On November 21, 1975, the British Rock band Queen released their fourth studio album A Night at the Opera to critical acclaim. Its star track Bohemian Rhapsody was already at the top of the charts and would go on to cement its legendary status even in the decades to come.

It is the oldest song on YouTube to reach a billion views, and the only song from the 1970s to be certified platinum, with sales over 10 million units. Written by Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury, Bohemian Rhapsody is considered by many to be Mercury's magnum opus. 

But what is this song about? The lyrics are all over the place with references to Galileo, Figero, and the devil, with words in Italian, Spanish, and Arabic. And why is it even called Bohemian Rhapsody? Sometimes a movie is just a movie, and a song is just a song. But Mercury was a thoughtful lyricist. And there's more going on in "Bohemian Rhapsody" than meets the ears.

THE STAGE: "Is This the Real Life"

In order to understand the underlying message, we need a little background. Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara in a British territory of Zanzibar, an island off the east coast of Africa. His parents immigrated from British India and were Parsis, meaning they practiced Zoroastrianism; a henotheistic, free-will religion teaching you must have "good thoughts, good words, good deeds."

Though Zoroastrians believe in a version of heaven and hell, ultimately everyone will be "saved" whether they did good or bad, and they will be reunited with the "Wise Lord" Ahura Mazda in immortality. When Mercury died in 1991, his funeral was conducted by a Zoroastrian priest at Mercury's request.

As a boy, Mercury was sent away from his parents to St. Peter's Church of England School, an all-boys boarding school in Panchgani, India; later to finish at St. Joseph's Convent School, a Roman Catholic school in Zanzibar. It was in boarding school that he was given the more English-sounding nickname Freddie. 

A violent revolution rose up in Zanzibar in 1964, so his family fled to England, where Mercury attended a liberal arts college and graduated in 1969 with a degree in graphic art and design. Mercury incorporated these skills into designing Queen's logo and his performance costumes.

Queen's 1970 debut album featured a song called My Fairy King in which Freddie mentions "Mother Mercury." He legally changed his name to Freddie Mercury saying, "I am going to become Mercury, as the mother in this song is my mother."

Now, some have taken this to mean Mercury was singing to his own mother, but it's more likely symbolic. The Roman god Mercury was a god of communication who delivered messages between the divine and mortal worlds. Freddie may have believed he was receiving messages from the gods.

In the 2018 biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, Mercury was criticized by his father that the Bulsara name was "not good enough" for him. The likelihood though is that it simply never mattered to Mercury. Consider the very last line of Bohemian Rhapsody: "Nothing really matters to me."

If you knew nothing else happening in the lyrics to this song, that line would tell you all you need to know: Freddie Mercury believed, "Nothing really matters." His worldview was not driven by secularism or born out of irreligion—this was his religion. Mercury's music was a hodgepodge of religious subtext, which movies and most biographies about him barely touch upon.

In Zanzibar today, a person can take a tour of sites related to Mercury's upbringing, and one of the stops is his family's place of worship. Mercury received his primary education through Anglican and Catholic schooling, underscored by his family's Zoroastrianism, a religion that preaches do what you think is right, and everyone is going to the same place anyway. Therefore, "Nothing really matters."

THE SONG: "Is This Just Fantasy"

As we dissect the lyrics, let's start with that title. What is a Bohemian Rhapsody? The term "Bohemian" was coined in western Europe in the 19th century in reference to gypsies who were thought to have come from Bohemia. The word would later be used to describe any person rich or poor who lived an unconventional lifestyle. A Bohemian's interests were outside the norm, particularly when it came to expressions of art, music, literature, or spirituality.

A "rhapsody" is a single-movement piece of music or an epic poem with highly contrasting themes. So by the title alone, we might expect Bohemian Rhapsody to be a musical epic about an unconventional person. Queen's guitarist Brian May said, "Freddie never explained the lyrics, but I think he put a lot himself into that song."

The song begins by asking if life is "real" or a "fantasy" we're unwillingly "caught in" from which there is "no escape." Here are the opening lyrics, sung acapella at first, then underscored with piano:

    Is this the real life?
    Is this just fantasy?
    Caught in a landslide
    No escape from reality
    Open your eyes
    Look up to the skies and see

    I'm just a poor boy, I need no sympathy
    Because I'm easy come, easy go
    A little high, little low
    Anyway the wind blows, doesn't really matter to me, to me

Having mentioned the closing line, the song ends the way it begins: "Nothing really matters to me." This was Mercury's approach to life. In his 1985 interview with David Wigg, Mercury was asked, "How do you want to be remembered when you die?" Mercury replied, "Dead and gone. Who cares?"

The song continues and gradually elevates in strength:

    Mama just killed a man
    Put a gun against his head
    Pulled my trigger now he's dead
    Mama, life had just begun
    But now I've gone and thrown it all away

    Mama, oh-oh
    Didn't mean to make you cry
    If I'm not back again this time tomorrow
    Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters

Now we get more religious. In several of Mercury's songs, Mama represented the feminine or nurturing side of God. It could also be that he's praying to Mary, the mother of Jesus, given the Roman Catholic education Mercury received. This fits with his use of the Italian expression "Mama Mia" which comes up later in the song.

It's interesting to note the opening line of this segment begins, "Mama just killed a man," rather than, "Mama, I just killed a man." We would be led to think Mama was the one who put a gun against a man's head until he sings, "Pulled my trigger now he's dead." This was intentional. 

What Mercury was conveying here was that God tempted me with all these things He then called evil. They pleased me, but they displeased God. Why then did God give them to me? God put the gun against my head, but I'm the one that pulled the trigger.

Since Mercury appealed to what he thought of as the effeminate side of God, the singer apologizes and says he "didn't mean to make you cry." But "carry on, as if nothing really matters." Mercury thought God didn't care about anything that happened. If He did, He wouldn't allow the people He created to be tempted by the evil that He would eventually judge them for. 

Ultimately, according to Mercury's worldview, there is no divine mercy, nor is there lasting punishment for evil. Therefore, "Carry on, as if nothing really matters." The "man" who is killed in the song is Mercury himself, not in reference to suicide but rather a series of personal yet destructive decisions that would eventually kill him.

This was not unlike Mercury to write of such things. In his song "Great King Rat," he sang about a man who died of a sexually transmitted disease at the age of 44. This was something of a self-fulfilling prophecy, considering Mercury died of AIDS brought on by his homosexual perversion at the age of 45.

It's in "Great King Rat" that Mercury sang, "Don't believe all you read in the Bible," and "Don't listen to what Mama says," but instead, "Put out the good and keep the bad." You already know what's best for you: "I'm not going to tell you what you already know." (In the aforementioned 1985 interview, Mercury was asked whom he turned to whenever he had a problem. He said, "I have a lot of mirrors.")

When you live the way you want to live, "Very soon you're gonna be his disciple," a disciple of the "Great King Rat." Through the voice of Mercury, Satan whispers, "Don't follow God. Follow me!" All these little decisions for yourself are "dirty," and will eventually kill you. Again, it's a slow death, not a sudden suicide, as Mercury notes next in Bohemian Rhapsody:

    Too late, my time has come
    Sends shivers down my spine
    Body's aching all the time
    Goodbye everybody, I've got to go
    Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth

    Mama, oh-oh (anyway the wind blows)
    I don't want to die
    Sometimes I wish I'd never been born at all

The singer is slowly killing himself and he knows that, but he doesn't really want to die. A part of Mercury understood that after death comes judgment, hence why the singer thought it would have been better if he'd "never been born at all." 

Mercury lived his life feeding his sensuous appetites, but none of it ever brought him any fulfillment—even in 1975 when Bohemian Rhapsody debuted and Mercury was hardly 30 years old. As rich and as famous as he was, he was always unsatisfied and wanted more.

Zoroastrians see life as a battle between two spirits: Spenta Mainyu, the good spirit or the "Bounteous Principle," and Angra Mainyu, the chaotic spirit or the "Destructive Principle." Mercury identified himself with the destructive spirit since "nothing really matters." Though a person who lived destructively might go to the Zoroastrian equivalent of hell, all of creation is eventually renovated by a savior-like figure, and everyone returns to Ahura Mazda, the "Wise Lord," in immortality.

In Mercury's 1985 interview, Wigg asked him, "Do you think you're going to get to heaven?" Mercury replied, "No, I don't want to. Hell is much better. Look at the interesting people you're going to meet down there?" He only thought so flippantly of hell because Zoroastrianism taught him hell was just a hang-out until immortality is granted to everyone. But the Bible is clear hell is eternal punishment for those who rejected Christ and followed the devil.

THE STRAIN: "Caught in a Landslide"

From here, Bohemian Rhapsody picks up tempo and we enter into the operetta section. Likewise, the lyrics get more intense as well:

    I see a little silhouetto of a man
    Scaramouch, Scaramouch, will you do the Fandango
    Thunderbolt and lightning very very frightening me
    Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Galileo, Figaro, Magnifico

Lyrics like this have led many to conclude that the song is mostly nonsense, but these lines are very revealing. The singer sees but a shadow of a man, a "little silhouetto," someone who doesn't make a great impression and is easily vanquished as a shadow disappears when someone turns on a light. A "scaramouch" is a stock clown character in Italian theater. So he's singing of someone (himself) who is of no consequence but gives everyone a few laughs for a while.

He then sings, "Will you do the Fandango?" The Fandango is a Spanish dance and a euphemism for hanging himself—again, keeping up the motif of slowly killing himself with the life choices he makes. "Thunderbolt and lightning" means God is displeased with how he lives his life. With that in mind, "Galileo" is not a reference to Galileo Galilei, the Italian astronomer—at least not directly. (As a winking aside, Galileo was the first astronomer to observe the planet Mercury through a telescope.)

Galileo Figaro Magnifico in Latin means "Make great the Galilean's figure" or image. Galilean was the Roman name for Jesus Christ. Maybe the singer could break the cycle of his meaningless comedy if he were to call upon Jesus (and maybe Mercury himself was asking Jesus to search him out just as Galileo found Mercury).

Of course, this is if "Figaro" was spelled figuro instead of like the character in the opera The Barber of Seville by Gioachino Rossini. In the opera's most famous piece Figaro's Aria, Figaro sings of "a good life! What pleasures there are." He calls out his own name multiple times, but toward the end of the aria, he's so popular that he's unable to meet the demands of all his adoring customers.

In Bohemian Rhapsody, the singer calls upon Jesus multiple times to save him from the meaninglessness of life and possibly the wrath of God. But if the inference of Figaro's Aria is to be considered, Mercury thought of Jesus as being too too busy or He just didn't care—He can't meet the demands of all His adorers (Andrew Lloyd Weber and Tim Rice made this same criticism of Christ in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar, which preceded the release of Bohemian Rhapsody by several years).

Here's where the lyric goes next, still in an operatic style:

    I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
    He's just a poor boy from a poor family
    Spare him his life from this monstrosity
    Easy come, easy go, will you let me go
    Bismillah, no, we will not let you go, let him go
    Bismillah, we will not let you go, let him go
    Bismillah, we will not let you go, let me go
    (Will not let you go) let me go (never let you go)
    Let me go (never let me go)
    Oh oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no

The singer says he's someone of no consequence no one really cares for. Being a "poor boy" means he was too immature to know that his decisions were so destructive. The accompanying choir repeats his prayer as though angels or saints (considering Mercury's Catholic influence) are also praying for him: "Spare him his life from this monstrosity." It's as though the singer is saying, "I came into these things easily; will you let me off easy?" and also, "I'm of no consequence; why bother with me?"

Then comes the line, "Bismillah, no, we will not let you go." I first heard this song a few years after it gained popularity in America through the 1992 film Wayne's World. Even at a young age, the word "Bismillah" clued me in to recognizing there was more going on in the song than random lyrics. Who says "Bismillah" just because? "Bismillah" is the very first word in the Quran (Surah 1:1, as the Bible begins with Genesis 1:1). It means, "In the name of God," also called, "most gracious, most merciful."

Three times it is sung, "Bismillah, no, we will not let you go." Mercury was presenting what he thought of as the personality of the Muslim god and the Christian Triune God together as the same god, whom Mercury did not think of as gracious and merciful. "Bismillah" is sung harshly. The angelic chorus pleads, "Let him go," and instead "Bismillah" curses the singer and denies him relief from cravings of his flesh: "We will not let you go."

The opera portion concludes with this:

    Oh mama mia, mama mia, mama mia let me go
    Beelzebub has a devil put aside for me
    For me, for me

Again, "Mama" was Mercury's effeminate title for God. "Beelzebub" is another name for Satan (from Matthew 10:25, Mark 3:22, and Luke 11:18). Since God is not going to relieve the singer of his lusty appetites, Satan is waiting in the wings with a devil to keep the singer company while he gives in to indulging in the passions of his flesh. The demons are better fellowship for the singer than God.

Mercury blamed God for the temptation he experienced and the sins he committed as if God was the one who caused them. He was no different than Adam in the Garden of Eden, when Adam said to God, "The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate" (Genesis 3:12). If only Mercury understood the words of James 1:12-15:

"Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love Him. Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and He Himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death."

God is not guilty of your sin—you are. You have no one to blame but yourself. If indeed Mercury prayed to God and asked to be delivered from temptation, the reason God didn't grant his request was because he asked with wrong motives. He only wanted his guilt taken away—he didn't actually want to honor God with his life or stop doing what he was doing. James 4:3 goes on to say, "You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions." 

And Hebrews 12:15-17 says, "See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no 'root of bitterness' springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward, when he desire to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought for it with tears."

At this point, the song leaves the opera and goes hard rock. Whatever your opinion is of rock, it is often an angry genre of music, and Mercury is spiteful as he sings:

    So you think you can stop me and spit in my eye
    So you think you can love me and leave me to die
    Oh baby, can't do this to me, baby
    Just gotta get out, just gotta get right outta here

Singing "baby" and saying "so you think you can love me and leave me to die" sounds like grief over a woman who broke his heart. But nothing else in the song has set the tone for that. The singer has taken on the persona of a hard-rocker singing of his broken heart when he expresses his hatred toward God for not caring about him.

From the singer's perspective, if God truly loved him, God wouldn't let him die like this. Threats of punishment against the evil-doer are not enough to stop the singer from indulging in his temptations. He's "just gotta get out" of the cycle of temptation and guilt he can't seem to find relief for. But instead of repenting of his pride and blasphemy and finding peace with God through Jesus Christ, he relieves himself by hardening his heart and giving in.

Then the song calms way down into a ballad again, and it ends the same way it began:

    Nothing really matters
    Anyone can see
    Nothing really matters
    Nothing really matters to me
    (Anyway the wind blows)

Nothing really matters which anyone can see. Just like in Great King Rat, you know what's good for you. Do what thou wilt, for nothing really matters anyway.

THE SHOW: "No Escape from Reality"

Songwriter Tim Rice, known for his songs in Jesus Christ Superstar and Disney's Beauty and the Beast, said he knew the secret of Bohemian Rhapsody.

"It's fairly obvious to me that this was Freddie's coming out song," Rice said. "This is Freddie admitting that he is gay." One of Mercury's homosexual partners agreed. "Bohemian Rhapsody was Freddie's confessional," said hairdresser Jim Hutton. "It was about how different his life could have been, and how much happier he might have been, had he just been able to be himself the whole of his life."

Brian May denied it: "What's it about? None of us know. Freddie never talked about it to my knowledge and didn't want to and that's the way it should be. He had something in his mind and he loved to spin these little pieces of magic. A little bit of reality and little bit of fantasy. If anyone tries to unravel it, they'll never manage it, because they'll never know what went into those lyrics."

I searched multiple websites and read several dissections of the lyrics of Bohemian Rhapsody. Not one of them considered the influence of religion on Freddie Mercury. He feared judgment for his sins, and the honesty of his tormented soul came out in his most famous work. But instead of repenting of his sins, he blasphemed God and pursued worldly pleasure and treasure. In Luke 4:7, the Devil said, "If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours." Freddie Mercury fell for it, and it killed him.

When a person believes nothing we do in this life has eternal significance, then "nothing really matters." When a person believes everyone receives eternal life and no one gets eternal punishment, they will do whatever they want expecting the outcome will ultimately be the same for all. But the Bible says that those who persist in sin will "be condemned who did not believe the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousness (2 Thessalonians 2:12). Jesus said, "These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life" (Matthew 25:46).

Everything matters. You were made to glorify God. Do not sell your eternal soul for the fleeting pleasure of sin, leaving you empty and leading to judgment. Know the gospel of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross as a sacrifice for sins and rose again from the grave, so that all who believe in Him will receive His eternal life.

Turn from your sin and follow Jesus. He will clothe you in His righteousness. You will be received by your Father in heaven. And you will live in His kingdom forever.

From a message preached on the evening of the Lord’s Day, November 9, 2025.
  
     1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John,
     2 who bore witness to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.
     3 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.
 
Introduction
 
Several years ago, I was made aware of a survey that had been conducted among evangelical pastors and their churches. The question asked of the pastors was this: “Which book of the Bible do you most dread preaching through?” To their congregations, the question was asked, “Which book of the Bible do you wish your pastor would preach through, but hasn’t?” The answer to both questions was the same book of the Bible: the book of Revelation.
 
This is the last book of the Bible, and it seems for many pastors the last book they want to preach through. That’s unfortunate, because it is the only book of the Bible that begins with this promise: “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy.”
 
Much of what makes us apprehensive about the book of Revelation is because of all the wild language it uses: Lions and Dragons and Beasts, oh my! The great reformer Martin Luther had such difficulty understanding it that he said it should not be given the same apostolic authority as the gospels—despite the fact that Revelation was written by the apostle John. Luther went as far as saying:
 
“My spirit cannot accommodate itself to this book. For me this is reason enough not to think highly of it: Christ is neither taught nor known in it. But to teach Christ, this is the thing which an apostle is bound above all else to do; as Christ says in Acts 1:8, ‘You shall be my witnesses.’ Therefore, I stick to the books which present Christ to me clearly and purely.”
 
Ulrich Zwingli, the Swiss reformer, did not believe the book of Revelation should have been included in canon. So on the one hand, you have people like Zwingli and Luther who marginalize the book; on the other hand you have people who sensationalize the book, as if this is the most important book of the Bible. One man I used to have in my church in Kansas said that he only read apocalyptic literature: anything anyone printed about the return of Christ. In fact, the only book of the Bible he read with any regularity was the book of Revelation.

That’s not just a wrong approach to Revelation, it’s a wrong approach to the Bible. There are end-times prophecies made in both the Old and New Testaments, and we need the whole Bible in order to rightly understand Revelation. One of the things I believe this study will do for us is demystify this book so that it doesn’t feel so incomprehensible or unknowable, but rather it is full of the beauty of God, with depictions of His holiness, and His promises to us through Christ Jesus. In fact, you may find this to be one of the most Christ-exalting studies through a book of the Bible you have ever done.
 
In these lessons that I plan to do on Sunday evenings, I want to try to keep them short and not bog you down with a whole lot of information or exegesis. No doubt you will have questions, and I want to allow time at the end for you to ask them. For these first two lessons, we’re not going to get into much of the text of Revelation itself, but rather we will lay the groundwork for our study.
 
For this lesson tonight, I will cover what are widely considered to be the four main views of the end-times; then when I speak again on this in two weeks, we’re going to look at the four approaches to the book of Revelation itself. After that, which won’t be until December, we’ll do an overview of the whole book and I will provide an outline.
 
Four Views of Eschatology
 
First of all, the study of the end times is called eschatology. This comes from the Greek words eskhatos meaning “last things,” and logos meaning word or the study of something. The four main views of the end-times are these: dispensationalism, historic or classical premillennialism, amillennialism, and postmillennialism. I’ll go through each of these four and explain what they are and the distinctions of each view.
 
Though these are the four most commonly regarded views of the end-times, we could narrow them further to just two main categories: premillennialism and postmillennialism. The "millennium" in their names comes from Revelation 20:1-10, which speaks of a thousand-year reign of Christ at which time Satan will be bound. At the end of the thousand years, Satan will be released for a short time to deceive the nations once again until he is finally destroyed.
 
Premillennial eschatology views the return or second coming of Jesus Christ to happen at the beginning of that millennial period—then Jesus will set up a thousand year kingdom literally on earth with His throne in Jerusalem. Satan will be bound and tossed into the bottomless pit until near the end of the thousand years when he will be released. Then a final judgment will come on Satan and those whom he deceived, death itself will be destroyed, and then Christ’s kingdom will be eternal and perfect with no more death forever.
 
Postmillennial eschatology views the return or second coming of Jesus Christ to happen at the end of that millennial period. The millennium is not literally one thousand years but the use of a thousand in the book of Revelation is symbolic for a long period of time. Christ is reigning now in heaven, accomplishing His work through His church, and at the end of the millennial reign is when He will return, defeat Satan and death, judge the nations, and establish His perfect eternal kingdom.

Let's consider first the two premillennial views (dispensationalism and historic premillennialism), and then we'll move to the postmillennial views (amillennialism and classical postmillennialism).
 
Dispensationalism
 
Some have criticized dispensationalism as being the youngest view of the end-times, arguing that it was the invention of John Nelson Darby and popularized by C.I. Scofield in the 19th century, but I’m not going to take that position. The history of these views is irrelevant for our purposes tonight.

Dispensational premillennialism teaches a rigid distinction between God’s plans for Israel and the church, with a literal, future thousand-year millennial kingdom after Christ’s return. Here are five distinctions:

1. The Pretribulation Rapture. Before a seven-year period of Great Tribulation, Christ secretly raptures the church like a thief (1 Thes. 4:16-17; 5:9). Believers will meet Him in the air, and the Holy Spirit’s restraining ministry ceases so that the antichrist can be revealed (2 Thes. 2:6-7).
2. The Great Tribulation. There will be a seven-year period of Great Tribulation between the rapture of the church and Christ's Second Coming at the end of that seven years, when Daniel’s 70th week (Dan. 9:27) unfolds on earth. The Antichrist rises desecrating the rebuilt temple and persecuting those saints who become Christians during the Tribulation (this is how Rev 6–19 is interpreted).
3. Two Returns of Christ. Christ returns at the beginning of The Great Tribulation to rapture the church, but this is not what dispensationalists refer to as His Second Coming. After the Great Tribulation, Christ returns publicly with those raptured saints to defeat the Antichrist at Armageddon (Rev. 19:11-21), bind Satan, and establish his kingdom on earth reigning from Jerusalem. National Israel will be restored, fulfilling Davidic and Levitical promises (Ezek. 37; Jer. 33).
4. The Literal Millennial Kingdom. Resurrected church-age saints reign with Christ on the earth; tribulation martyrs and Old Testament saints are raised. Mortal survivors repopulate the earth under perfect government during this thousand year kingdom, but sin and death persists among non-glorified people (there are various beliefs about whether saints die in this perfect kingdom; some dispensational teachers saying they will, some saying they won't).
5. The Final Rebellion and Judgment. Near the end of the thousand years, Satan’s release sparks Gog-Magog revolt (Rev. 20:7-10). The unsaved dead are resurrected, judged at the Great White Throne, and cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15). The perfect new heavens and earth follow, in which there will be no more dying.

 
Dispensationalists expect a sudden rapture, unprecedented global judgment, Christ’s literal reign over restored Israel, and eternal state—emphasizing sharp dispensational divisions and strict literal interpretation.
 
There are, of course, several views concerning the rapture. Traditionally, dispensationalists put the rapture of the church at the beginning of the tribulation, called the pre-tribulation rapture view. This is common in apocalyptic fiction, a secret rapture in which suddenly all the Christians vanish leaving a pile of their clothes behind—as seen in the Left Behind series, written by Jerry B. Jenkins or Tim LaHaye, or the famous 1973 thriller entitled A Thief in the Night.
 
While the pre-trib rapture is the most common, a smaller contingent believe in a mid-trib rapture (the church will be raptured three and a half years into the tribulation), and even fewer believe in a post-trib rapture (the church will be raptured at the end of the tribulation). But the latter view is more common to the historical premillennial view than dispensationalism.
 
The most critical position in dispensational eschatology is that Israel is still a distinct people group separate from the church, and in order to truly understand the end-times properly, one must have a right understanding of the nation of Israel. Said John MacArthur, well-known for his dispensational eschatology, “If we get our hermeneutics right, we’ll get the Old Testament promises right. Get the promises right, we’ll get Israel right. Get Israel right, we’ll get eschatology right.”
 
Other famous dispensational thinkers have included Dwight Pentecost, John Walvoord, Chuck Swindol, Charles Ryrie, Charles Stanley, Hal Lindsey, David Jeremiah, John Hagee, and Robert Jeffress. It is the chosen eschatology of theology schools such as The Masters University, Dallas Theological Seminary, and Moody Bible College. While dispensationalism has been the predominant end-times view in America for over a hundred years, it has slowly been waning in popularity.
 
Historical Premillennialism
 
Next is historic premillennialism, which earns its name from the fact that figures in church history such as Justin Martyr, Tertullian, and Hippolytus of Rome anticipated a literal thousand year kingdom on earth after the return of Christ. Like dispensationalism, historic premil teaches that Christ returns personally and visibly before His millennial reign, but there are some key differences that separate it from dispensationalism. Here are five distinctions:

1. The Return of Christ Precedes the Millennium. After a seven year period of Great Tribulation, which includes the rise of Antichrist (2 Thes. 2:3-8; Rev. 13), Christ descends in glory with the saints who have gone to heaven before us (1 Thes. 4:14-17; Rev. 19:11-16). The resurrection of their bodies occurs and then the rapture of believers who are left in this single, public second coming (post-tribulational, not secret).
2. The Millennial Kingdom on Earth. Following His return, Christ establishes a kingdom on earth centered in Jerusalem where He reigns on David's throne. The resurrected saints rule with Him (Rev. 20:4-6) and Satan is bound preventing large-scale deception. Restored national Israel enjoys covenant promises (Rom. 11:26-29; Zech. 14), while Gentile believers co-reign. The era is marked by righteousness, peace, and partial removal of the curse (Is. 11:6-9; 65:20).
3. The Great Rebellion and Final Judgment. At the millennium’s end, Satan is released briefly, deceives the nations (Gog and Magog), and is defeated (Rev. 20:7-10). Then comes the general resurrection of the wicked, final judgment (Rev. 20:11-15), and the eternal state—the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21-22).
4. The Continuity With the Church. Though Israel is a distinct people, there is no sharp church/Israel dichotomy; the church inherits Israel’s promises spiritually, yet God retains a future for ethnic Israel.
5. This Realistic yet Hopeful Expectation. Christianity will continue to be a persecuted people. Tribulation precedes glory; the kingdom is inaugurated by Christ’s return, not gradual gospel success.

 
Historic premillennialists thus await a future, earthly sabbath rest under Christ's rule, followed by eternity—expecting both suffering now and vindication soon. Other famous historic premillennials include John Gill and Charles Spurgeon, and more recent teachers include John Piper, Albert Mohler, D.A. Carson, James Hamilton, and Wayne Grudem.
 
Amillennialism
 
Now onto the two postmillennial views, and we begin with amillennialism. This is the dominant view among most reformed protestants, but it is also held by the Roman Catholics and the Eastern Orthodox. The word amillennial implies “no millennium,” but that’s an unfortunate label likely given by its critics. Very little distinction was made between amillennialism and postmillennialism until the beginning of the 1900s.

According to amillennialism, the “millennium” of Revelation 20 is not a future literal thousand year earthly reign but a symbolic depiction of Christ’s current spiritual rule from heaven during the present church age. Here are five distinctions:

1. The Kingdom of God is Now. Jesus said that the kingdom of God was not coming in ways that could be observed but is in the midst of you (Luke 17:22). Christ inaugurated the kingdom at His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension to heaven, where He presently sits at God's right hand reigning with all authority (Matt. 28:18; Eph. 1:20-22). Believers already sit with Him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2:6) and reign spiritually through gospel proclamation and suffering (Rev. 1:6; 5:10; Rom. 5:17).
2. There Will Not Be a Future Golden Age on Earth. The binding of Satan (Rev. 20:1-3) occurred at Christ’s first coming, restraining him from deceiving the nations as he did before the gospel went throughout the world (Matt. 12:29; Col. 2:15). Satan is “bound” regarding his ability to prevent the spread of the kingdom, yet he is still active in other ways (1 Peter 5:8).
3. The Return of Christ Happens Once. There is no secret rapture or seven-year period of Great Tribulation, but rather Christians have undergone tribulation throughout church history. Christ has only one Second Coming, immediately after a final intense period of apostasy and rebellion, the deception of Satan talked about at the end of Revelation 20. Some do believe there will be a final antichrist (2 Thes. 2:3-8), though it is largely understood that this is the last hour when many antichrists have already come (1 John 2:18).
4. The Resurrection and Judgment Happen at the Same Time. At Christ’s return, both the righteous and wicked are raised bodily at the same time (John 5:28-29), followed instantly by the final judgment and the eternal state—the new heavens and the new earth (Rev. 21-22).
5. Those Who Are in Christ are True Israel. Isaiah prophesied that Jesus Christ is true Israel (Isaiah 49:3). Promises to Israel find fulfillment in the church, the true Israel of God (Rom. 9:6-8; Gal. 6:16), being grafted into Christ (Rom. 11:11-24). Many hold that ethnic Jews will experience large-scale conversion before the end (Rom. 11:25-26).

 
Amillennialists thus emphasize the tension in the "already and not yet": the kingdom has been inaugurated and is here but awaits the final consummation, calling believers to persevere in hope amid suffering until Christ returns to make all things new. Famous amillennials in church history include Augustine and John Calvin, and in more recent times the late Louis Berkhof, J.I. Packer, D. James Kennedy, and Voddie Baucham, and also G.K. Beale, Mark Dever, Sam Waldron, and Alistair Begg.
 
Postmillennialism
 
Postmillennialism was popular among many of the puritans, including Jonathan Edwards and many 19th-century evangelicals, teaching that the “millennium” of Revelation 20 is a future golden age on earth in which the gospel progressively transforms societies, cultures, and nations before Christ returns. Here are five key distinctions:

1. The Gradual Triumph of the Gospel. Through preaching, revival, and the Spirit’s work, Christianity increasingly subdues evil, leading most of the world to embrace Christ (Matt. 13:31-33; Is. 2:2-4; 11:9). The Great Commission will largely succeed and the majority of the world if not the whole world will be Christianized (Matt. 28:19-20).
2. The Millennium is Future but not Literal. Some believe that we're in that millennial kingdom now, but most others believe it is something more perfect and future, a long period of righteousness, peace, and prosperity on earth—initiated by the church’s success, not by Christ’s personal presence. Satan is “bound” (Rev. 20:2-3) in the sense that his influence is curtailed as nations are discipled.
3. Through the Church, Christ Reigns on Earth. Christ reigns in heaven now, and His rule on earth progresses through the success of the church. Verses used to justify this include Psalm 110:1, which says, “The Lord says to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool;" and 1 Corinthians 15:25, which says, “He must reign until He has put all enemies under His feet.” The kingdom advances by the ordinary means of prayer, preaching, worship, holiness, education, law, and culture-building.
4. The Return of Christ is After the Millennium. Christ's second coming is a single, public event (1 Thes. 4:16-17) that ends this era of history, resurrects all people simultaneously, judges the world, and ushers in the eternal state (Rev. 21-22). There is no seven-year period of Great Tribulation and therefore no pre-trib rapture.
5. The Most Optimistic View for Earthly Success. Wars, poverty, and injustice diminish; longevity, health, and gospel prosperity increase. Israel’s restoration (Rom. 11:26) occurs through conversion to Christ and incorporation into the church.

 
Postmillennialists thus labor with confident hope, expecting Christ’s kingdom to visibly dominate earth before He returns to consummate what the church, by grace, has largely achieved. Some famous postmils include John Owen, B.B. Warfield, Greg Bahnsen, and R.J. Rushdooney, and more recently Doug Wilson, James White, Jeff Durbin, Keith Matthison, and R.C. Sproul. The late Sproul's ministry Ligonier is largely postmillennial (though they are accepting of all four of these views of eschatology). Most Presbyterian schools and seminaries tend to be postmillennial.
 
Amils would agree with their postmil brethren that the world will improve and get progressively better as the gospel advances, and we’ll even see cultures and nations become Christianized. However, amillennialism also sees evil increasing along with the good that increases. As Revelation 22:10-11 says, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”
 
When Jesus said that broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many will find it because that’s the easy path, and narrow is the way that leads to life and few will find it—there won’t ever be a time where that won’t be true.

In Conclusion

As of this teaching, the elders of Providence Reformed Baptist Church are all amillennial in their eschatology. But that does not mean one must hold to our view of the end-times in order to become a member. We would not consider any of these four main views to be heretical or would prohibit someone from joining our church—though those who are dispensational may have the covenantal theology in our statement of faith.

If you believe that Christ will return to judge the living and the dead, and that return has not yet come, and we will dwell with Him forever in glorified bodies, you believe the main elements of end-times theology that we hold to. Those who are in Christ Jesus, who in their lives put their faith and trust in Him, they will live forever with Him in His eternal heaven. But those who did not believe will perish in eternal hell.

As summarized on our website: "God has appointed a day wherein He will judge the world in righteousness by Jesus Christ. All persons that have lived upon the earth shall appear before Him, to give an account of their thoughts, words, and deeds, and receive according to what they have done in the body, whether good or evil."

     18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.
     19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.
     20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
     21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
 
When Adam and Eve had sinned against God, they were banished from paradise. In the curse that God gave upon Adam, He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life. Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field,” rather than the fruit of the trees of paradise Adam and Eve had previously enjoyed.
 
“By the sweat of your face, you shall eat your bread,” God said, “until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
 
God’s curse was not just on the serpent and upon Eve and upon Adam, but even upon the earth itself: “Thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.” No matter the work that you put into the ground, the ground will not yield what you want it to yield easily. Genesis 3 doesn’t explicitly say that every created thing was put under a curse because of the sin of Adam, but that’s the implication—even through this mention of the ground.
 
Genesis 1 says God created man to “fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.” He brought the animals to Adam to see what he would name them.
 
And this man of dust whom God had made in His image to have dominion over all of His creation and breathed life into him rebelled against God with that breath and with thankless heart. Man desecrated the image of God with his sin. And so everything God had given to the man to rule over would instead be against the man as a result.
 
Our sin is such an offense against the holy God who made us that it resulted in all of creation being sent into upheaval—from the smallest atom to the smallest planet at the edge of our solar system and even to the very end of the universe. “All of creation,” we read here in Romans 8:19, “waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation itself was subjected to futility.”
 
It is for us while we are in this life to suffer. As we heard in Romans 5, none of us can blame Adam, for we have all sinned as he has sinned, deserving worse than what we have received thus far. But as we have also heard in Romans, we are justified by His grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus to be received by faith. Therefore the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is ours in Christ.
 
As we look at this passage this morning, we will hear about the promise and hope of glory that far outweighs our present suffering. That’s what Paul states in verse 18: The promise of glory. Second, we are reminded of the plight of creation in verses 19-22. Third, the patience of believers in verses 23-25. That’s what we are going to get into next week.
 
I’m going to cut this off today at verse 21. So we’re going to conclude in the middle of a thought that we will pick up again next week. For now, we reflect upon the sufferings of this present time that we may long all the more for the glory that awaits.
 
I. The Promise of Glory (v.18)
 
Look again at verse 18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” (First, recap.)
 
We do suffer—I think that goes without saying. And we will be delivered from this suffering. But we will be more than delivered. And for that reason, Paul says, it’s not even worth comparing the two. The glory that awaits us is so vastly beyond the suffering, we cannot grasp it by simply saying, “Today we suffer, but someday we won’t.”
 
What we will receive will be far greater than simply saying we won’t suffer anymore—though for some of you, that would be promise enough, right? Your body is in pain. Your heart is in grief. Your mind is in confusion. And who knows what it will be like from one day to the next.
 
If someone asks you, “How are you today,” and you’re not in as much anguish today as you were yesterday, that’s enough to make you say, “Today is a good day.” That’s not today you aren’t dealing with something—it’s just not as bad as it was the day before. So that makes today good. For you, the promise of no suffering would be enough for you to long for, even weep for heaven—for some relief from the hardships of this life.
 
But my friends, I have never stood here at this pulpit—which has been two years now at Providence—and merely assured you of a day when you won’t suffer anymore. If that’s all my message was, I’d be unqualified as a pastor. I’d not be aiming high enough. We will not merely not suffer. We will be glorified with the Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord.
 
Remember that I said to you last week that as the adopted children of God, we have been made fellow heirs with Christ. We’re not just going to heaven—we gain heaven and earth. We will sit with Him on His throne (Revelation 3:21). As we heard from 1 John 3:2, “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is.” And from Philippians 3:21, “He will transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.” And that He will do for us—for all who believe in and glorify His name.
 
We love to hear the promise of Revelation 21:4. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” What a beautiful promise. And that would be enough for you to believe in Jesus and long for heaven.
 
You may come as a beggar to His door and say, “My God, just let me sit here. Just let me curl up on your doormat if it means I don’t have to suffer anymore. I know I deserve worse. I deserve to be tossed into that place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That’s what I deserve because of my rebellion against you. But you would be so gracious to me to let me live just right here on heaven’s stoop, and people can step over me as they go in to dine with you, which I am unworthy to receive.”
 
But God gives us so, so much more than that. He has picked us off, cleaned us off, clothed us in new robes, and given you a certificate of promise that when you get to that door, you get the best seat at the table and the best foods forever. Yes, death will be no more. Yes, there won’t be any mourning nor crying nor pain. Why?
 
Because of what is said in the verse right before it: “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
 
It’s because we will dwell with the holy God forever in His presence. That’s the great thing about heaven—not just because there will be an end to suffering, but because God is there. We have been reconciled to our Creator through the precious blood of Jesus Christ, who died on the cross for our sins. All who have believed in Him will not perish under the judgment that we all deserve, but have the promise of everlasting life with Him.
 
So do you see what Paul means when he says, “It’s not even worth comparing our present sufferings with the glory that is to be revealed to us”? In 2 Corinthians 5:1-10, we read:
 
"For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2 For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, 3 if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. 4 For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. 5 He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee."

I remember my dad telling me (this turned out to be a Jonathan Edwards quote, but I always thought of it as wisdom from my dad) that for the Christian this life is the only hell we will ever know. But for the unbeliever, this life, no matter how easy or difficult it might be, is the only heaven they will ever know. How much should knowing this also compel us to share the gospel that others would come to faith in Jesus Christ and be promised eternal life in glory?
 
II. The Plight of Creation (v.19-22)
              
Consider again verses 19-22: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.”
 
I’ve mentioned this passage long before we ever got to it. You can probably feel all of creation groaning together every time you stand up after sitting too long. Have any of you ever gotten up after sitting too long, and you just let one of those groans—it’s like the groan of all groans, like all of creation is groaning with you because you feel the pain of your age in your joints when you make your muscles and bones do something they don’t want to do.
 
I've been taking my students through the book of Philippians this semester, and we just recently read Philippians 3:21. Christ will transform our lowly bodies to be like His glorious body by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself. How do you teach a bunch of high school students who largely think they're invincible about physical suffering we can do nothing to overcome?

On the day I was in that verse with the students, I had just been over to Dave and Cathy's to pray with them. Dave, if you don't know, has been in a wheelchair for most of his life. Cathy has Parkinson's and her memory is not what it used to be. Yet it's such a joy to visit with them and talk about this hopeful expectation of glory they both share. So I talked about them with my students; that their struggles, the suffering they experience in their bodies make them long all the more for heaven.

I also told them about Joni Eareckson Tada, evangelist and Bible teacher who had just turned 76. She's been paralyzed from the neck down ever since she was 17 years old. She is a Christ-filled believer and teaches about how much she looks forward to the day she will be with her Savior in a brand new body.
 
About this, she humbly said, “The first thing I plan to do on resurrected legs is to drop on grateful, glorified knees.”
 
Though all of my students are physically healthy, some of them have suffered in other ways. They have experienced a death in the family or a serious illness. Some come from broken homes. They’ve seen their dad not love their mom and go after another woman. They’ve seen how fallen this world can be. The hard part is teaching them how their suffering should cause them to look at Christ for deliverance and not get bitter about it.

Even when we see the bitterness and rage that happens in this world, wars and conflicts, from national skirmishes to the arguments that happen at home, even all of this is a testimony to creation’s groaning and a longing for deliverance, to be released from this curse that has come down on all that has been made.

Look at verse 20 again: "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it." God is the one who put creation under a curse because of the sin of mankind. And there's nothing we can do to reverse course. Jesus said He is making all things new (Revelation 21:5). Man in his sin will never be able to undo what God has done. Ecclesiastes 7:13 says, "Consider the work of God: who can make straight what He has made crooked?"
 
Some have tried to relieve the effects of the curse or turn back the curse in a multitude of ways. People turn to substances to numb their pain or anxiety. The passions of the flesh they just give in to, trying to feel the best they can possibly feel, when faced with the unavoidable truth that life is hard and then it ends.

Some have tried to turn back the effects of the curse in political ways. Environmentalism or climate change alarmism is an attempt to undo the curse that God has put on creation, much to their dismay. Then there are those efforts to slow down aging. How can we stay young and beautiful? Since before Ponce De Leon, mankind has been on the search for that mythical fountain of youth. And then there are those attempts to defeat death itself. Inventors and programmers are trying to find a way we can download the human consciousness into a machine and live forever.
 
Whenever someone asks, “Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world?” Or when a skeptic asks, “Why would a good and loving God allow people to suffer so much?” The very questions themselves reveal an understanding, even an eager longing for perfection. The skeptics do believe there is a moral right and there is a moral wrong. They know the universe cannot function without such laws.
 
If they were being consistently logical, there can’t be moral right or wrong. Everything is meaningless, and we’re just cosmic star dust farting brain gas whenever we think. When the skeptic questions why God allows evil, his own logic self-destructs. I will come back to this question in a moment of why God allows evil, but let's finish up verse 21.

Again, verse 20 says, "For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope," and then verse 21 finishes the thought: "that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God."

I believe it was John MacArthur who said this, but he mentioned that when the last person whom God had foreordained for salvation from the beginning of the world comes to faith—when the last of God's elect hears the gospel and puts faith in Jesus Christ and comes into His kingdom—boom, it's over. Christ returns, judgment and wrath are poured out on the wicked, the righteous will enter into eternal life.

All of creation is anticipating that day. That's when the new heavens and the new earth will be completed and consummated. The effects of corruption on this world, subjected to futility because of sin, will be turned back. It will be over. The imperishable kingdom will be forever. It will never be subjected to futility again. Creation here personified longs for that day. May the love for that day be in your hearts, brethren.
 
Closing Thoughts

On social media, a Cleric posted the following haiku:

Now for the Christian
Nothing is coincidence
All is providence
              
A man from Canada named J. Smith responded and said, “All would include heinous crimes.”
 
The Cleric said, “It would, wouldn’t it? Romans 8:28 says, ‘And we know that for those who love God, all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose.’”
 
Mr. Smith retorted, “Could God have created a world without heinous crimes and still have accomplished what He wanted?”
 
The Cleric said, “That depends on what He wanted. If what He wanted was to “show His wrath and to make known His power” through “vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, in order to make known the riches of His glory for vessels of mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory⁠” (Romans 9:22-23). [So if that is what God wanted to accomplish, then doesn’t it seem to you He’s doing that through both the good and the bad?]
 
Mr. Smith responded, “So God is limited in power as He could not produce a universe that didn’t involve rape? He could not show His wrath to lesser crimes, but had to make sure to include rape, as He is powerless to change the rules?”
 
The Cleric said, “How did you logically derive that this means God is limited in power? God is God. He can do whatever He wants, and He’s always just in doing it. We are not good, as your very question acknowledges—yet with more foolishness than Job, you see yourself fit to put God on trial for it, and you marvel in your wit. That you even thought this is so utterly blasphemous, you should be amazed that you even get another breath. So be thankful and tremble that He gives you anything at all.”
 
Then the Cleric referenced Psalm 115:1-3 which says, “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! “Why should the nations say, ‘Where is their God?’ Our God is in the heavens; He does all that He pleases.”
 
Mr. Smith said, “I am simply mirroring back to you what you are saying. You are saying God cannot change the rules, that he needed to include rape to carry out his will. If God is limited in not being able to change the rules then He is limited in power. It logically follows.”
 
The Cleric replied, “Did God include rape to carry out His will for you?”
 
Mr. Smith said, “Answer my question first.”
 
The Cleric patiently said, “You did not ask a question. I've asked the last two questions. If you're talking about the question you asked previously, I did answer it. So if it suits you, let me recap for you. You asked, ‘Could God have created a world without heinous crimes and still accomplished what he wanted?’ My response to you was that it depends on what He wanted.
 
“And then I showed you the Scripture as to what He wanted to do—to show the full range of His glory through vessels of wrath (these persons whom you acknowledge commit these heinous crimes and will receive God's judgment) so that He may show the riches of His glory to vessels of mercy (who are also not good, but God has chosen to show His mercy to them anyway and grant to them eternal joy): all of this part of the plan that God has foreordained.
 
“So if that's what God wanted, then He is not limited by anything. He is accomplishing exactly what He wanted to demonstrate: the full range of His glory to us pitiful creatures who are undeserving to receive anything from Him at all. Somehow that logically translates to you as ‘God is limited in power,’ which, if you were humble, should instead expose to you the futility of your own thinking. [You couldn’t even recognize that you didn’t ask a question.]”
 
The Cleric then added, “Sir, I have much to do [and you seem unwilling to answer my question]. So I will simply put forward to you to repent of your pride and humble yourself before God. Turn to Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, whom He gave as an atoning sacrifice to die for the sins that we deserve to die for. He rose from the dead that we might live. ‘Whoever believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life’ (John 3:16).
 
“Christ is such a perfect offering, and God is such a loving and merciful God, that if you will only put your faith and trust in Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins, God will not only take His wrath away from you (which you deserve for your impudence alone, setting aside any other sins you are surely guilty of), but He will make you new and grant you to live with Him forever in His eternal, perfect kingdom, though you've done nothing to deserve it.
 
“Continue to doubt and to question the Almighty God, Creator and judge over all things, and you will stand before Him one day, but not to ask your question. Your mouth will be silenced in the presence of this glory I've told you of, and you will perish in His judgment. I don't want that for you. So I hope you will think about these things, that God will be merciful to you, and you will turn to Jesus Christ, and live.”