The Kindness and Severity of God

Revelation: An Overview

• Chapter 1: Intro, Greeting, & Vision of Risen Christ
• Chapters 2-3: Letters to the Seven Churches
  

• Chapters 4-5: A Glimpse of God on his Throne
• Chapters 6-7: The Seven
• Chapters 8-11: The Seven
• Chapters 12-14: The Great Red Dragon & The Two Beasts
• Chapter 15-16: The Seven
• Chapters 17-18: The Fall of Babylon
• Chapter 19: The Marriage Supper of the Lamb
• Chapter 20: The 1,000 Years and the Great White Throne
• Chapters 21-22: The New Heaven and New Earth

“Note then the kindness and the severity of God”
(Romans 11:22a, ESV)

1. The book of Revelation reveals God’s “severity” . . .

• As his is displayed

¹⁵ Then the kings of the earth and the great ones and the generals and the rich and the powerful, and everyone, slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, ¹⁶ calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, ¹⁷ for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?” (6:12-17)

• Against those who do not .

The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, ²¹ nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (9:20-21)

• Against those who choose to receive the of the .

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
² So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image….
⁸ The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. ⁹ They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. (16:1-2, 8-9)

2. The book of Revelation reveals God’s “kindness” . . .

• As he gives us to repent.

³ Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? ⁴ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? (Romans 2:3-4, ESV)

• As he “a great multitude” who trust and follow Jesus.

⁹ After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, ¹⁰ and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” (7:9-10)

• As he calls us and enables us to courageously and faithfully, even when we are persecuted because we follow Jesus.

And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God. ¹¹ And they have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, for they loved not their lives even unto death. (12:9-11)

Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints. (13:10)

Here is a call for the endurance of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God and their faith in Jesus. (14:12)

• As he promises us a day when our will be over and every tear will be wiped from our eyes.

¹³ Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” ¹⁴ I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

¹⁵  “Therefore they are before the throne of God,
and serve him day and night in his temple;
and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.
¹⁶  They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;
the sun shall not strike them,
nor any scorching heat.
¹⁷  For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,
and he will guide them to springs of living water,
and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (7:13-17)