the goal, just like actually, is always the goal is repentance. It's for people to turn. So those three points together is that they're likely not sequential. They are highly symbolic and they are judgments more than punishments. But the fact that this is, you know, kind of confusing, I think helps illustrate in some respects why the book of Revelation can be not just controversial today, but has actually been controversial since the beginning of the church. A number of early church leaders actually thought, you know, I don't know if we want to have Revelation read in our churches.

[14:57] It was actually often said we'd prefer not to have it read on Sunday mornings. And if they didn't have it read on Sunday mornings, that would've meant they probably didn't want it in their Bibles. But why is that? Why would they want that? Well, first of all, because as we said over and over again, it can be difficult to understand. Yes, because it's difficult to understand, it can be misunderstood. And then sometimes it can be misapplied and it causes people to sometimes kind of go in these kind of weird directions. Number two, there is confusion and there has been confusion around the authorship of Revelation. So, it says very clearly within the text, I don't think there's any debate that it's written by John. This is, I'm gonna try this and see if, could you raise your hand if your name is John here this morning?

[15:42] Got one, one, one. Any? I got only one John. It didn't work. You went and you lose John within the pages of the New Testament, there are a number of Johns, it's not like it was a very common name. You have a great name. Oh, it's a very common name. Lots of Johns. So the fact that he identifies as John doesn't mean they know which John, it was, in fact, we know that Jesus had hundreds and hundreds of followers and it could have been another John. So the fact that there was kind of lack of clarity in who the John is caused a little bit of confusion. And we don't need to go too far down the rabbit hole, but apostolicity. So it being connected to somebody who was kind of considered an apostle is part of what made a book eligible for to be really held within the canon of the New Testament. So there was some confusion there.

[16:29] So that was one reason they're like, ah, I don't know if we should go there. But I think the biggest thing, especially after you get outta the first couple centuries of the church, the biggest reason why it could have started to been a little bit dicey for people is that the sociopolitical context changed quite a bit for the first few centuries. Christians were not just a minority, but like a minority within a minority, right? It was a very, very small, and they lived almost exclusively in the Roman Empire, which is, as we've already hopefully made somewhat clear, Babylon, right? That's the code name, you're living in Babylon. So they were the persecuted minority in the belly of the beast.

[17:16] And that's the context in which Revelation was written. It's the context in which it was received. And then they became not just the minority, but they started to become an accepted minority. And then they became the accepted, you know, middle road and the kind of like general population. And then they became the preferred majority. And all this happened relatively quickly, especially within the area of Rome. So now the book that they're reading, which talks about the, you know, the bad guy, who's the bad guy now? So the reception history changed and it became less relevant. It wasn't exciting for them to talk about Rome, 'cause Rome was, they liked Rome. They were praying for Rome and Rome was patronizing them.

[18:03] So again, Scot McKnight. Often it's difficult for persons who have not been hopeless to understand how precious hope and judgment that is justice can be for those without hope. Privileged people tend to abuse Revelation with their misreadings while the abused of this world find hope for the coming day. And so it's important for us when we come to Revelation to understand where we are, where Rome is, and then where Jesus is, and understanding exactly that will make the difference about what kind of comes off the pages. Now we're gonna read a passage of Scripture and try to dive into this a little bit more.

[18:51] This is from Revelation chapter 12. This happens. It's a scene. It's a scene that happens between the trumpets and the bowls. And I'm gonna read from the New Living Translation, it'll be on the screen, but if you wanna look it up yourself, or if you want to close your eyes and listen or you wanna read along, "Then I heard a loud voice shouting across the heavens. It has come at last. Salvation and power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brothers and sisters has been thrown down to earth, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. And they have defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony.

[19:38] And they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die. Therefore, rejoice, oh heavens, and you who live in the heavens, rejoice, but terror will come on the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you in great anger, knowing that he has little time." I'm just gonna look at a few of the terms in here. So the Christ, as it says up here where it says the authority of His Christ, the Christ, christos is the kinda Greek word for it. Messiah would be the word that we often use in the Old Testament to, but it's kind of translated as Christ in the New Testament.

[20:27] Again, Jesus Christ isn't Jesus' last name. It means Messiah. It means anointed one. It also means king or Lord. So the kingdom of our God and the authority of His King, there is a new kingdom in town, right? The accuser. It says the accuser, the one who accuses them before our God day and night. He has been thrown down. John, the author, is not, he doesn't mince words. He interestingly over And over a couple times says the devil that is Satan, the dragon, He basically says all the people, all the bad guys, all the ones who think it was bad guys, them, that's the accuser. And he's been cast down, the accuser's.

[21:13] And such an interesting term, if you've ever read through the Book of Job, opens up with this essentially kind of like bad guy angel hanging out. It almost seems like a prosecutor for some reason hanging out in the courts of heaven talking about Job. And this is the image of the Satan in the Old Testament has Satan, which means most directly translates as accuser. The person who literally goes to God and says, yeah, but so and so this, yeah, but such and such, that the one that he is, like, he's a snitch and he's, and he's always doing his best to try to bring people down. That's his, like, it seems like it's his job. What a crappy job. But that's what he is. And it says here that he has been thrown down, that he is no longer, he doesn't have access to God in the kingdom of heaven.

[22:09] And then it mentions the kingdom of God and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ. But remember, this happens, what we're reading here, this happens even before some of the other plagues. And this is where the Book of Revelation gives us an image of the kingdom of heaven as something that is the fancy word for it is inaugurated eschatology. You can, if you ever wanna show that off at a party, you can. But an easier way of remembering it is, already, not yet, already, not yet. Inaugurated eschatology means He has, Jesus has received the crown. He is the King. The inauguration has happened. Actually, we believe the inauguration happens when He ascends to heaven.

[22:56] That's not Him just going, like, piecing out. That's Him going up and being seated at the right hand of the Father, sitting in His throne, properly becoming the King of kings and the Lord of lords, which of course He always was. And yet He is becoming. And that's how heaven is outside of time. That's the inaugurated part of it. Eschatology means the end time. So the end times being inaugurated, they've begun, but we're working out the reality of them. So there are some things that are already here. Jesus has won, and yet Jesus is winning. It is an unrolling. So there's the already and there's the not yet. And that's why in this very passage we have this, like, hurrah. It's all happened, you know. The kingdom of God is at hand, but woe to you on the earth because there's some notness.

[23:51] The dragon's tail is still flailing. Though he has been stabbed, he has damage to do. And this explains the cries of the martyrs that we hear throughout the Book of Revelation. Jesus wins. It's already said so multiple times. And yet in Revelation chapter 13, verses 9 and 10, anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Anyone who is destined for prison will be taken to prison. Anyone destined to die by the sword will die by the sword. This means that God's holy people must endure persecution, patiently and remain faithful. Now, as I mentioned, the context in which this is written seems very, very unlike our context.

[24:44] I wanna make that, I personally wanna make that very, very clear. In the world today though, I'm gonna just drop this in here. This is from a recent article in Christianity Today. In the world, not yesterday, not 2,000 years ago, in the world today, actually, this is from the last year. Almost 5,000 Christians were killed specifically for their faith. Almost 4,000 Christians were abducted, again, not just because they're wealthy, that happens all the time as well, but specifically for their faith in Jesus Christ, nearly 15,000 churches were attacked or closed, and almost 300,000 Christians were forcibly displaced from their homes because of their faith.

[25:32] So persecution is alive and well in the world. It does happen, even though it is not, thanks be to God, it's nothing that I've ever experienced. But here's what I wanna say, and I hope this comes across. Not all suffering is persecution. Here, there is a difference here. Not everything. That, not every time that you suffer is that persecution, right? Not all suffering is because of your faith. And not all persecution is Christian persecution, right? I mean, there are people from other religions who are persecuted and there are people who are persecuted for political concerns.

[26:17] So not all suffering is persecution. Not all persecution is Christian persecution. But also, watch this, not all Christian persecution leads necessarily to the word martyrdom or to dying for the faith. There are certainly a lot of grades that happen in here. And the word martyr comes to us from the Greek Marty, which means both the word that we have, like, dying for faith. But actually, mostly what we have is the word witness. Whenever you see the word witness, depending upon the translation that you're seeing, that actually is coming back to the word martyr. So when it says that they did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die, it says that they defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by their testimony, that word testimony is martyr.

[27:11] But your testimony need not be death, though. It's not impossible. But anything along the line that is a persecution or even a suffering that is endured specifically in the name of and for the name of Christ is a word of witness to the world, to the world around us. We don't get to choose the context that we're born into and we don't get to choose what following Jesus will look like. And especially we don't get to choose what the consequences of following Jesus will actually be. All we get to do is choose whether or not we're convinced that Team Lamb is the winning team, and that that's the one that we want to be on. The message of the entire letter of Revelation, the entire letter to the Hebrews before it, really all of the letters of Paul, the message of Peter, Jesus Himself.

[28:12] In fact, it's always this, that Jesus wins. In John 16:33, Jesus Himself says, "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in Me." It's like, yes. But He says here, on earth you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart. You will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, I have overcome the world. Amen. Amen. I mean, that's, that's all there is to it. And so the question that you have is before you is, are you convinced that Jesus wins?

[29:05] 'Cause when you see a lot of history of things that look like losing, it can be hard to remember that we've already won. So in a moment, I'm gonna pray. I'm gonna pray for three groups of people. I'm gonna pray for people around the world who are currently experiencing actual, legitimate, real persecution. And I'm gonna invite you as Christians in the room to join me as we pray and support for them that they might remain faithful to the call that Jesus has laid upon them. But I'm also gonna pray for you in whatever situation you find yourself in this morning, that you would remain faithful to the path that Jesus has laid out before you.

[29:51] But I'm also gonna pray for those of you who are interested in making that switch and actually stepping onto Team Lamb. And I'm gonna invite you to realize that come what may, regardless of whether it looks like a cross, you want to be on that winning team. So I invite you to pray with me. Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name, hallowed, holy, holy, holy. May Your name be, may Your kingdom come, may Your kingdom come and may Your will be done here on earth as it is in heaven.

[30:47] May Your kingdom come in all situations. May Your kingdom come in all corners of the world. May Your kingdom come in people who know You, and may Your kingdom come in people who don't. Lord, those of us who are Christians around this room, we just wanna come before You on behalf of our brothers and sisters around the world who are currently living in a place that does not look like victory. Lord, would Your mercy and grace be so evident to them? Would they just be filled with Your love? We pray that You would make, that You would change things, that You would change the scenarios around them, that You would give them peace and security and stability. And yet we also know that Your kingdom tends rather to grow on ground that has been watered by tears and by blood, not blood that we have shed, but blood that often we have had to spill.

[31:52] Lord, would You help them in all things to remain faithful to You, for You are worthy. And Lord, for those of us who, as it says in Hebrews, we have not yet had to resist temptation to the point of shedding our own blood, would we look not just to their example, but to Your example, to remain faithful. It's easy for us to just be like, ah, you know, I'm gonna push snooze on, you know, reading my Bible today, or I know I should make this decision 'cause that's what Jesus wants. But we don't feel the need. We don't feel the urgency to really seek after You in all things. I don't know why. May we feel that urgency without having to necessarily feel the boot of persecution on our neck.

[32:39] Lord, would You help us to remain faithful to the call that You have upon us because You're worthy and because You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And there are people in this room this morning who have wanted, they've been interested maybe for a while, or maybe it's just this morning to actually make that leap from Team Dragon to Team Lamb. Maybe it's because they see their own team losing, but frankly, maybe it's, you know, things are good, but there's still a lack 'cause they understand there's more to life. And it certainly wouldn't be through any rhetorical moves that I've made this morning. But if Your Holy Spirit has been opening their eyes to see that fidelity and faithfulness to You and to Your cause is really the only thing that's gonna draw them towards an eternity on the winning team.

[33:33] Lord, I pray that this morning You would grant them the ability to pray these words. Jesus, I know that in myself, I'm not enough. I know that I can't win and I never could, but You have and You invite me onto Your team and into Your family just by confessing the fact that I am a sinner that needs Your grace. And though I don't know what tomorrow will bring, or the day after that, or the weeks, months, or years ahead, I am willing to confess that You are the King of kings and the Lord of lords. And that I wanna follow in Your footsteps.

[34:18] I receive Your grace and I wanna walk in Your way. Help me by the power of the Holy Spirit. Church, I'll invite you to stand this morning as we sing in response to what we've heard, that we might crown Him, the King, the King of kings. Let's.