Revelation 21:1-4
Use this guide to help your group discussion as you meet this week.
Transcript
Here so we are back in the Book of Revelation yes you should be excited so this is we've labeled it part three you're not going to open up your Bibles to Revelation 21 and see part three it's just how we've broken this up uh but let me just recap a little bit uh of where we've been and kind of how we've looked at this final book of the Bible uh we have said that this book is an apocalyptic book and a letter written to A persecuted people telling them to endure.
Because Jesus is coming that it is a different genre of the Scriptures it's apocalyptic so there are there's heavy imagery and pictures and they're not always one to one with what they're pointing to but they actually are pointing to a true reality that is going to come much of what we have seen thus far has been pictures of the Judgment that's going to come upon the Earth but that's about to change as we move into part three it is a letter we saw that in chapter 2 and three as we saw this is written to seven churches.
So the context for what we are we've been waiting through and trying to understand is in light of who it was written to seven different churches who were persecuted heavily persecuted you can see that in the letters that uh that were written to them from Jesus to these churches but you also we know this historically it was a very persecuted uh time for the Church and the main encouragement of this book from the beginning to the end of it is to endure to endure.
Because Jesus is coming to to make it to the end I was I saw a screenshot of a of a quote from a Pastor Dan ortland he said that so much of the Christian life is just hanging on and he said that doesn't mean that we're not called to flourish as Christians all of that's true but the reality is as you see in the Scriptures some of of the encouragement is just keep going just keep enduring just hang on and that's the encouragement to a group of churches that are suffering immensely.
For the cause of Christ to endure because one day Jesus is going to come and he is going to judge and right every wrong but he is also going to give you your reward for conquering and y'all we have arrived at part three which is that it is the reward so we're going to slow down and these final two chapters and look at the reward this is this is this is some of the really really good stuff like when we share the Gospel one of the ways that we teach sharing the Gospel is creation fall Redemption restoration.
So God created this world to be in relationship with us and it was good but Adam and Eve sinned and brought sin into the world that was the fall and we live under the weight of the fall and sin that affects us but there's a proclamation from Genesis 3 all the way through the Old Testament that one day someone would come and bring Redemption and that was found in the person of Christ who became flesh and dwelt Among Us and live the life we could not live and die the death we deserve the die on the cross and Rose to conquer death and the resurrection he offers Redemption to those who trust in him.
His finished work but the last part of the Gospel is restoration it is the restoration of how this was supposed to be all along and that is Revelation 21- 22 so we're going to slow down we're four verses today and we're going to look at these pictures uh specifically to see how beautiful it is and what is coming for God's people and my hope is that we'd see and Savor them and my hope is that would is that for us as Christians that we would live our lives in light of these two chapters that these two chapters would be some of the most primary and important chapters of the Bible of any literature that's ever.
Been written because they would guide Us in how we are supposed to live in light of Eternity so I'm going to pray for us and then we'll walk through these four verses together heavenly father I pray that you might help us see with open eyes what you have in store for us God I pray that we would not be a people that just stare at this and walk away but we would stare intently at it we'd be not just hearers of the word.
But doers of the word we would live our lives in light of of Eternity and if there is anyone here that has not put their full hope in you my hope is that you would soften their heart towards faith and you so they can experience the glory that awaits those who are in Christ we ask this in Jesus name amen all right we're going to be in verse one first then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth for the.
First Heaven the first Earth had passed away and the sea was no more so again this is the shift in Revelation John who's been seeing all of this this has been the revealing to him the Revelation to him of how it's all going to end he's been seeing these pictures of judgment but now he's going to see the reward for it awaits the people of God and what he sees first is a new Heaven and a new Earth for the old Earth and Heaven have passed away way.
Now when you study these passages uh these verses deeply what happens is that theologians get really BG down this verse right here and and there's a huge debate over uh how much of the old Earth and new and old uh Heavens are carry into this new heavens and new earth and on one side you've got a side that argues very intensely that no like God brings judgment upon the Earth he burns up the world in judgment this is all this is all.
So new almost like out of nothing new and the other side says no that there's there's there's continuity there's there's some of the some of what was good in this world is brought into the new Heavens the new Earth and they fight back and forth and I honestly don't find the debate and the the focus that they have on this verse all that helpful for us I think the reason they do that is they want to see how you should treat the earth.
Now and it affects how you view the world and the environment all that stuff and I just I don't even think you need that I think you can go to Genesis 1 and see as as image bearers were called to have dominion and take care of this world but man if you get lost in that debate you have missed the point of what's actually beautiful and happening in this passage because when he says then I saw a new Heaven and a new Earth.
For the first Heaven the first Earth had passed away what's wonderful about that is the celebration that everything that is painful and broken about this present world is gone and that's like you I don't put this that right there just sit and celebrate that I mean that that's what so many passages in the Bible looking forward to like in Romans 8 when when Paul he he talks about this the waiting for this he says that creation Waits with eager longing for this that creation Humanity the very rocks everything is longing.
For us he says the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption they'll be set free from the pain and the stain of sin in this world he says that the whole creation has been groaning together groaning together in the Pains of child birth until now that the very animals the very creation everything that God has made is is longing and groaning waiting for something beautiful and new and he says we also Gran imly as we await the Redemption of our bodies that there's this Collective longing and groaning.
For the pain of this life to be over this current creation is in bondage to Decay and it's groaning because the presence of death and sin still exists now certainly certainly there are parts of this life that are good and beautiful I'm not denying that at all go there there is so much of God's goodness and his Beauty that's all over creation and it's wonderful I mean I love babies and I love sunsets they're wonderful then all of a sudden somebody takes a van and Rams it through a crowd on New Year's Eve and it's just like M never ends some version of that happens over and over and over again this creation is groaning.
There are hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis the very everything is in chaos and longing for this to come to an end so the bigger point is that all of this is passing away and he sees a new Heaven and a new Earth and all the pain of this present life is passing away now what happens over the next two chapters is some both picturing of what awaits the people of God the reward for those who conquer that we saw so uh much in Chapter 2 and 3.
But also what is passing away and we're going to see glimpses of what's being left behind in the old Earth and the first thing that we see is the sea was no more the first thing that that that is referen is the sea was no more now may seem like what what's what's the point of that why is the sea so bad is is the new Heavens new Earth there all going to be land I mean it certainly looks like that's the case.
But that's not the main point of what he's getting at and commentators are are en largely in agreement about this the point of the sea passing away isn't to picture just dry land the sea represents chaos the sea is a chaotic force and you would know this if if you ever spend time on the open ocean it is chaotic like when I was in college I got to study abroad and I was on a travel I was in a study abroad program that was on a ship and we traveled the world and we left uh the port of Casablanca Morocco to go down the coast of Africa and they prepared us said we're going to.
Hit this really rough patch of sea and so we got excited and we went up to like a classroom and uh and the ship was turning so violently back and forth we watched all the the desks in the classroom pile up in a big ball and just crash into the wall back and forth back and forth and we're 19 and just we're running with it having fun cuz you're 19 and you're dumb but I hear people in the other classroom they chose poorly I could hear them screaming.
Because those desks were hitting them we chose wisely but just the whole this giant ship was just nothing in the chaos just back and forth back and forth the sea is a chaotic force in the picture here is there is no more chaos there is no more disorder there's peace and that means the Hurricanes that literally hit our country and other parts of the world that's also the hurricanes in our life the chaos in our life but when you remove all the chaos what you get is Everlasting peace and that's the new heavens and the new new Earth are it is a picture of everlasting peace I mean AR aren't you tired of the chaos.
Of this life I know I am I mean you work so hard to bring order to chaos and something always happens maybe you work really hard to get your house in order for the new year cleaned it and immediately some minions destroyed it just it's it's insane how quickly in five minutes they can just wreck a place I mean you work so hard at at your job to make everything in order the way it's supposed to be and then one thing fails and it's all out of whack all of your work up in flam it seems some vers that happens over and over again you work.
So hard to get ahead to pay bills to get out of debt and then you get hit with another major medical event and you're left with more debt some version of this happens over and over again you your marriage or your friendships they lack the peace that you so desire and you put effort you put work in and they still are just chaos and disorder and all the striving and all the Toil and all the work that you put into it you're more anxious you're more tired you're more defeated you're more saddened.
Because life is hard sometimes it just is but there is a day coming where the sea is no more and there is no more chaos and there's only wonderful peace an endless era of Peace what a wonderful eternity to live live in to be at peace every single day for 10,000 years beyond the second picture we get pick up in verse two it says and I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned.
For her husband now we're going to spend a lot of time on picturing this New Jerusalem and the verses that are coming ahead and we're going to see what this is like in the weeks to come but what I make very clear here is the final state of reality is not going to heaven it's Heaven coming to Earth and that's something that I think that we don't uh understand like we're supposed to in Western Christianity so much of the emphasis is going to heaven that that that's that's how we think about this this that the endgame is going to heaven and that's not what we.
See here no it's Heaven coming to Earth last month my wife's grandfather passed away and at the visitation I Was preparing my oldest two children uh I thought they were ready for this and if they wanted to I was like you can view his body and I had done a lot of work to prepare them for this and somebody who was very well-meaning came alongside and just said said well you just need to understand that's his shell what he has now is a newly resurrected body with.
Jesus in heaven and I was just like I've got work to undo this now because this that's not the final picture very clear here that that the picture that we see in the end let me just actually take a step back what happens when we die is that our body dies and our souls our immaterial self departs the body and if you are in Christ and you've put your hope in him you go to be with Jesus in heaven that is true I I mean that's why.
Jesus looks at the thief on the cross and he says today you'll be with me in Paradise our immaterial self our soul goes to be with Christ but that's not the end we saw this in the Book of Revelation the souls the martyrs that there's this longing for restoration to happen longing for it to come to an end Chad referenced in chapter 21 as we finishing up Revelation in part two back in November was the resurrection that the hope of Christians is our Resurrection bodies.
And when the resurrection happens we'll finally come to live here in the new heavens and the new Earth this is where it ends and that is wonderful news and what we get in verse two is that I saw this holy city New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband that the imagery we get here is of a marriage very similar to if you remember back in Revelation 19 Jesus in the Church and the wedding that happens with.
God and his people but there's a wedding of Heaven and Earth that happens here and it's this beautiful endless celebration of the joy that happens when finally this is how supposed to be yet again that Eden is restored in this beautiful Eternal State a perfect City that comes to be here on Earth and the imagery we have is lovely this is why the theologians call this the kingdom consummated this is what everything is going for when finally the kingdom comes to its final State.
When Jesus came he initiated the coming of the kingdom and when he ascended on high we live in between what theologians call the already and not yet that When Jesus ascended on high the kingdom is going it is an advancing and it is wonderful but it is going somewhere and it is to this picture right here when the New Jerusalem comes to Earth what a wonderful day will be what how how wonderful is it going to be to live under the perfect reign of Christ it just just how wonderful is it going to be to live under a perfect good loving righteous King you have never done that we have never done that no not.
Not even close the best version of a ruler that you could think in this earth pales in comparison to the Glorious Eternal reign of Christ that God's people will live under then we get this next imagery in verse three and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying Behold The Dwelling Place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God over the Christmas break I got a couple of days where I could get away to hunt and just took two days separate days and just took 24 hours to go hunt in different parts of the state.
And when I got back my kids were ecstatic they were so I mean I walked through the door and it is Daddy they're so happy because they see me as I really am the coolest guy in the world they just I see what no one else can see and it's just from their perspective it's right the the the comments they make is just like it's just not good when you're not here and it's just everything from their perspective is the way that it's supposed to be.
When we're all together and that is but a tiny glimps of what it is going to be like when we dwell with God when we live with him how it was supposed to be what a wonderful eternity that awaits when we dwell with God in the city of God we're going to spend even more time on this in Revelation 22 because some of this imagery comes back in a different way but I don't want us to miss how great it is to dwell with.
God and how all of the Scriptures is longing for this because in Genesis 3 When sin enters into the world what you see throughout the rest of the Bible is that Humanity cannot dwell in the presence of the Triune God father son Holy Spirit we cannot dwell in the presence of God we saw that in the book of Exodus a few years ago when we walked through Exodus we saw the construction of the Tabernacle which later became the temple and the construction of the Tabernacle and the temple was the the innermost room was called the holy of holies where God's presence ruled and reigned from.
But there was great separation between that room and the people a great curtain had to be built and constructed so that we couldn't be in the presence of a holy and perfect God in fact only one day of the year the day of atonement D kapor could uh one priest who done all the rituals right enter into to do the rituals in there get in get out and it was a fearful experience because Sinners cannot dwell in our sinful state in the presence of a holy and perfect.
God we cannot stand but we will stand one day we will eternally stand and dwell in the presence of God because sin will be no more because we will have glorified IED resurrected bodies in a city where there is no sin and we will dwell in the presence of God we should long for that we should long for that perfect wonderful relationship I want you to think about some of the best friendships you've ever had I mean really good ones maybe you had a friend that y I mean you're.
So close maybe you moved away or they moved away I got a friend uh for my time in Louisville I'm actually going to see him in a week I got to go up for one final class for my coursework and I'm going to spend time with him and his family and we'll do we we don't to see each other hardly anymore but we'll pick up right where we left off just like we always do and we'll talk for hours him and his wife and his beautiful children we'll just have the I mean just it's a wonderful friendship and we're probably never going to live in the same city again.
But man it's just so good when we get to reconnect and those are the type of friendships that are so sweet and so valuable the friendships you've had with other Christians the deep love and admiration for one another and even the best possible friendship you could cultivate in this life those types of friendships they don't hold a candle to the fellowship that awaits Us in the city of God they don't hold a candle to the fellowship that we have with our.
God when we dwell with him when we live with him they don't hold a flame to the the fellowship we have with the Saints collected in the city of God and you need to believe that because so much of our hope is in relationships now so much of our hope is in relationships in the here and the now that there are some of you that are so deeply longing for romantic love and you and you want a spouse and you you're not even not even the cultural Narrative of of the one and all the things that that we shy away from.
But no just a genuine desire to have a spouse and there's this longing for that that some of you are married and your marriage is not what what you want it to be your spouse isn't the person that you want them to be and you're longing for a better spouse a better version of them some of you have children who have grown up and they've gotten older and they don't call like they used to and they don't talk to you like they used to you.
Remember the days when you could come home from a hunting trip and they were just so excited to see you and that doesn't happen anymore and it hurts don't they know all the time and the effort and the sacrifice and the years that you've given up for them and you're longing for that so if you're longing friendships are difficult and you're longing for friendships that are deep and Rich and this life is just filled with so many friendships that just don't seem to work like you want them to there's something in US these deeper desires.
For relationship and I'm here to tell you that will never be satisfied here they'll never be satisfied in this present life and they weren't meant to because all of our deepest longings for relationship all of our deepest longings for intimacy all of our deepest longings will be satisfied there you were made for another life and another world you were not made for this one so they will never be satisfied here but they will be when you dwell with God now we don't get what the dwelling is going to.
Look like spelled out for us we get some beautiful pictures here I think that looking at the text when it says Behold The Dwelling Place of God is with man he will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God I think we look at that and we can dream a little bit based on that and we should should dream and think about what will it be like to to to walk with.
Jesus by the river that we're going to see in a few verses just a walk with him the omnipresent God who has time for you to walk with him and to converse with our savior to spend time with our God to have perfect friendships and relationships with Brothers and Sisters in Christ there's no self-interest none of the things no relational weirdness at all just together joyfully with God worshiping and delighting him have you ever been in a room where you you didn't really belong like you just you felt honored to be there it's happened a few times in my life I just I just got to be somewhere be in the presence of something wonderful.
And I just was like I don't I don't I don't belong here this is awesome I'm glad that I'm here and I think some version of that goes on for eternity where you just this is so great like I don't belong here I don't deserve this I don't deserve to be with God I don't deserve to be in this beautiful city I don't deserve to be in this place and that feeling is never going to get old what an honor it will be to be in the presence of.
God to dwell in the perfect embodiment of love and the fullest version of joy that is found in the person of God for eternity what a wonderful glorious perfect God to dwell with and then the fourth the final picture we'll get is in verse four says he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and Death Shall be no more neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away my kids are getting bigger.
But they're still small enough that when they cry about something that I I would say is worth crying about every now and then they cry about thing I'm like you this stop just dry your own tears up you should not be crying about this but the things that they should be crying about I get to scoop them up hold them in my arms and I can take my thumb and wipe away the tear from their eyes and dry their tears and what a what a wonderful picture of a.
God whose Mighty and gentle hand will take his thumb and he will dry the tear from your eye and that tear will never never return I mean let that imagery saturate your soul what a wonderful picture that we have there is a day that is coming where pain and death and suffering and all the parts of this life that make creation grown they will be former things that everything that's painful about this life will be former things that everything sad will come untrue there will be no more funerals there will be no more deathbeds where you say goodbye to the ones that you love I was talking to miss Louise about this a.
While back Miss Louise is one of our admin assistants she's 86 and she's at the stage of life where people that she's known for 50 60 70 plus years friendships for decades throughout the year people that she's known and love for so long are dying and I asked her I just said I does that ever get easier because it's happening more she said no no I've known these people for decades it's hard every single time the reality is is that if you live the good long life that everyone wants to live you live into your 90s you will experience more death and loss than most I mean that that you can ask that some of.
Our older Saints in our Church our older brothers and sisters in Christ that many of the retire much of their retirement is spent in hospitals and in funerals and the golden years are not as golden as our culture makes them out to be but there is a day coming where the death of death will be final there is a day coming where there won't be any more morning there won't be any more sadness there won't be any more funerals doesn't that sound.
So good that sounds so incredible that you'll never get a phone call that crushes you and crumples you to your to a seed I don't that's there's a day coming where you won't be at the hospital bed when somebody passes last month when my wife's grandfather passed away a man that we love so deeply and fiercely and loved our family so deeply and fiercely I ended up volunteering to stay the night that he actually passed and to look up and see after all of his suffering that he was.
Finally gone and to wake up his sweet beautiful bride of 62 years someone so dear to us we named our son after her and tell her that he's gone there's a day coming where that never happens again there's a day coming where you you don't Embrace someone and bitterly cry each other's arms all of that will be former and will pass away all of it will be gone that is a wonderful day to look forward to and more death no more loss no more pain you.
See what he says there says pain nor pain anymore no more pain talked about this in the past that for the last seven years I've had daily chronic back pain and the last couple of years I finally was able to figure out after all the doctors I've gone to and figure out what it is and it's actually two problems which is awesome and like the first problem is is there's a set of nerves in your lower back called the clonial nerves and uh and mine are just like they're just always angry sometimes like a lowlevel anger somewhat noticeable and sometimes like an angry teenager they just rage and I I went and the reason we.
Found this out is I got a a I got a a temporary nerve block and then came back to the office and I was I was lit I was so jacked like I was with Chad and I was just like man look at this a pile of books pick up with bad form nothing it's amazing he's like you're really doing it man I said I am doing it and just doing all the things that would make my back just fire just was great.
For like hours and then the followup was like now you're going to we'll go in and do a nerve burn we'll burn it all away and it didn't work and she's like well I'm going to do it again but like it's that won't work we can put like this little thing on your spinal cord it's like it's like a you know that'll like shoot that I I got young kids I ain't think I ain't about to be the guinea PID for that I'll wait.
And then the second thing was I've got like I've got a kidney condition that always produces sediment and sand and stones and didn't realize that was going her 30 it was just like all the things started hitting and then talking to my dad I was like no that's a thing that you're probably going to have for the rest of your life I was like sweet thanks Dad and the reality is is that that's some that those are going going to continue until the day that I die and thankfully there's medicine that can limit some of the pain that is involved.
But pain is an everpresent reality and some of you I know personally I've walked with you talked with you you're enduring so much worse you're enduring chronic pain that is so much more painful and every day it is hard to exist every day is hard to move forward the disease and the disorder that you face is so deeply painful so some of you are dealing with mental health pain that's so everpresent and it's so deeply painful the reality is is that all of us to some degree or another are going to endure pain.
And if you haven't you will it's like I'm 25 I'm doing great yeah but when you're 35 you won't be and when you're 75 you definitely won't be the life is filled with pain but there's a day coming where all of that pain is a distant memory the pain that you feel so deeply present in your body that is withering away day by day all of it will be gone and I know it feels long and it does but Paul who experienced more pain than we probably ever will with the sufferings that he did.
For the cause of Christ in 1 Corinthians 4 he talks about that pain he says it is light and momentary in comparison to the weight of Glory beyond all comparison that even though that we pain that you might feel right now that feels so present when you experience the weight of Glory dwelling with God with no more pain no more sadness no more suffering No More Tears it is light and momentary by comparison everything that is painful about this present life will not make its way into the new Heavens the new Earth.
For the former things have passed away and they will not exist there now we'll pick up in verse five next week with more of this wonderful imagery about what is Left Behind and what we eternally cling to but I don't want to miss something to kind of set up the context of how we should view these passages because when you look look at how John describes all of this what's revealed to him when you hear from the Throne of voice crying out saying these things you know what you don't catch a hint of you know what there's not a shred of about the old earth that is passing away Nostalgia not there's not one part.
Of any of we're about to read that looks back at the old Earth that looks back at what we're living in right now and says oh man weren't those days good not a shred of it you know why because this life truly isn't good not eternally good not the kind of good where all this is going so they're not looking back at any of the old Earth with Nostalgia at all because everything that is sad and broken that Mars some of the good and Beauty that's in this world will be gone and we need to receive that.
Because so many of us have a have a taste of nostalgia and enjoy this life in a way that puts Our Hope here and so many of us are putting our hope in this life in this body in this reality right here right now and the Scriptures are lifting your eyes to the final chapters of the Bible to say you need to be here you need your gaze here because that is where ultimate goodness is found that is where ultimate Joy is found that is where Pure Love is found that is where Holiness is found that is where truth and glory and everything that you could possibly want that you are.
So deeply striving for in this life now that is where you will be satisfied we have Mis placed hope because we don't believe these pictures and live our lives in light of everything we're going to read over the next few weeks and my hope for us as Christians is that we would see these pictures and be so utterly convinced of how wonderful they are we would live with our Compass set to the New Jerusalem that that would be our North Star we would live our lives in light of Eternity.
But if we're going to do that you have to believe this you have to put your hope and this God who is bringing all of this to this conclusion and as you do this you begin to see some of the things that we put hope in this life in now and we do what we're always called to do we turn from them we stop putting our hope in lesser things we put our hope in The God Who has unimaginable Pleasures for us in the eternity that is to come and my hope is over the next few weeks those of us that haven't fully bought into that we would and it would change every single day.
Until we in Christ make it here the band's going to come up and we're going to take communion and communion for Christians is an opportunity to do just that that Jesus on the night that he was betrayed he took bread and he broke it he said this is my body that was broken for you he took the cup of the New Covenant he said this is my blood that was shed for you that as often as you eat and drink this you Proclaim my death until I return that the the Lord's Supper is both looking back at the cross of what.
Jesus did for us but also looking forward to this so for Christians it's an opportunity for us to take an accounting of our soul to realize where have we misplaced hope and to see these pictures as so compelling to say Lord I want that help me live towards that help me run towards that help me leave all of this behind with all of my hope there but if you're not a Christian if you're do not place your faith in Jesus please do not take part in the Lord's supper please place your faith in Christ there is unimaginable Glory waiting.
For you Pleasures waiting for you Joy waiting for you in the next life aren't you tired of chasing after that here and being disappointed at every single turn that will never end and it will only end in Eternal disappointment My Hope Is that you would stick around with the the next few weeks you'd see how good this eternity is that Jesus secures for us through his blood and that you place your faith in him let's pray heavenly father I pray that you might help us be.
So compelled and overwhelmed by these pictures that we'll see for the next few weeks that it would change how we live now that we be a people that are not easy fooled and satisfied with lesser things here but we'd hold on we'd endure we would make it to the end because the end is better and Lord if there's anyone here who has not put their full hope and their full faith in you Christ may you soften their heart and open their eyes to the realities that await them.
If they would simply trust you in Jesus name amen.