I want you to join me in Revelation chapter 21 tonight. Revelation chapter 21. And if you did not grab an outline on your way in, if you would do me a favor, just slip up your hand high enough for Pastor Bailey or Scott to see that. And they would love to get one in your hands just so that you can follow along with everything that is happening here tonight. Not a whole lot of blanks here tonight.
And so I put some lines on there as we're talking through some things. If you wanted to add any thoughts that are not actually part of. The outline. This morning, I had the opportunity. I put this on social media today if you're on social media and we're connected in that way.
But this morning, I had the opportunity to preach here in our elementary chapels. We split them based on age. And so I had the opportunity to preach. And when I got done preaching, I was leaving, and one of the classes was out here in the Welcome Center. And as I was leaving, there was a kid who had all of these paper towels all down their leg, these wet paper towels.
And so I said, and there was like bloody kind of paper towels. And I said, hey, what happened? And this kid said exactly what they said. They said, well, I picked a scab. During your sermon.
And they said, but I didn't want to interrupt. Your sermon?
So I just let it bleed out. That's what they said. And so I was, I didn't know what to say. I just said, I'm so sorry. But as I walked to the church office, I was thinking, there's such good application for you and for me here.
I just want you to know: no matter how young, no matter how old you are. If you start bleeding, You have my okay to go get yourself checked out, okay? I want you to know that, all right?
So if you're just bored, you pick a scab tonight. How gross that really is now that I've heard it and stuff again. And but you have my go-ahead, go get yourself cleaned up, get the help that you need. I don't care that you interrupt me. I want you to get yourself checked out tonight, okay?
And but no, it's so much fun when we get the opportunity to minister to the kids that God's blessed us with here at Union Grove Christian School. We also get the opportunity, one thing that we love to do as a partner, we're grateful for our school for sure, but we also have a lot of schools in our community that are represented, and we love the opportunity that we get to serve them in different capacities and things like that. And so, tomorrow night, we get to host here in our auditorium because they needed a place to meet. Midway Elementary is going to come in and we're going to host their talent show tomorrow night. And I know David Iverson, our youth pastor, his daughter is in this talent show.
Bella, and they're going to be in here.
So we're just honored to be able to participate and partner with our schools. And hopefully, these partnerships will be an opportunity for us to share the love of Christ with the kids and families that are in our community, and as well as share the gospel with each one of them. And we're grateful for that opportunity. That's all happening tomorrow night, right here. Revelation chapter number 21.
Revelation chapter number 21. Can you believe this? That we started this series in May, kind of midway through May of last year. And we have two chapters left. We have two chapters left.
And so we are going to begin chapter 21 tonight. We're not going to get all the way through chapter 21. We hope to conclude that next Wednesday night. We'll conclude chapter 21. And then I'm working on chapter 22 and how many weeks that will take us.
It's probably going to be one week. And then after that, as we conclude this series, we're going to have just a special service in here and do some music and different things that is all about the returning king that is going to come back that we are all longing for. And so it's going to be a great time. You don't want to miss that. And you'll be getting some more information about things like that.
But I've entitled tonight, Heaven. On earth.
So that's the title of Revelation 21, where we're going to get into here this evening. As we always do, I want to show the timeline. First, you'll see it up on the screen. And if you need one of those timelines, maybe you've misplaced yours or anything, we can print them on a full page for you. And we love these so that you can kind of keep with you and keep in your Bible or however you want to use that would be great.
And so we are in the church age, which Revelation chapters one through three was all about the church age, the letters to the seven churches. And then in chapter four and five, we see John was taken up into heaven. We interpret that to be kind of a little bit of a picture of the rapture. And we know that the rapture is the next event on the timetable of our Lord. And so at any moment, I want you to know the trumpet can sound.
I hope that it's tonight, and I hope that it's maybe this evening. But until then, we want to magnify Christ and also share the good news of the gospel with as many people as we can. And so, but the next event on God's timetable is the rapture of the church. That is not the second coming. The rapture is when Christ comes from heaven into the clouds, and then we, the dead in Christ, will rise first, and then we which are alive and remain.
That means if he came back tonight, us who are still breathing, we would go to meet him in the air. And that is at the rapture. And so, that's the next event on God's timetable. When the rapture happens, A seven-year tribulation period will happen here on earth. The unbelievers will be left behind.
And God's wrath. will be poured out. In chapter 6 through 18 of Revelation, we see that John sees these visions and he hears these different things that are happening and he describes the judgment of God that is going to be happening on earth in three different ways, through bowls being poured out, trumpets being blown, and seals being broken. And then, after this seven-year tribulation, things are obviously going to get terrible during that time, but it does get better. Christ is going to return at the second coming.
We read about that in Revelation chapter 19. After the seven years, Christ returns. The Battle of Armageddon, where all of these armies rise up against the nation of Israel, and Christ defeats all of the armies for the nation of Israel. And here on earth, at the Battle of Armageddon, and then at that moment, he is going to start his millennial reign. That is going to be a literal 1,000-year reign where he is going to reign on earth.
There will be no kings, there will be no prime ministers, there will be no political leaders in our world. There will be one king, and his name is Jesus during the millennial reign. It's going to be a great day. There's going to be peace. There's going to be joy.
It's going to be just way better than anything we've ever experienced. Staten will be bound during that time. But there will still be some sin that exists because people will still have a fleshly nature. People that are being born and these families that are reproducing, they will still have a fleshly nature. And so there will be some sin, but with Satan being bound and Jesus reigning over all, there obviously will be much less sin than what we see in our world here today.
After the 1,000-year reign of Christ, we see that Satan will be loosed. You say, why is that?
Well, I mentioned to you last time we were together that these people that were born during the millennial reign really didn't have much of a choice. Jesus was the only king, and so they were forced to worship him. And then after this a thousand years, we're going to see Satan loosed. You say, why would Christ do that? Why not just keep Satan bound?
Doesn't that make way more sense?
Well, for Christ, I think one of the reasons perhaps he gets loosed is to force all of those people that were being born during the millennial reign into a choice. The choice that you have and the choice that I have. And that's either to trust Christ for my redemption. or to try to work myself to God in which we all know we fall short. And so he's going to give everyone a choice.
Satan's going to be loosed, unfortunately. It's a terrible time. Many are going to be deceived. Many nations are going to be deceived at that moment. And then Christ will really fire out of heaven is going to come down and just destroy all of the enemies at that moment.
After that, we see a judgment. We call it the great white throne judgment. This is the moment that all unbelievers will be cast into the lake of fire, as well as the devil will be cast into the lake of fire. The good news for you and I is that in that moment, the devil is going to be cast there, and the scripture says he's going to be tormented there in the lake of fire day and night. The Antichrist false prophet, they were already thrown into the lake of fire.
So the devil is going to be joining them in Revelation chapter number 20. And so he will be thrown, and that's where he will forever live and forever be tormented. I wanted to mention one thing, and then we're going to dive into today's text. Is that in Revelation 20? Don't forget that the doctrine, and it is out there.
You might hear about it from time to time if you just kind of start searching for some things online. The doctrine of annihilation is a false teaching, it's a false doctrine. There are some that believe that, you know, mankind will just be annihilated, forever, done, that kind of thing. Here's what I want you to know. That scripture teaches that everyone will live forever.
Everyone. It's just a matter of where. And what you do with Jesus. And his redemptive plan for all of mankind will determine where your soul lives forever. You have a choice.
You can choose to live in the place that we're going to look at here tonight. Or You will live tormented day and night just like the devil, just like the false prophet, just like the Antichrist in a place called the lake of fire. And so I want you to understand that that should motivate us to share the good news. But then tonight, as we come to chapter 21, we're starting to wrap up. Our series, I mean look at the timeline, we're on the on the other side of it.
And we're getting really close to the end. And here in chapter 21, we talk about this idea of heaven. On on earth. When I was growing up, I wasn't a big reader. I've become a reader in my adult life.
Growing up, I hated to read. And every book report growing up in grade school that I think I read had to do with Michael Jordan. I'm just going to tell you, I've read every biography on his life that there are, and I just wasn't a big reader. And so I just, you know, if I ever read a book, it was like growing up, it was like, do you remember the series? Obviously, like the Hardy Boys, I read that.
And then also like the boxcar children, I enjoyed that growing up. But that was about the extent of my reading. But here's what I do know, and you would know this: that if you read a good story book. There's always an ending. And the ending usually, for the most part, Now, there can be a cliffhanger a lot of times, but for the most part, it tries to draw.
It's readers. Into this climax, this end moment, if you would. It tries to bring everything it's been saying up to this point to a close and it provides a ending. And the goal of every good book, or at least what we like to read about, is for every ending to have a happily ever ending. ever after.
What's interesting here Is when the Bible, and in chapters 21 and chapters 22, it's all coming to an end. But what's interesting is what we are going to start to see here in chapters 21 and 22 is that as things are coming to an end. God Or, really, the author John, in this case, through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. He closes the Bible. With a beginning.
He closes the Bible with an ending. That is actually The beginning. And that's what is so interesting about how the scripture, these 66 books that we look at. Here, as we come to the last two chapters of the Bible, we're going to see that the ending of the Bible is actually, if you know Christ, the beginning for you. John Ends the Bible with the most extensive teaching.
uh about our future Home. The endings of a book are so important. And I mean, think about it. The ending is what every author wants imprinted upon your hearts. And so, as we begin to read these last two chapters, I think that John wants.
Our future imprinted upon every single one of our hearts. It's almost as if the Bible is wanting us as we end this study to focus. Our attention upward. To remind ourselves that we are citizens of this place that we are going to start to look at tonight. That is where we, as followers of Jesus, are citizens of, and that is where our focus should be.
Perhaps that's why the New Testament says that we should focus and lay up treasures for ourselves. In this future place. And that is what we are going to see: a new heaven. A new earth. And a new Jerusalem.
Now, before we get into Revelation 21, I want you to know that this is by far the most extensive passage. About the future heaven, the future earth. and the future of Jerusalem. But this is not something that just shows up in Revelation chapter 21. The Bible talks about it, and prophets prophesy about the new heaven and the new Jerusalem.
Isaiah talks about it. In Isaiah 65, you can jot the verses down. It'll be up on your screen. Isaiah 65, 17 through 19, here's what the prophet says. And by the way, if you do a study on the book of Isaiah, you'll find that he's providing this future hope to all the brokenness that is there in Israel.
And he's providing this future hope. And here's what he says in verse 17. I create new heavens. And a new earth. And the former shall not be remembered.
Nor come into mind. But be ye glad, and rejoice forever. In that which I create. For behold, I create Jerusalem. A rejoicing and her people a joy.
He goes on in the next part of the verse in verse 19. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem and joy in my people, and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her. nor the voice of crying, which the heaven shall pass away. For the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. And it keeps going crazy on me on the screen back here.
And so, what we see here is that the future. The future has been prophesied. That's not the only passage that he talks about the future. 2 Peter chapter 3. Be up on the screen as well.
2 Peter 3, verses 10 through 13. Peter talks about this. He says, But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent fire. with fervent heat. It's not the only time it's mentioned.
It's mentioned in a couple more spots. One of those, Jesus Himself talks about it. Matthew 24, verse 35. It says this, Jesus himself said that heaven. And Earth.
Shall pass away, but my words shall not. Pass away.
So, what we are going to look at here in Revelation chapter 21, it's not the first time that it's mentioned. In fact, things from the very beginning have been pointing to this moment. to this moment where He makes all things No. Revelation 21, we're going to tackle the first eight verses tonight. I'm going to read them pretty straight through, and then I'll give you some thoughts here.
Um from these eight verses. It says this, John says, and he writes, and I saw. The last I saw. You know that from the beginning he has mentioned I saw or I heard. We're going to see the last couple of those here in chapter 21.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven. And the first earth were passed away. And there was no more C. And I, John.
Just in case I think it's him saying, Hey, in case you forgot who's writing this, who's seeing this, just want to remind you, I'm coming up to the end, in case you forgot, I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And I heard. A great voice out of heaven saying, Behold or look. The tabernacle of God is with men.
Such an important verse, and we're going to park on this here in a little bit. And he will dwell with them. And they shall be his people. And God himself shall be with them. and be their God.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. And there shall be no more death. Neither sorrow nor crying. Neither shall there be any more pain. For the former things are passed away.
Every time I read that verse. I think of a song. There's a song written. I don't know when it was written, but if you're into Southern Gospel music, There is a song written by a man by the name of, I guess he's the writer of it, I don't know he's the singer of it, David Phelps wrote a song called No More Night. How many of you have ever heard that song?
That song, I think about it every single time because that's exactly what it's talking about here, where this will be passed away. Verse 5, and he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write. For these words are true and faithful. Remember, several times throughout Revelation, John is receiving vision after vision after vision.
I interpreted this almost as a cluster of visions that he's receiving throughout the book, things that he's seeing and things that he's hearing. And he's in this moment, and you can only imagine, he's probably like, wow, jaw to the floor, wow, at what is happening around him. And there's no doubt moments where he's so in awe as a human being, so in all at what he's seeing, that the angels revealing things to him almost have to remind him, like, hey, John, Write this down. And what you see here is in like he gets this reminder: hey, write these words. True and faithful.
Verse 6, and he said unto me, It is done. I'm alpha. And Omega, the beginning and the end, I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life. freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things.
And I will be his God, and he shall be My son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers. and idolaters. And all liars. Shall have their part.
In the lake. which burneth with fire, and brimstone. Which is the second Death. In these eight verses, you have Um what we call a new heaven. A new earth and a new Jerusalem.
This is after, mind you, the millennial reign where Christ reigns on the earth. They're from Jerusalem. This is after all of that. This is after the devil has been cast forever in the lake of fire, along with the false prophet, along with the Antichrist. Along with the unbelievers at the great white throne judgment, they're all cast as well there.
After all of that. We see this new heaven, new earth. And a new Jerusalem.
It's described in verse 2 as a city. And it's described. As if, and John, you got to think, he's probably, as he sees this. And he's seeing this vision of this new heaven, this new earth, and then a city, this new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. He describes it in the most beautiful way that he knew how to eloquently describe it.
And he described it as as a bride on her wedding day. And men, you would understand this. But you remember that day if you're married, you remember that day where you're standing. Add a At an altar. In a church.
Right. Or let me say this: most of you, how many of you were married in a church? Raise your hand.
Okay, so was I. I was married in the church. All these young people, they don't get married in churches anymore, do they?
So, if you're young in here and you got married in a different place, you're standing in the center. of the coolest rustic barn in the city, okay? And so, but you remember that moment where you're standing there and you see the doors swing open. We were very traditional in our wedding, and I can remember. I remember it like it was yesterday.
And before, you know, as the kind of wedding party kind of walks down, you always choose kind of a fancy song or whatever. And Abby had this thing planned out. All I was told to do was to show up at a certain time. I like it that way. And so, but she, I remember standing there, and, you know, this person was singing the song, How Beautiful.
You would know that song. It's an old hymn. And so, you know, everybody's walking in. And then, after that moment, these doors at the back, and we were traditional, so I hadn't seen her in her dress or anything like that before that moment. And so after those doors swing open and I see my bride come down, I was overwhelmed with emotion.
I don't cry a whole lot, but in that moment, you just couldn't contain it because what I saw was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. And if you've been married, you understand that moment. And what John is doing here, way to go, Clay, you get brownie points for saying amen there. And here's what I'll tell you: is that John describes this new heaven, this new earth, and this city coming down from heaven in the most descriptive, beautiful term he could think of. And it's described.
As a bride. As a bride. And here in these verses, in these eight verses. There's a few things that I want you to see. And it's very simplistic tonight.
We're going to get a little deeper into it next week and the week after. But I just want you to see just a few things out of these eight verses because I want to take some of our time through it. And I didn't want to try to tackle the entire chapter in one night.
So the first thing that I want you to see about this new heaven, this new earth, and this new Jerusalem. Is this, and it's the most important thing. Is that God will dwell with us. Forever. God will dwell with us forever.
In verse three. John hears A great voice. Out of heaven. And this voice is saying, look. Behold.
The tabernacle of God is with men. Now, here's what I want you to know: is that this phrase, a great voice out of heaven, is mentioned more than 20 times in the book of Revelation. The reason why it's described that way is that the voice that you are hearing is a voice that comes bearing all power and all authority. In life. And so this voice comes, and it is declaring and announcing.
That he Is going to forever dwell. With Man. He is going to forever dwell with man. He says, The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their people. They're God.
In other words, God will forever have his tent Pitched. there amongst his people. Forever. And that is the most significant thing about the new Jerusalem and the new heaven and earth that is going to be created: God is going to dwell with us forever. One thing to note in verse 3.
When he uses the word people. It says, and they shall be his people. I want you to understand that in its original language, that word people is actually plural. It really could be better translated people's. world.
In every sense of the word. And so, in other words, here's the idea. When he says here in verse 3 that God's going to dwell with his people. Right? He's saying peoples.
In other words, I think it's another reminder that in that day, every tribe's going to be represented, every tongue is going to be represented. And every nation is going to be represented. Listen, this place that God has prepared, or God is preparing, for all of us to live forever, here's what I want you to know: it's going to be a very diverse place. It's going to be a very diverse place. It's going to be a lot more Christians that are going to be there than what we see in Davidson County.
Okay. For some of you, you're like, really? I thought the new heaven and earth was only for Davidson County.
So, no, it's for every tribe, every people group that you can imagine. There's going to be people there that we are going to worship with that are from all over the world. All over the world. And it's going to be an extreme diverse place, and the most important part about it, and the most significant part about it. is that God will dwell with us forever.
Now I will tell you this, that you know my story. And I have grown up around church my entire life. It's all that I know. And so I knew a lot of Bible stories before I even became a believer. And I knew it.
My parents had me in church as an infant. And our church met so much. And so I got so much out of it. I mean, we had the Wednesday night thing. We had the Sunday night thing.
We had Sunday school. We had Sunday morning. We had revivals. Like every time you turned around, you'd finish one and you're into the other. And I'm talking the real strong revivals where it's like, hey, we're going all week long, you know, and things like that.
And so we'd go all week, you know, and we did all this. And I say all that to say that that's a big part of my life, my experience. I've been around church my entire life. I've been around the Bible my whole life. I've been to nothing but a Christian school my entire life.
The reason why I want you to understand that is because that's All that I know. And three years ago. We did a series. I wanted to do something that challenged me on Wednesday nights, and we did a series. On the tabernacle.
And for myself, who had been around church my entire life. I could. Siri's answering me for some reason. Siri's researching the tabernacle right now. It'd probably do her good.
Maybe she'd get saved. I don't know. And so, but.
Some of you are like, what's Siri? And so, and she's going to listen to me again if I keep saying her name. But here's what I'll tell you: is that three years ago, this church kid that's been around church my entire life. I read everything about the Bible that I'd been taught. finally clicked with me.
As a kid, I used to be fascinated with every story in the Bible. I thought it was amazing, and I didn't understand that it all fit together. I didn't realize that it all pointed to one story. There's one grand narrative. in the Bible.
It's not just a Bible full of hundreds of stories. It's actually a book with one story. And for you to understand what's happening in Revelation 21, you have to understand the entire Bible. You have to understand the point of the book. You have to understand it all.
And here's what it is. And I really, as a pastor, I was a pastor before I really got this. And I learned this three years ago: that since the beginning, there's been one purpose for you. And one purpose for me. And here's the purpose, and here's God's desire.
Since the beginning, God's desire has been. to dwell with us. That's it. That's it. And since the beginning, here's what he's desired from you.
Not your works. Not what you can bring to the table. Here's what he's desired. A relationship. That's always wanted.
That's why we were created to begin with. That's why in Genesis He created man. And what we know about that is that man walked with God in the garden. You see that. Adam experienced it.
You know, they walked with God. They had a relationship with God, and they walked with Him. But in Genesis 3. What happened in the garden in the way that he originally created for it to be was that his creation, man, could dwell with God and be in perfect communion and fellowship with him. In Genesis 3, that all changed.
Not because of anything God did wrong. But because of man's sin. When man sinned in the garden, here's what it did: it cast this curse. For all of humanity. And this curse is called sin, and now all of us have been struck.
with the sin nature. And the problem with sin is sin cannot have a relationship with holiness.
So, what God created for us, mankind, to have a relationship with. That with to walk with him, to talk with him. And to dwell with him, sin ruined it. And so now, from Genesis 3 all the way through Revelation 21. And eventually Revelation 22, which we'll get to next week.
What we see is God's redemptive plan. finally coming to full fruition. You say, how does the Bible all fit together? It's very simple. Sin ruined the relationship in Genesis 3.
So what did God do? Exodus 25. He gave a man named Moses instructions to build a tabernacle. You say, what is significant about that? The word tabernacle, it's mentioned here in Revelation 21, the word literally means to dwell.
The reason why he gave Israel these instructions to build a tabernacle was to give God a dwelling place because remember, that's all God's ever wanted to do, and all he's ever wanted from you and from me is to have a relationship with us.
So he gave them the instructions.
So, what Israel did was they pitched a tent. Where God could dwell with his people. How beautiful.
Well then we see Solomon's temple. Also, part of the Old Testament law, another place for God to dwell, which fast forward all the way into the New Testament. John chapter 1. Jesus What does it say? He became flesh, and what did he do?
He dwelt among us. The word dwelt is the same word that we learn tabernacle.
So you have God created man to dwell with him. Sin ruined the relationship and its original design. Tabernacle, God redeeming his people back into that original relationship that he created the world to have in Genesis 1. Tabernacle, Solomon's temple, and now he sends Jesus, his one and only begotten Son, to dwell with us. Jesus walks on this earth for some thirty-some years.
He dies the death that you and I deserve and lived the life that we could never live. And when he ascends, he gives his apostles a promise that a comforter is going to come. That comforter is the third person of the Trinity, the third person of what we call the Godhead. It's God.
Now What does he do? He, the spiritual word, he indwells us. If you're a believer, you have the Holy Spirit living inside of you. Remember his redemptive plan from 66 books, One Purpose. to redeem us into a relationship with him.
And so you see the Holy Spirit, and then after that. There's a heaven. And all of the loved ones that have gone on get to be with God forever in this place called heaven. And even then, what our loved ones are experiencing is awesome, but it is not the final. Hmm.
And so it's still being delivered. But here in this passage, Revelation 21, we see his final plan.
So, Genesis 1, all the way to Revelation 21, it's connecting the dots that God's plan to redeem you and to redeem me out of sin and back into a relationship with Him where He can do what He created you to do all along, to have a relationship with Him and for Him to just dwell with you. It's finally coming to fruition here in chapter 21. You see, I don't want you to miss this. The best part about this future home It's that Jesus. will dwell with us forever.
That's the best part. And that's what we see here. That is the significance of this announcement coming from heaven. Behold, John, listen, church, Union Grove, listen. Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
It's the biggest announcement that we could ever declare is that one day we will be able to dwell with his people. The second thing that we see here is the effects of sin. will be no more. See it in verse 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
Death, pain, and sorrow will be no more. And here's what I want you to understand: is that all of those things, we've all experienced them. All of those things are effects of the fall. Unfortunately, when sin entered into the world. The results of sin are brokenness.
The results of sin are are grief. And and death? Pain Crime, sorrow, All of those things. And what we learn here is that all of that, all of the effects that sin had, all of the curse that sin inflicted on humanity and ultimately around the world, all pain, sorrow, grief, all of it. is gonna cease.
It's going to go away. The effects of it are going to be no more. There's not going to be death. There's not going to be mourning anymore. All the bad things that we experience in life that are a result of the fall will be gone.
Adrian Rogers, he said it this way: Death is only a comma for the Christian, not a period. Feel like that says it pretty good. And here's what I want you to understand: is that when we get there, there's always like, what are we going to remember? the question like, you know, are we going to forget everything? Like, are we going to know people?
Are we going to know kind of what life was like when we were growing up? Like all those kind of things. And that's a question that I think is a real, a real question. My belief and answer to that is this: I really don't know. The Bible doesn't tell us a whole lot, but here's what it does tell us.
Is it says that all the former things are going to be passed away? And so here's what I want you to understand: don't get so caught up in what you're going to remember and what all those kinds of things, because here's what I'll tell you. Is that every you might remember some things, but you will not remember anything. that you feel that was painful. Because I think that would be a contradiction here.
So so think about it. You know, the question. I listened to a sermon on somebody who asked this question, what if, will we remember in this moment the loved ones that we had in life that we know died without Christ?
Well, we have to carry that into here. Here's what I want you to understand. This verse right here: God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying. Here's what I want you to understand: is that I think when we get to this place.
There is not going to be anything that you remember that that is painful. Nothing that made you grieve or experience mourning of your previous life, I think you will remember. I don't think you're going to remember any of those things. Because there's no sorrow and there's no pain that we have. I feel like I'm mentioning music several times in this sermon, but there is a song.
I love this song. It's also a Southern Gospel song. I have a wide range of music that I like. A Southern Gospel song by a group called Brian Free In Assurance. It's a song.
You should go listen to it. It's a song called Everything He Forgot. And the lyrics go this way, and I thought this was really good. I'm not going to sing it for you. Uh but it says this, there will come a day When I'll see him in glory.
Then I'll only don't miss the words. I'll only recall I'll only remember. Calvaries. Side. of my story.
So, if you're in here and you're wondering, like, am I going to carry the weight and the pressure and the sin that I committed and the times I ran from God and all that, all those things are going to be passed away. All those memories that you carry, all the things that bring you down, all the things that the devil uses now to inflict in you, you're not good, all these terrible things that you've done, all of those things will pass away. The rest of the song goes this: when my sins were forgiven. My salvation was bought. Oh, what a moment.
when I can't remember. Everything he's all ready for. Mm-hmm. That's what this moment is going to be like for us. where all those painful memories are gone.
You say, the question that I have Here there's no crying, there's no tears, but here God's wiping away every tear.
So, what does that mean? Why are we crying? Why is he doing this?
Well, according to this verse, I don't think we can be crying because of Death because of sorrow because of pain. My interpretation here would be that this has to be a. Emotional cry. In other words, You know the moment when you've worked really hard for something and finally you're there? And you're just overwhelmed by emotion.
I kind of feel like that's what this is going to be like for us. We're finally there forever. To be something we've longed for, something we've looked for, and we're finally there. And God is going to be there, and He's going to remind us: there's no more pain here, there's no more regrets here, there's no more enduring here, there's no more sorrow here, there's no more grief. Everything.
is new. Which brings us to point three. God will make all things new. Verses five and six. He said, That sat upon the throne in verse five, Behold, I make all things new.
And he said unto me, Write, these words are true, or write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life. freely.
I want you to understand. I mean, there's a lot of things that we don't fully grasp or understand here, but I want you to understand one thing: is this. This is not. Heaven In a fixer-upper episode. You remember that show?
We used to watch that show a lot. We loved it and um and uh we traveled to Waco So that we could see some of these fix-er-upper moments. My wife's choice, let's just be honest, but I enjoyed it. But we used to watch all these things, it was something. Terrible, and then they'd make this incredible, you know, out of what was terrible, they'd improve it.
And it was always like, are you ready to sit your Fixer Upper? And you're wild at it. And you're like, how in the world do they do? I want you to understand this is not an episode of heaven on Fixer Upper, okay? This is a complete brand new heaven, a complete brand new earth, and a complete brand new Jerusalem.
He's going to make a new one. He's not just going to improve what already exists. He's going to make a new one. Number four, this is a place that will be created for believers. I got to hustle.
You see believers of all nations. Um or all a uh you know of all ages. We'll be there. Is there a universal age in heaven? I don't know.
It's a real question. We don't know. Like, I mean, if... A baby dies, are they an infant in heaven? If a 70-year-old dies, are they 70 years old in heaven?
I don't know. The Bible does not speak to that. I think it's a complete mystery. There are a lot of people who think that there's going to be an age of around 30 years old in heaven, it's going to be what's normal. Um I don't hold to that.
But there are people who believe it. You can read about it online. In fact, Jewish tradition would lean itself that way. And they would base it because I was curious what they based that off of. They based it off of a few things.
I'll give them to you quickly. Is that a numbers for? You couldn't become a priest until the age of 30. Saul became the first king of Israel when he was around 30. David became a king at age 30.
Jesus' public ministry started Luke 3 when he was around 30.
So there's a lot of people who hold to that. I don't hold to that because let's just be honest. That's a real, I mean, if you're 70 in here, hey, buy into that because that's good news for you, okay? But if you're 16 in here, you're like, wow, man, that's terrible.
So I don't hold to that, but it is an interesting thing to think about. Um Last thing, number five, unbelievers will be absent. In the new heaven. and the new earth. Listen, I want you to understand that as happy as this passage makes you and I as believers.
It should motivate us. to share the good news of the gospel with loved ones. And with people we come in contact with, because here's what I want you to understand: is that while one day we will enjoy the pleasures of a future heaven. A brand new heaven, a brand new earth, and a brand new Jerusalem where God will dwell with us forever. Here's what I want you to know: unbelievers will be absent.
Your loved one that doesn't know Jesus will be absent. And so it's a motivation for us to go out and for us to share the good news of the gospel. I want to close. With Showing you just that idea of the Bible all fitting together. And how you have the beginning in Genesis, and you have him bringing it all to a close.
And I want to show you how that all fits together. You can, I'm going to do this rapid fire, it's not going to be up on the screen. You're welcome to take some notes if you want. But listen to this. In Genesis 1, heaven and earth are created.
In Revelation 21, a new heaven and a new earth is created. In Genesis the son. Was created. We haven't got to this point in chapter 21, but what you're going to find is this: that in the new heaven, new earth, There's no need for the sun. Because the glory of Christ is going to shine bright around the world.
In Genesis 1:5, night was established. What we're going to learn in Revelation 22, 5 is that in the new heaven and earth, there's no night ever again. In Genesis, the seas were created. Verse 1 of our chapter tonight: no more seas. In Genesis 3, a curse was announced for all of humanity.
Revelation 22, 3 reminds us that there is no more curse of sin ever again. In Genesis chapter 3, verse 19, death. Enters history. In Revelation 24, 4, it reminds us that death exits. History.
In Genesis 3:24, man was driven from paradise out of the garden that God created. In Revelation 21 and 22, man, well I get this every time, man is restored back to the paradise that God originally created. In Genesis 3, sorrow, verse 17, and pain begin. In Revelation 21, 4, sorrow, tears, and pain cease forever. Genesis 3:1, the devil appears.
And it reminds us in Revelation 20, verse 10, which we've already looked at in our study: the devil will be disappeared forever. Forever in the lake of fire. You see, I think the reason why it ends this way is for us to understand, as the Apostle Paul wrote in his letter to the church at Philippi, chapter 3, verse 20. He talks about where our citizenship really is. And for us as believers, it's easy for us to make our home here.
But I want you to know that you, as a follower of Christ, you're just stationed here for just a short period of time. Your citizenship as a follower of his. actually belongs. to this world. That one day We Yeah.
experience forever. This beautiful city Like a bride. on her wedding day. God has prepared it for us, a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, for us to dwell with God forever, and for him to tabernacle around us forever. and forever.
He will be our God. And we will be his sons. And daughters for Yeah.
