Rev 18:20, "Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her." 
	In this morning’s reading we see the judgment of God upon the inhabitants of this earth. We get a complete sense of the absolute sovereignty of God as He proclaims and executes His Holy and Righteous justice upon those who have persecuted and slain His prophets and saints. There is no place to hide from His blameless and honorable wrath, and all those who partook of the defiled sins of the fallen city will suffer as a direct result of her punishment. 
	While we fully appreciate the fact that God will act in His just and holy retribution upon the blasphemous ones of this earth, we may be a bit taken back by the fact that we will be called to rejoice over her obliteration. After all, are we not taught that we are to forgive and to not take pleasure in the calamity of others? Isn’t it our place to turn the other cheek and to not seek vengeance or revenge for the evil done to us? How then do we give ourselves wholly to rejoice in the destruction of those who are so doomed to the completely devastating and righteous fury of God? 
	What we must remember is that, when we are before the throne of God’s judgment, we will no longer be seeing things in terms of how they affect us. Our eyes will not be turned inward as to what we had to suffer or what we had to endure at the hands of the unrighteous. We will be seeing everything from the vantage point of God and His glory. We will view the dispensation of His wrath in the true light of its deservedness, not because we were hurt, but because of the insipid and utter denial of God’s gracious gift of salvation in the giving of His Only Begotten Son. 
This is not just a call that is voiced in the New Testament writings. As we read in Ps 48:10+11, As is Thy name, O God, So is Thy praise to the ends of the earth; Thy right hand is full of righteousness. Let Mount Zion be glad, Let the daughters of Judah rejoice, Because of Thy judgments. 
There will be a universal acceptance of the destruction of evil at the hands of God and in that we will rejoice. Ps 58:10+11, The righteous will rejoice when he sees the vengeance; He will wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. And men will say, "Surely there is a reward for the righteous; Surely there is a God who judges on earth!" Note that it is God Who judges and that is the reason that we will be rejoicing in His name in the midst of the fiery destruction of wickedness on this earth. It will not be our vindication, but His supreme justice and truth that will cause our hearts and minds to accede to and give God glory for what takes place. We will have nothing to do with it and we will not be the unworthy instruments of His judgment. It will all be at the command and the hand of God with absolutely no human, sinful motivation behind any aspect of it.
	Ps 96:10-13, Say among the nations, "The Lord reigns; Indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved; He will judge the peoples with equity." Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; Let the sea roar, and all it contains; Let the field exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy Before the Lord, for He is coming; For He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness, And the peoples in His faithfulness. This entire creation will be rejoicing in the judgment of God as He does that which is done in equity and righteousness and faithfulness. These are the elements of God’s verdict and retribution which will cause gladness to reign in the hearts and minds of His people. Ps 107:42, The upright see it, and are glad; But all unrighteousness shuts its mouth. 
	The other aspect that we must never set aside is that God will do all according to His lovingkindness and abundant mercy and grace. Those who will suffer His wrath will be those who disregarded Him and chose not to seek His salvation and His freely offered refuge in Christ Jesus. So wicked were they that they castigated His people and killed His prophets sent to declare His heart of love, even to the point of crucifying His Own Son. As Jesus, Himself tells us, Luke 11:49-51, "For this reason also the wisdom of God said, 'I will send to them prophets and apostles, and some of them they will kill and some they will persecute, in order that the blood of all the prophets, shed since the foundation of the world, may be charged against this generation, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who perished between the altar and the house of God; yes, I tell you, it shall be charged against this generation.' 
For this reason the people of God will call forth unto Him, as did the Psalmist. Ps 109:26-31, Help me, O Lord my God; Save me according to Thy lovingkindness. And let them know that this is Thy hand; Thou, Lord, hast done it. Let them curse, but do Thou bless; When they arise, they shall be ashamed, But Thy servant shall be glad. Let my accusers be clothed with dishonor, And let them cover themselves with their own shame as with a robe. With my mouth I will give thanks abundantly to the Lord; And in the midst of many I will praise Him. For He stands at the right hand of the needy, To save him from those who judge his soul. 
	Notice that this is not a self-vindication. It is not a call for God to revenge Himself upon those who have caused pain to the Psalmist, or hurt his feelings. It is the settled position that what happens to the unjust is because they are unjust. God can do nothing less than deal with them in the course of what they have sown unto themselves. They will receive the duly earned judgment of God simply because God can do nothing else. Any who are not found covered in the righteousness and the Holiness of Jesus Christ will receive the full payment of that sinful nature of character and behavior.
	In the positive vein of their current situation, where the righteousness of God presently resides there is divine protection. Even within the structure of today’s society, there is a safeguard that Christians bring to their places of work and homes and cities. As we read in Prov 11:10+11, When it goes well with the righteous, the city rejoices, And when the wicked perish, there is glad shouting. By the blessing of the upright a city is exalted, But by the mouth of the wicked it is torn down. Notice that when Christ is represented by His people, there is rejoicing and blessing. But, when those people are withdrawn by whatever means, whether godly or by villainy, the city is destroyed. Its very covering of blessing and rejoicing is removed as the testimony of Jesus, in His people, depart. There is no more cause for God to bless that city, but rather to see it torn down and destroyed. It was the lesson of Sodom and Gomorrah when there were not enough righteous men to be found within their gates. It is the consequences of the rejection of God, even by removing His people that will surely bring down the greatest of the cities of this realm. God’s providential grace and blessing will be removed and the city will die through the manipulations and deceptions of the wicked.
	This is why we can sing for joy along with the Prophet Isaiah, as recorded in Isa 44:23-26, Shout for joy, O heavens, for the Lord has done it! Shout joyfully, you lower parts of the earth; Break forth into a shout of joy, you mountains, O forest, and every tree in it; For the Lord has redeemed Jacob And in Israel He shows forth His glory. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and the one who formed you from the womb, "I, the Lord, am the maker of all things, Stretching out the heavens by Myself, And spreading out the earth all alone, Causing the omens of boasters to fail, Making fools out of diviners, Causing wise men to draw back, And turning their knowledge into foolishness, Confirming the word of His servant, And performing the purpose of His messengers. It is I who says of Jerusalem,' She shall be inhabited!' And of the cities of Judah,' They shall be built.' And I will raise up her ruins again. 
	We do not focus on the work of the evildoers in this age in which we live. We rather concentrate upon what God has done and is doing. We hold forth our testimony of Jesus Christ, no matter how vilely we are treated by the wicked of this time. We do so because we know that God will bless those who are so blessed as to have a Christian in their lives. Theirs will be a covering of prayer and of seeing the living witness of God’s love, no matter what happens. Sure it is not seemingly appreciated at this time, but it does manifest the providential hand of God for their sake in our witness of the Living Lord Jesus Christ. 
Isa 49:12, Shout for joy, O heavens! And rejoice, O earth! Break forth into joyful shouting, O mountains! For the Lord has comforted His people, And will have compassion on His afflicted. We are not to gauge the time of the judgment of God upon those who mistreat and defile us. That is completely in His hands to do as He deems fit in the time that He chooses. Rather, we hold true to the demonstration of the living Lord of all creation and wait for that which the Lord will do when He will do it!
	The Prophet Jeremiah had a glimpse of what this would entail. Jer 51:47+48, Therefore behold, days are coming When I shall punish the idols of Babylon; And her whole land will be put to shame, And all her slain will fall in her midst. "Then heaven and earth and all that is in them Will shout for joy over Babylon, For the destroyers will come to her from the north," Declares the Lord. 
God’s destroyers are not ours to command. They are not ours to threaten upon the sinners of this age. They are His and directly under His authority and dominion, as we have read throughout this Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. We should be earnestly seeking not to condemn those who are considered our enemies, but rather looking for avenues to express God’s love to them in order that they, too, would come to salvation and be saved from the judgment sure to come. 
	When the time of divine retribution does arrive, then we will have a distinctly pure and true regard for the Hand of God’s punishment in holiness and truth and justice. Rev 19:1-3, After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her." And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever." We will no longer regard those to whom doom is due in any other light than that God is just and righteous in all that He does. 
Deut 32:40-43, 'Indeed, I lift up My hand to heaven, And say, as I live forever, If I sharpen My flashing sword, And My hand takes hold on justice, I will render vengeance on My adversaries, And I will repay those who hate Me. 'I will make My arrows drunk with blood, And My sword shall devour flesh, With the blood of the slain and the captives, From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.' "Rejoice, O nations, with His people; For He will avenge the blood of His servants, And will render vengeance on His adversaries, And will atone for His land and His people." 
	Let us ever set our trust in God to do all that is holy and right and perfect. He has given us salvation in Jesus Christ, His Only Begotten Son. He has secured our eternal place before His very throne for all of eternity. We have nothing to fear from His judgment. 
As well, we have nothing to fear from the tormentors of this realm. He is our every protection and He will do all that is required to manifest Himself in the lives that we live on this earth. Ps 18:46-49, The Lord lives, and blessed be my rock; And exalted be the God of my salvation, The God who executes vengeance for me, And subdues peoples under me. He delivers me from my enemies; Surely Thou dost lift me above those who rise up against me; Thou dost rescue me from the violent man. Therefore I will give thanks to Thee among the nations, O Lord, And I will sing praises to Thy name. 
	As the Prophet Isaiah encourages us in Isa 26:20+21, in the midst of the fiery trials and torments of this present day, Come, my people, enter into your rooms, And close your doors behind you; Hide for a little while, Until indignation runs its course. For behold, the Lord is about to come out from His place To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity; And the earth will reveal her bloodshed, And will no longer cover her slain. 
	We are not to despair or be distressed over the things that we are called to bear for the sake of the name of Jesus Christ. We simply are to trust that God has all things well in hand. We do not decide nor is it our place to determine the innocence or the guilt of others. We simply hold on to the truth that God is in absolute control of everything regarding our walk on this earth. No matter what arrows and torture we must bear, we count it all for the glory of God and choose to meet anger and animosity and hatred and violence and deception and lies and swindling with nothing less than the love of God seen in the sacrifice of God’s own Son. When Christ was nailed to the cross, suffering the most unjust, perverted, and heinous blood-lust of sinful man, he cried "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." Luke 23:34.
	On this earth, at this time, that is to be the heart that we offer to all men. Only when the Day of Judgment is upon us, only when we are in the direct and divine presence of the Glorified Lamb of God will we be enabled to offer God pure praise for the manner in which He executes His Holy wrath and justice on the fallen of humanity. It will be at that time alone that we will find ourselves enabled to righteously rejoice in the fulfillment of God’s divine and perfect retribution. So be it!
Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you saints and apostles and prophets, because God has pronounced judgment for you against her. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is Deut 10:17+18. For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God who does not show partiality, nor take a bribe. He executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the alien by giving him food and clothing. Amen.