The River and the Tree

The new heaven, the new earth, eternity is as real as you're sitting here today. Dr. Tony Evans says the Bible isn't just to be understood, it's meant to transform. If you believe this book, you're going to change some things. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. A great book often brings us full circle, tying together every detail and returning us to where it all began. Today, we see just that as Dr. Evans delivers a message he calls The River and the Tree, a look at the restoration of what was lost in the Garden of Eden, access to eternal life, and the healing of all things.

Let's join him for this final message from the book of Revelation. No elements of sin remaining. So it has to be disintegrated, or what I call the uncreation. That should not be a problem if you believe in the creation. Okay? If there was a creation, the Creator can uncreate it. So there will be the uncreation, every molecule, every proton, neutron, atom, every spark of energy that makes the universe, the universe as we know it, will cease to exist, which means that God exists outside of the universe. Okay?

So you follow the deduction now? God exists outside of the universe if He's going to destroy the universe, and He's still going to be alive. In fact, for Him to do it, if He's going to destroy the universe, He's destroying something outside of Himself. So the issue is to start all over again in a perfect universe, not just the world in terms of the earth, but a universe, new heavens and new earth, as it was originally intended to be. We have just worked our way back to Genesis 1-1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Okay? Everything between Genesis 1-2, all the way up through to Revelation chapter 20, exists because of sin. All of that exists because of sin, which says something about how absolutely holy God must be that all of this could happen for this long a time because of that one word.

And actually, whenever Satan rebelled is when it started in the heavens and it just worked its way down to earth. There's this new heaven and new earth—back to Revelation—and in this new heaven and new earth, God wants to give you a portrait of it, a picture of it. So He shows you the capital.

The capital of a city is where the administration, government, it is often ornate because of who lives there. So to give you a feel of heaven, He lets the capital come down from heaven. So John says, still in chapter 21, he says, I saw the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. So now you have a descending city.

So let me say a word about this city for now. Jesus said, I go to prepare a place for you, John 14. Okay, this is the spot. This is the spot. He calls it My Father's house.

I go to prepare a place for you. So if you want an idea of where you're going when you die, if you're a believer, you're looking at it. This is the nature of the city, of the capital of the world.

It's called the New Jerusalem because the Old Jerusalem has passed away when the heavens and the earth passed away. Now you have nothing short—this is nothing short of spectacular. You have never seen anything like this. And I know we've got songs about it, so streets of silver and streets of gold and all of that, but you got jewels that are discussed here that man has never even seen before. I mean, some of these jewels you will recognize, you know, Jasper and all, but there's some of these jewels not only have you never seen before, but some of the jewels you have seen but not like this, because you got jewels you can see through. I mean, you got—you basically have a city made of diamonds. I mean, it's extraordinary. Again, it ought not surprise us because of, you know, the way God created the earth and the way that diamonds are pressed out of rock and coal and all of that.

So for God to create it is not a problem. So this city is coming down from heaven, and it is the capital of the world. It is the centerpiece of the world, as Austin is the capital of Texas.

Let's read 27. So this is a perfect place. It's a perfect location. Jesus Christ is the Lamb. So you've got a shared throne of God and a river coming down from the throne out of this capital city.

In the middle of the street, on either side of the river, was the tree of life bearing 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Okay, let's go back. We just went back to the Garden of Eden.

Remember? And the Garden of Eden was the tree of life. They didn't get to eat from the tree of life. Why did God not allow Adam and Eve to eat from the tree of life? He forced them out of the garden when they ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and barred them from the tree of life. Because if Adam and Eve, in their sinful state, after having disobeyed God, ate from the tree of life, they would have been confirmed in their unrighteousness. In other words, they would have eaten from the tree of life, which would have confirmed them in an unglorified state. So it was a gracious thing for God to remove them out of the garden in order to slay an animal to provide them a covering for their salvation because they could not eat from the tree of life and be in the sinful state that they were in.

So they were barred from it. But here in the capital city of the New Jerusalem, there is this tree of life yielding its fruit for the healing of the nations. Now, that ought to tell you a couple of things. We're in the new heaven and new earth now. But guess what you have in the new heaven and new earth? You have nations.

So what you have to understand is this is not floating on a cloud playing a harp. This is not boredom. This is nations. These are people. These are citizens. Now, where do these nations come from? That becomes a natural question.

Where do these nations come from? Because, you know, we're in glorified bodies, but we got nations, but not only do we have nations, we have nations that have to be kept healthy. Did you read what the tree of life is for? For the healing of the nations. Health or well-being.

You could use the word well-being of the nation. So these nations of people who are operating on planet earth need the benefit of these trees to stay well or to stay to keep well. But wait a minute. We're in the new heaven and new earth.

Watch this. We're in the new heaven and new earth. So we've got heaven stuff going on and we got earth stuff going on. And on earth stuff, in eternity, you've got nations.

And the nations have to be kept well for the healing or health of the nations. Dr. Evans will talk about the believers who are living at the end of Revelation's thousand years when he continues our message in just a moment. Stay with us. As we anticipate the new year, we want to not only end this year strong, but go into the new year able to take advantage of all the opportunities that God has brought our way for the transformation of individual lives, for the building of strong biblically based families, for strengthening churches, and that's what we're committed to do. Your generous financial support will help us to be strong because we're not going to back down, we're not going to back away, and we're not going to compromise the truth of this book to placate the secularism of the society.

Stand with us, will you? Stand strong by us with your generosity and your prayers because you know we hold tightly to this word, a word that the world desperately needs today. Visit tonyevans.org to give. That's tonyevans.org. Thank you for your generosity.

and emerge stronger than you were before. We'd like you to be one of the first to receive a copy of this devotional guide, and that's why we'll send it to you with our thanks when you make a contribution to help us keep Tony's teaching on this station. And as an added bonus, we'll include all 10 messages from the Revelation sermon series Dr. Evans is wrapping up today.

You can get them on your choice of either CD or digital download. This weekend is the final time we'll be offering this special resource bundle, so get in touch with us right away to request it. You can do that online at tonyevans.org. That's tonyevans.org. Or reach out to our resource center at 1-800-800-3222 any time of the day or night. That's 1-800-800-3222. I'll repeat our contact information for you after part two of today's lesson.

Here's Dr. Evans. Well, there's a group of people we never talked about. In all of the discussions we've had, we've not talked about one group of people. The group of people we've never discussed are the people who are alive at the end of the millennium.

We talked about the white throne judgment, the non-believers, but we never talked about the human beings at the end of the thousand years who are alive and who are believers. Well, remember, they're still earth people. But now they're earth people living on a new earth. So these earth people living on a new earth have glorified earthly bodies. You and I have glorified heavenly bodies.

Stay with me now. They're living on earth. They're functioning as nations. But they have to be maintained. So God has a way of maintaining them, and the way of maintaining them is the same principle of the tree of life in the Garden of Eden that He would not let Adam and Eve eat to maintain them in an unglorified body. This tree is to maintain them in their glorified earthly bodies.

You and I have bodies that can do both. When Jesus rose from the dead, He could walk, He talked to His disciples, He met them on the mountain before He ascended up to heaven. The Bible says He ate with them. So He did His earthing, but then He stepped on a cloud and went up to heaven. And guess what?

1 John 3, 2 says, And when we see Him, we shall be like Him. So you and I can function up there and function down here. These folk only function down here because they're in their glorified human bodies that must be maintained. The river will have on the side of it these trees. I take it that that means that the tributaries will go throughout the whole earth because, remember, what's missing on earth?

Ah, seas are missing. So we got plenty of space. We got plenty of space. Not only do we have space on earth, we got space all over the universe now. But specifically talking about earth, so I take it that the river will have tributaries that will go all throughout the earth with all of these trees that will maintain, and the magnificent thing about the tree is that it's pumping out new fruit every month.

Every month. For the well-being of the nations. Okay, moving on to chapter 22. There will no longer be any curse, verse 3. And the throne of God and the Lamb will be in it, and His bondservants will serve Him. No curse, because the curse has been removed, obviously, and the bondservants will serve Him.

So we're gonna be active, busy, overseeing what's happening on the planet, I mean, to varying degrees. There will be no longer any night. They will not have need of the light of the lamp of the sun. God will no longer work through the means through which He created, when He created in Genesis 1. He will become the means.

There will be no intervention of any sort. These words are true and faithful, or faithful and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bondservants the things which must soon or quickly take place. And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is He who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book. So what he's saying is, take this book seriously. Pay attention to it.

Act on it. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

But he said to me, do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren, the prophets, and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God. We've been talking about prophecy, but if you've been paying attention and you've been sticking with us, this is a book about worship. You keep saying, worship in heaven, worship on earth? This is a book about worship. When you understand this and when you believe it, and I believe every kit and caboodle of it, I am totally convinced that the new heaven, the new earth, eternity, is as real as you're sitting here today. I am totally convinced.

There are a lot of reasons for that. He says, if you believe, take heed to the words of the prophecy of this book. I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. He said, worship God. He now comes to his final message in verse 10. And he said to me, do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near.

Let the one who does wrong still do wrong, the one who is filthy still be filthy, and let the one who is righteous still practice righteousness, let the one who is holy still keep himself holy, in verse 11. If people do not heed the prophecy of the book, they will continue the kind of life that they're living. So he deals with two kinds of people. Two kinds of people. The people who don't heed it, and they're going to keep going the way they're going, and the people who do heed it, and they're going to keep moving in the way God wants them to move. Let me put it in another way. If you believe this book, you're going to change some things. If you don't believe this book, you're not going to change anything.

Okay? Behold, I come quickly. My reward is with me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter into the gates of the holy city.

That's special access, special presence to this magnificent diamond of planet earth. Outsiders, the people who are excluded are the dogs, the sorcerers, the immoral persons, the murderers, and everyone who loves and practices lying. In other words, they're not part of this. They don't get to participate in this, because, of course, they're still under the curse or under judgment.

But there is no curse inside of this scenario. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things for the churches. So the book of Revelation was for us. It's about the future, but it's for the church.

I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star. The Spirit and the bride says, Come. Let the one who hears say, Come.

Let the one who is thirsty, let the one who wishes, take the water of life without cost. So he's ending his book with an evangelistic invitation. He's saying, Come. He says, And you come without cost. It's free. The great news about salvation is it's free, because the price has already been paid.

I would challenge you to, now that we've walked through the book, to just go back casually, just read it. There is enough there that is clearly understood for you to worship, for you to thank God for your salvation, thank God for your eternal future, thank God for His grace. So there's enough there to worship. And if all your understanding of Revelation does is make you a better worshiper, it's achieved its goal. So let's say like John, when the angel said to John, Worship God. Dr. Tony Evans, wrapping up a compelling sermon series on the book of Revelation.

And he's back right now with a quick follow-up to the point he made in today's message about the price of salvation. Salvation, redemption, and eternal life. The Bible says, By grace are you saved through faith. That is, God gives it away, but He won't let you buy it, earn it, or go to church, or any other religious activity to try to make yourself worthy for it.

And as a result, the Bible says God gets the credit and the glory, and we don't get to share in it, which is why He demands that it's free. Not only does this grace save us, but this grace sustains us. So even if you are already a Christian, but you're backslidden, grace is ready to kick in, if you will, and get you steered in the right direction once more. So would you go to God and ask Him for the free gift of grace, which He gives away when faith is exercised? You say, well, what do you mean exercising faith? I mean believing that what Jesus did, He did for you personally.

This is not just generic. It has to be personal salvation and personal restoration. So you say to the Lord, I personally receive you as my Savior, or I personally return to you as my deliverer, and I'm looking for your gracious supply to deal with my sin and to give me your salvation. To follow up on what Dr. Evans has been sharing and to find out more about what it means to be a real Christian, we encourage you to visit tonyevans.org and click the link at the top of the homepage that simply says Jesus.

Now one final note before we close for today. I want to encourage you to take advantage of that special two-part resource package I mentioned earlier, all ten messages from Tony's thought-provoking series on the book of Revelation, along with his new 30-day devotional guide on trusting God in turbulent times. They're both yours with our thanks when you make a donation to help keep this listener-supported program coming your way. Just visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements, or call our resource center at 1-800-800-3222, where team members are standing by to assist with your request.

That's 1-800-800-3222, or online at tonyevans.org. It may seem like if you focus on a problem, you're more likely to find a solution. But coming up on Monday, Dr. Evans will show that sometimes your focus is your problem. Be sure to join us for the first in a series of the top 24 messages of 2024. Here on the alternative with Dr. Tony Evans. .