Heaven on Earth: Together at Last

Hey, everybody. You're listening to A New Beginning, which is a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners. If this program has impacted you, I'd love to hear from you. So just send an email to me at gregatharvest.org. Again, it's gregatharvest.org.

You can learn more about becoming a Harvest Partner by going to harvest.org. We're looking at the moment when heaven comes to earth. Every kind of separation now is a thing of the past. There's no political separation. There's no racial separation.

There's no spiritual separation. Everything is coming together. God is making all things new. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again, you hear all the angels are singing. This is the day, the day when life begins. Some believers think when they go to heaven, that's their permanent address change, golden streets forever.

Well, yes and no. Today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie shows us clearly from Scripture that when the time is right, God will bring heaven down to earth. Heaven and earth will combine, conflate, commingle, conjoin. You're probably thinking of some questions right now, aren't you? Well, Pastor Greg has a lot of insight coming your way.

Glad you're listening. This is the day, the day when life begins. And Jesus comes to him and gives to John what we call the revelation. The unveiling is what the word revelation means. And John is effectively catapulted into the future. It's sort of a spiritual time machine.

As I've said before, I don't think it was a DeLorean. But he saw things that were yet to come. He saw the afterlife. He saw the final judgment. He even peered into hell itself.

And he's trying to write all of this down. You know it's worth noting that John spent 18 chapters describing the great tribulation period but only one chapter for the 1,000 year millennial reign of Christ and less than two chapters on heaven. That's not because heaven is not important. That is because heaven is beyond words. John was seeing colors and sounds and sights that he simply could not explain. Things that are indescribable. In fact, the apostle Paul died and went to heaven. And he wrote about it in 2 Corinthians 12 and he said, I was caught up to paradise and I heard inexpressible things that I'm not even allowed to tell.

Inexpressible things are what he saw. So John spends more time in Revelation 21 describing what will not be happening in the eternal. Every kind of separation now is a thing of the past. There's no political separation. There's no national separation. There's no racial separation. There's no spiritual separation.

Everything is coming together at this moment. Heaven is mentioned 532 times in the Bible and more than 10% of those mentions are right here in the book of Revelation. John speaks about heaven 55 times.

So let's see what he has to say. Revelation 21. I'm going to read verses 1-6. I'm reading from the New King James Version. John writes, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more seeing. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. I love this verse. Verse 4 of Revelation 21.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eye. There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, and no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then He that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said to me, Write for these words are true and faithful. Then He said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to Him who thirsts.

We'll stop there. Aren't those beautiful words? I love how it begins. Behold, I make all things new. God loves new things.

He wants to make new people, so all things are new. No more terminal diseases. No more hospitals. No more wheelchairs. No more funerals. No more suffering. No more separations. No more accidents. No more courts or prisons.

No more divorces or breakdowns or breakups. No suicide. No rape.

No missing children. No drug problems. No heart attacks. No cancer. No Alzheimer's.

No famine or disaster. God is making all things new. Isn't that great to know? You know we love new stuff. Think about when the newest phone comes out, the new iPhone, the new Android phone, people will stand in line to get theirs so they can walk out. I've got mine before anybody else got it.

There may not even be that many changes in the new model over the old model, but we love to have the newest and the latest version of whatever. Same thing for your favorite show. You like to binge watch on Netflix or on television. Oh, the new season is out.

I can hardly wait to watch it. Hey, how about that new car smell? There's nothing like it. I have a friend that just got a new car and I was driving around in it. It smelled great and so I left a burrito in it just to kind of break it in.

You'll find out in about a month or so. But anyway, what we see here is things are new and I think that marketers have discovered that if you put the words new and improved on something, it may sell a little bit better. Now the fact is the only thing that's new and improved may be the packaging, but in this case everything is new. God loves new too.

He's bringing everything together. And by the way, this is already a done deal. You say, what do you mean it's a done deal?

This doesn't happen yet. Well, in the eternal realm, in a sense, it has. It's completed. Verse six says, God said, it is done. And that phrase carries the idea of absolute finality with literally these things have become done.

It's done and it's secure. You see, when God speaks of the future, he speaks with certainty because he lives in the future, but he understands the past. And of course, he's in the present. It's the eternal realm. Ecclesiastes 3.11 says, whatever has happened in the past is present now.

Whatever is going to happen in the future has already happened in the past. So our response to that verse is, what? Well, this is simply describing something we don't fully comprehend. It's the eternal realm.

So my point is simply this. When God says something is going to happen, you can take it to the bank. Okay, so here we are in the final chapters of the book of Revelation.

Let's pick up where we last left off. The next event on the prophetic calendar is the rapture of the church. Then the antichrist emerges. The great tribulation period begins two sections of three and a half years. At the end of the tribulation period, we have the battle of Armageddon, then the second coming of Jesus Christ.

So let's bring it into the moment. What happens to a Christian when they die? Right now, answer. They go to heaven. The moment you take your last breath on earth, you take your first breath in heaven. You close your eyes on earth.

You open them in heaven. But there is a generation that will not see death. They will not be placed into a casket and put underground. These people will be caught up in a moment to meet the Lord in the air. That's described in 1 Thessalonians 4 and also in 1 Corinthians 15 where it says it will happen in a moment. In the twinkling of an eye when the last trumpet is blown and the trumpet sounds, the Christians who have died will be raised with transformed bodies. And then we who are living will be transformed and we will never die. We will be transformed into heavenly bodies that will never die. So when the rapture happens, then what?

We go to heaven. And somewhere after the rapture and before the second coming is what we call the judgment seat of Christ. Not to be confused with the great white throne judgment.

That's for non-believers only. But this judgment seat of Christ, remember, is sort of like an awards ceremony. Awards are given for faithful service to the Lord. Crowns are distributed and so forth. And then sometime after that is the wedding supper of the Lamb. The believers are waiting in heaven for the tribulation period to run its course. And then we return with Christ in the second coming.

Okay then what happens? Then Christ establishes his kingdom. Finally the answer to the prayer of the church for 2,000 years happens where we pray, Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Now God's kingdom has come to planet earth. And this is a time where righteousness fills our planet. After the thousand years are completed, there's a brief rebellion.

Satan is cast into the lake of fire and then the great white throne judgment. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. Whenever you send us an email, text, or post a comment on social media, we read every word. Hi Pastor Greg. I discovered your ministry right before coronavirus hit and we went into lockdown. Your sermons have helped my walk with Christ and I've learned and grown so much as a Christian. My marriage has been rocky over the last few years, but when my husband and I started listening to your Happily Even After series, it was so beneficial to our relationship. We have a four-year-old daughter and your messages and of course God are what has kept us together as a family.

Thank you so much. Has Pastor Greg heard from you? How have these daily studies in God's Word encouraged you? Why not drop Pastor Greg an email and let him know? Send it to Greg at Harvest dot org. Again, that's Greg at Harvest dot org. Well, you've joined us for Pastor Greg's studies in the book of Revelation. And later, we'll tell you about his new commentary that will allow you to take these studies even further.

Or get those details now at Harvest dot org. Now it's time for the grand finale, or as the French would say, the pièce de résistance. That's French for snails with garlic. No, that's ascargone. No, pièce de résistance is the final dish.

The main dish. And here now, heaven and earth are coming together. They're merging and becoming one. The last marking of time was Revelation 20. After the millennial reign of Christ, we enter into sort of an eternal timelessness.

Everything is now forever. Have you ever gone on a vacation and lost track of time? You know, when I go on vacation, which isn't very often, it takes me about seven days to unwind where I stop being aware of what day it is. And you get on a vacation or you take a break and what day is it again in eternity? This is a beautiful thing where we're just now on God's time schedule and we're seeing things the way God sees things. You know, God is not bound by our watches or our schedules or schedules, as they say in the UK. No, God lives in his own time zone and has his own schedule. In fact, Psalm 90 verse 4 says, For God a thousand years are as yesterday, they're like a few hours. Sometimes for us it seems like God is late. Like, come on, Lord, why haven't you done this yet?

Why haven't you come back? I think many people felt the Lord was late in sending the Messiah. But in Galatians we read, When the time was just right, God sent forth the Son, born of a woman, made under the law, to redeem those that are under the law. But note, when the time is just right, everything was aligned perfectly. The Roman kingdom had pretty much taken control of most of the world.

They had established a common language, which was Greek. They had the Roman road system that opened the planet up for the first time ever. When everything was ripe, when everything was just ready, that's when the Messiah was born in Bethlehem. And when everything is right on God's schedule, Christ will come again.

Listen, he's right on schedule and everything is going according to plan. 2 Peter 3, 9 says, The Lord isn't slow about his promise to return, as some people think. He's being patient for your sake, because he doesn't want anyone to perish, so he's giving more time for everyone to repent. I want you to notice one of the first things that happens here in verse 1 is there's no more ocean, no more sea.

All the servers are like, Whoa, dude, what's up? Hey, what God gives you in the place of the ocean will be so much better, you won't miss it. I'm hoping that at present two-thirds of the earth's surface is covered with water, thus only a small percentage of the planet earth is inhabitable. And God's going to remove these barriers that separate us right now. Think about this. All people who have trusted Christ will come together. Have you ever gotten together for a family reunion and seen members of your family you haven't seen for so long and you wish it could go on forever or gathered with old friends that maybe you haven't seen for a while and you're having such a good time?

Imagine this. Heaven is a great reunion where everyone will be reunited in one time at one place. All those who have died in faith over the centuries.

All of us together. Eve will be there. Sarah will be there. So will Ruth, David, Noah, Jonah, Peter, James, and John.

I think Abraham Lincoln will be there. C.H. Spurgeon. Oh look, it's Dr. Martin Luther King over there. Oh look, it's D.L. Moody. It's Billy Graham.

C.S. Lewis will be there. Just think of the people that will be gathered together. What conversations we'll have. What times we'll have together. And for many of us, best of all, we'll be reunited with loved ones that have preceded us to heaven.

This is going to be a wonderful time. Now God breaks the silence with something He wants us all to hear. Look at verse 3. He heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them and they will be His people and God Himself will be with them and be their God. You know throughout history God has effectively been shrouded from humanity. Sure He picked certain individuals to reveal Himself to like Moses where the Bible says the Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to a friend.

But in the Old Testament you would go into the tabernacle, which means tent, later into the temple and you would have to go through the high priest who would enter into the holy of holies and sacrifice an animal for the sins of the people. But God was not approachable. But that's all changed in Christ. Now God can be approached. God can be called upon. But now when heaven and earth become one you have open access to the presence of God. You want to say something to the Lord. Say it to Him face to face. You have a question for Him. Ask Him whatever you want to ask.

No appointment required. How wonderful would that be. You know I think if I could live at any time in history I would surely pick the time when Jesus walked this earth.

What would it have been like to be one of the disciples of Jesus and ask Him whatever was on your heart or mind and just spend time with Him. Well you will have that moment in eternity when heaven and earth become one. And also we see in this new earth we are going to have a new city. Look at verse 2. I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Notice that word prepared. Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am you may be also.

The word prepared is the same Greek word that Paul used in 1 Corinthians 2.9 when he said, I has not seen nor is ear heard the things that God has prepared for those that love Him. So heaven and the new earth are prepared places for prepared people. And we have the new Jerusalem. You know Jerusalem plays a key role in the history of humanity. The city of Jerusalem plays a part in our past and our present and in our future. Jerusalem is the nerve center of the world geographically. Jerusalem is the salvation center of the world spiritually. And Jerusalem is the storm center of the world prophetically.

Think about this. Jerusalem is the city of the past. This is the city that was ruled by King David. This is the city where the first and second temple were built. And it was outside the walls of this city of Jerusalem that our Lord was crucified.

And it's also where He rose again from the dead. But Jerusalem is also the city of the present. When the Jewish people returned to their homeland after the horrors of the Holocaust and established themselves as a nation again, the prophetic clock started ticking because nothing like this had ever happened. On May 14, 1948 a prophecy was fulfilled.

Listen to this. No nation has ever been able to maintain its national identity three to five hundred years after being removed from its homeland. That is with the exception of Israel. The Jewish people returned to this place. They knew this was the place the Lord was calling them. Jerusalem always has been and always will be the eternal capital of Israel. But the Bible tells us in the last days that Jerusalem will play a key role in what is about to happen. Jerusalem is described in the Bible as an intoxicating drink, a heavy stone and a burden for the world. Zechariah 12 says, God speaking, I'll make Jerusalem and Judah like an intoxicating drink to all who are nearby who send their armies to besiege Jerusalem. I'll make Jerusalem a heavy stone and a burden for the world. But Jerusalem is not just a city of the past.

It's a city of the future. Here world history as we know it will come to a completion. Not far from Jerusalem the Battle of Armageddon will take place. And it is at the east gate of the city of Jerusalem that the Bible says Messiah will enter through. When Christ comes back again his foot will touch down on the Mount of Olives. Remember that's also the place where he ascended. It will split in two and Messiah will walk through the east gate.

But now we're talking about the new Jerusalem that will come down from heaven. In this heavenly city there's no crime. There's no corruption.

There's no urban decay. We're living in a curse free world and we're busy as we're about our Father's business. Notice Revelation 22 3 says his servants will serve him. I think sometimes people think we just lay around in heaven in clouds and sleep. And that might be appealing to someone I'm talking to but I like to be active. I like to do things and we'll be busy doing creative things. Things that honor God. Things that will bring great joy and fulfillment to us. Pastor Greg Laurie painting an enlightening picture of the life to come from our studies in Revelation here on A New Beginning.

Good encouragement and there's more to come from this study. You know Pastor Greg so many people wish they knew the book of Revelation better. They wish they understood the symbolism and had a clearer picture of what it all means.

And of course your new book will help them with that. But let me ask you what's the byproduct of having a good understanding of Revelation? What will it do for us as Bible students? It'll be a blessing in your life and I base that on a statement in Revelation itself when it says blessed is the person who reads, hears, and keeps the words of this book. So there's three conditions to receive the blessing promised to the person who opens up Revelation. First you have to read it. It's interesting that word read can be translated read it out loud. And so you just need to read the book and then you need to hear it. Jesus would often say he that has ears to hear let him hear.

You need to open your heart up spiritually and let God speak to you. A Bible prophecy is not a bunch of data. We want to just fill our head with. God wants to move your heart with it as well.

You know in 1 John it says he that has this hope that is the hope of the Lord's return purifies himself even as he is pure. That brings me to the third point. You have to keep it. So you read it, you hear it, then you keep it. You do what the book says you should do. Actually Revelation has a lot to say to you personally as a follower of Jesus Christ. It's not just about eschatology.

That's a you know a theological word that speaks of the study of end times events. But these are powerful truths that God wants us to understand because he's attached a blessing to it. Listen though you'll be blessed by reading the Bible and studying Bible prophecy in general. The fact of the matter is there is no other book that comes with a specific built-in blessing apart from the book of Revelation.

So I'm sure you that are listening right now want to be blessed. And that's why I want to send you a copy of this new book that I've written based on Revelation. I've simply called it Revelation a Book of Promises. I think this will probably be the easiest to understand book maybe you've read on the book of Revelation.

And I think that you'll find it will open it up maybe in new ways for you. Look the book of Revelation tells me that God is in control. The book of Revelation tells us about Jesus Christ.

In fact it's the unveiling of Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation tells me that we win in the end. So I want you to know more about that. So order your copy of Revelation a Book of Promises. It's a brand new book.

Very happy with it. It's a big book. It's a book that will be a great addition to your library.

Oh yeah that's for sure. And we'll be glad to send it your way to thank you for your partnership with us. It's only through the support of listeners that these daily studies can come your way. And we'll only be able to mention this resource a short time longer. So get in touch with your donation today and ask for Revelation a Book of Promises. And if you get in touch right away we'll include a custom bookmark that shows an overview of the events of the end times in chronological order.

It's very helpful to keep it straight. So contact us today at a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, CA 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300. We can take your call anytime 24-7, again at 1-800-821-3300.

Or go online to harvest.org. Well next time, more fascinating insights about eternity as Pastor Greg returns to continue our studies in the final chapters of Revelation. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins Thanks for listening to A New Beginning with Greg Laurie, a podcast made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for daily devotions and learn how to become a Harvest Partner at harvest.org.