God is still in control and has it under his authority and the day will come when it is all made straight.
So again for you, whoever you might be, if you are a disbeliever, it is not the Bible that is a dud. It is your refusal to respond to God's invitations. Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will by no means pass away. That's how powerful the Word of God is. This is Cross Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston.
Rick is the senior pastor of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville. Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross Reference Radio, specifically how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation, chapter 21, with today's edition of Cross Reference Radio. Verse 4, Revelation 21.
And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There should be no more pain. The former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. God ends suffering, and that's what that has to do with. In the 22nd chapter, it will be repeated this way in verse 3. There should be no more curse. which is the cause of all the pain and suffering, the heartache in life, all of our struggles come from that single source, it will happen.
It will be a reality. It's very far away, even as we count years, but it will happen. Where were you before your parents met?
Well, of course, we can't answer that directly, but our birth was sure nonetheless and that's how it's going to be when God is finished with his work through this creation it will be a day when there will be no more sorrow no more horror or suffering no more boredom through sermons and no more people sitting through fantastic sermons as you do and still finding a way to be bored. All that's going to be gone.
Well, we look at verse one.
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, but the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and there was no more sea. We will get to see God create. We've never seen him create things from nothing. We weren't there for Genesis chapter one, but we're going to be there when that day comes. And when he detonates this present universe, we'll be there for that too.
In our glorified bodies, we will not be what we are now. It will be better than Eden. Not only will there be no serpent to tempt us, there will be no possibility of temptation harming us. Isaiah, he also writes about these things in the 65th chapter, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. All of this is going to be gone and God will start fresh.
And John writes here in Revelation for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, gone forever. Along with the fallen race of Adam, Gone will be our sinful nature that wars against the desires of God. Isaiah also wrote about these things. And the quotation of or the reference to the Old Testament prophets is saying to you, God called this hundreds of years ago. And the prophets could see because he showed them these things.
And for us who believe, this is very important to us. But for those of you who don't believe, you have bigger problems. You have bigger problems than believing in what is written in Isaiah. You have a problem with what God has said to mankind through what we call the Bible. And hopefully, as the Bible is expounded upon, God's very spirit will minister to you.
Isaiah writes, dwell in a different dimension, but they do have, when allowed, when assigned, access to this one. As I mentioned, this present creation, God will detonate it. It will be gone. The devil and anti-Jesus people, all gone. Wickedness and immorality, non-existent.
Paul said creation wants this to happen. All creation is messed up. It's damaged. It's not what God meant it to be. Creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption, which is death, and everything that points in that direction, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
Now, all creation wants to get rid of this. Christians this comes straight from God mouth through the stylus of a prophet or an apostle But it is straight from the throne of God We believe every bit of it There too much proof to not believe it There too much logic to not believe it. In spite of your quest to be perfect, to be like Christ, to have other people behave themselves and that not working out well, in spite of all of that, God is still in control and has it under his authority and the day will come when it is all made straight.
So again for you, whoever you might be, if you are a disbeliever, it is not the Bible that is a dud, it is your refusal to respond to God's invitations. Jesus said heaven and earth will pass away but my words, but will by no means pass away. That's how powerful the word of God is. Second Peter 3, speaking about this radical change in creation, he writes, the heavens will pass away with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
The heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat.
Well, this language that comes to Peter very likely came straight from the mouth of Christ, not recorded elsewhere, but it's recorded here. And he gives us details about, as I use the word three times, the detonation of the universe. And there it is. A God that big is not only worthy to be praised, but would be good to be his friend. And this is the invitation that he makes.
And it's got blood on it, the cross of Christ. Anyway, when the new Jerusalem descends, when God's people enter into eternity after this creation, new heavens and a new earth, when new Jerusalem descends, it will be to a new earth, not this one. God created the universe and set it in motion for a purpose, knowing it was going to go off the rails. And he decided long before it happened that he was going to use the drama of sin to redeem people, to love him back, not only out of just this sense of adoration for who he is, but this submission to his lordship. We approve of his leadership.
We approve of his decisions. We delight in them. In this life, it's very difficult because the forces are pressing against us to question his love and his decision-making. But we make it through, as so many Christians before us have done. Surprise, we're not the first ones to go through this swamp of a life that is cursed.
And anything that you have heard about anybody else suffering or that you've suffered yourself is old news to the angels. It's happened already. They've watched it. They've observed it in other generations. Just consider the lamentation of Jeremiah, how much sorrow and pain he went through.
His beloved Jerusalem raised to the ground. This new heavens and new earth will be more suitable to his eternal purposes that are not about trying to get people into heaven. We'll already be there. There will be no more sea.
Well, if you love the sea, you won't miss not having it if you're in heaven. God has so many moves that you just can't even be stated. Maybe he's talking about salted bodies of water. We'll have to wait to find out. At the time that John received this vision, he is exiled to the Isle of Patmos, so he's surrounded by water.
He could probably look in any direction and see the Mediterranean Sea. God placed seas and mountains, or oceans and mountains, on earth to keep armies from getting to each other. They're barriers. and today of course between modern travel and the internet the world is being globalized people are not barred their mountains and seas are not keeping them from each other and what we have is the rebuilding of Babel the spirit of Babel being rebuilt globalization civilization, men ganging up together against the revelation of God to do it their way, and it won't end well for them. And the saint is the one that is separated from all of that through their relationship with God.
Then he continues, then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. It's interesting. John inserts, than I, John.
Well, we know who's writing this, but it's very personal to him. And as he's putting it down, going over in his head what he was shown, it was I, John, I saw this. It's very personal, it's very human. It's a passion that belongs just for him, including that, that much in all of this. and all of these forces of creation of God and majesty in the universe, there's this individual that means something to God.
And I, John, saw the holy city, which is an extension of heaven. It is heaven, part of, said to be a holy city, not a planet. Though as you look at it, you scratch your head and you wonder, is it satellite-like? Will it orbit the new earth that God is going to create? When we get to the next session in Revelation, in the latter chapters of this verse, we get more detail about this city, which causes me to lean more and more towards it being more metaphor than literal, yet never losing the literal point.
Because you have questions that pop up coming down out of heaven Well that indicates it already exists at the time he received the vision Well that would link us to John chapter 14 Jesus speaking if I go prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Of course, he goes on to say, in my father's house are many dwellings for you. And John says, I will be there. I, John, saw this. This is the spiritual realm.
And how physical can you make the language without losing its points? We'll be there to find out. Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Now, these are the New Testament and the Old Testament believers, they constitute the bride of Christ in its final state. Bride's entrance is always special. The groom doesn't get an entrance. The pastor tells him, go stand over there. When the bride comes down, I'll take it from there.
But he doesn't get an entrance. But there's no wedding without him. He's just as vital as the bride. But in this story, the bride has been through so much, these Old Testament, New Testament believers, of which we are a part of. This is the representation of the believers.
Proverbs 18, 22, he who finds a wife finds a good thing. This city, this New Jerusalem, it's the territory where the believers will live. And again, how much of this is literal and to what we're being told versus, well, all of it's literal. But to what extent? I mean, is there really going to be a giant gate made from a pearl?
So you have to focus on the lessons that surround it. Because to a Bible student, a pearl means irritation. Overcome. That's how you get the pearl.
Something is inside of the animal and it irritates them and they spin this protective layer around it. and the irritation is no longer there. The symbolism is, to me, quite powerful. Anyway, if God is married to Israel, how can the church be the bride?
Well, this is for Bible students, because if you're not a Bible student, you may be unfamiliar with this, and I may lose you for a moment, but the metaphor of marriage to Israel comes from a covenant that God established with them, an agreement. But the metaphor of marriage for the church stems from a new covenant that God made that included them. It goes all the way back to Jeremiah. I make a new covenant and it brings in the Gentiles, the church, and incorporates Old and New Testament believers alike. This metaphor illustrates the intimate relationship between God and his people, whether they're Old Testament or New Testament, regardless of ethnicity that they believe.
That brings them into this bond, this relationship. Hebrews 12, 24, Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant. There is no other. Verse 3, 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. God himself will be with them and be their God.
Don't let hardship cause that to fade in your heart. It's going to happen and you'll be there by believing in Jesus, by clinging to Jesus.
So I cling to the old rugged cross. You wouldn't have to cling if there weren't hardship. You know, there'll be no Bibles in heaven. You won't need them.
Well, I mean, somebody will say, what do you mean?
Well, when we get there, you'll come up to me and say, I'm sorry, I doubted you. I don't know what came over me. But anyway, we won't need them. We'll have the Christ. We'll have not the shadow of things to come, but the essence of the very one.
Anyway, this is what God wants and where he wants to be. And by the way, if there are no bookstores in heaven, who's going to complain? Raise your hand. This is what God wants and where he wants to be. As Lord over those who love him, critical part, in return, as Lord.
Not loving him as only Savior. That's not enough. That leaves out portions of the truth that are critical. He has to be loved not only as Lord, but as Savior, and not only as Savior, but as Lord. They're inseparable.
In Exodus 25, God, exercising his lordship to Moses and the people, said, Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. He gives instructions about how he wants this carried out. But the point is, this is what God wants. The Bible is telling us about the heart of God, the mind of God also. Never again will there be an earth down here and a heaven up there.
We'll be there in heaven, and that'll be it. And a new earth and the new universe will still be a part of it all. We will live with God. That is what he's telling us. Behold, the dwelling place of God is with men.
And in where it says he will dwell with them and they shall be his people, that word dwelling, the virtual translation of the Greek word shekinah, the Hebrew, shekinah, to dwell. He's going to dwell with us. Leviticus 26, 11. I will set my tabernacle among you and my soul shall not abhor you.
Well, he's got good reason to sin. he continues, I will walk among you and be your God and you shall be my people. This in microcosm given to Moses what coming later for everybody who believes Hebrews 10 11 Abraham waited for the city which has foundations whose builder and maker is God And Paul will develop that as he writes about this section and I return to it in a little bit hopefully that this has to do with our heaven and our Christ. In verse 4, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, There shall be no more pain for the former things have passed away. And none of us will miss it.
I mean, how do you comment on a verse that just says it all? There is not a more tender picture of the Father's love in all creation than this. It is a personal touch that includes everybody else that loves the Lord. And it's about eternal happiness, not a finite happiness. Listen to the Old Testament prophet Zephaniah.
Yahweh your God in your midst, the mighty one will save. He will rejoice over you with gladness. He will quiet you with his love. He will rejoice over you with singing.
Well, it's not going to be a lot to rejoice about if it's going to be this return of sin. But there's not going to be a return of sin. It's personal, yet it is personal for each of us. This is why in heaven, no one will ever ask you, how are you doing? It would be a foolish question.
I am living with God, eternal satisfaction. I have a craving for nothing. I have nothing that scares me, nothing that makes me worry. How else could I be? I'm doing wonderfully.
Perhaps the first words we hear when we leave this life will be these. We're turning back to Hebrews 12. You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels. Welcome. That's what that is saying.
Welcome. Your eyes open after you breathe out for the last time in this life. And then you hear welcome. There shall be no more death.
Well, that's eternal life without dissatisfied living. The Bible tells us about the life beyond the grave by saying what is not there. It tells us some of the things that are in heaven. But the fact, the things that are not there, I'm more interested in. Yeah, the tree of life, the river, I can't wait to see that.
Oh, that's going to be wonderful. But the fact that these things in verse 4 will not be there is heaven enough. There shall be no more death.
Isaiah 25, verse 8. He will swallow up death forever. The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from all faces. the faces of those who believe. It says, nor sorrow.
I believe that the memory of those who rejected Jesus Christ will be deleted from our minds.
Now, of course, that's my view. I know that it will not trouble us because he's already said there'll be no sorrow, nor crying, no tears, only cheers. We will leave nothing or we will leave nothing here that we'll miss, and we will have nothing to complain about for the first time in our existence. When we leave this life as Christians for the first time, we will have nothing to complain about. I don't know if I'm going to miss that or not.
For this to be true, I'll have to be the only one in heaven permitted to drive. I don't know of any other way. You could have a situation with no crying if that isn't the case. No physical pain, no emotional pain. This is the heaven we work for.
This is why we try to sacrifice for Christ because he says, my reward is with me. And my reward is so big, I can only tell you about the ribbon. But what's underneath the wrapping, what's inside the box, you'll have to get there to really see. For the former things have passed away, and that's why the strength behind not remembering things that we don't. How many things, for you older Christians, how many things have you that you never want to remember again?
Maybe you did something to somebody that was wrong back in first grade and you still regret it. I don't want to remember so much of this life. I want to move forward with God. There are some things that we will recall. After all, how could we identify so many things, each other, just appreciate things?
Of course, we're going to have some memory. But the troublesome things won't be troublesome, I know that much. Who will be the apostles to remember if everything is wiped out, if the symbolism has anything to do with appreciation for what happened here? It will have to include sorrow in the past. We can get that.
You don't need me to comment anymore on that. Just visit us online at crossreferenceradio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Thank you.
