RUF @ KSU Large Group 4/23/26

Revelation 21

Transcript

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You're listening to R UF at KSU Podcast. Alright, if you have a Bible, you can go ahead and turn to the book of Revelation. Revelation chapter 21. And the words will also be on the screen behind us where you can listen well, as I'll read it here in a moment. Hey, if this is your first time at large group, we're so glad you're here. This is the time in our service where we open up the Bible, we read a passage, and we seek to understand it. Because we here at RUF believe that there is a God, that he does speak, and he speaks most clearly through his word. So each week we seek to learn a little bit more about God, who he is, what he wants for his people, what his plan is for the world when we study it together. This semester we're doing a series through the book of Revelation, which is the last book in the Bible. And we've been looking at it with this theme question of how do I keep going? Now maybe you've asked that question before. How do I keep going? Like, how do I keep going when my living situation for next year is still up in the air and I'm worried I'm going to be homeless? Or maybe you've asked the question, how do I keep going when that internship I applied for this summer just rejected me? Or how do I keep going when I've emailed my professor asking if there's anything I can do to bring up my grade so that I can pass? And they say, I'm sorry, there's no extra credit. How do I keep going? Maybe you've asked that question. Well, if you have, you're in good company. Because guess what? We asked that question too. And so we're going to come to God's word. We're going to wrestle with that together and to see what he has to say. So let's read now Revelation chapter 21. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. 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. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. And he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. On the three east gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates, and the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies four square, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. And he also measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh crystallite, the eighth barrel, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysopraise, and the eleventh jasinth, and twelfth Amthist. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor any one who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. This is the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. Maybe you've had a moment where you've tried to imagine like what's eternity gonna be like? What's heaven gonna be like? Is it gonna be maybe like some of those cheesy paintings you've seen where it's like, I don't know, we're all just kind of like chubby babies, like floating around in the clouds, playing harps or something like that. Sometimes people talk about like heaven's gonna be one long church service. Maybe it's like an awesome worship night experience over and over again. Certainly we see worship going on in the book of Revelation in heaven. Certainly part of it, but is that all it is? Well, look, Revelation 21 and 22 give us some perspective on answers to these questions. Uh, mainly that if your concern is what is heaven like, uh actually, heaven is really just like a stopping place, a temporary place on the way to the new heavens and the new earth. That God's plan is not that we stay in heaven forever, but actually that he remakes all of this. All of this, creation itself, heaven and earth, that it would all be made new and right and good and perfect once again. That actually heaven is just a temporary stop on the way to our final destination, which we're seeing in this passage tonight. And so what we're we're seeing here in Revelation 21 is a little glimpse of the future. Remember, John, who's writing the book of Revelation, uh, he's been put in exile. The churches are under great persecution from the Roman Empire, and so God is giving him this vision of what is to come to encourage the churches in their struggles in the here and now, to encourage Christians back then and today in their struggles in the here and now. And we've gotten to the end here where like all sin and Satan and all that has been dealt with. And so now it's just all like the awesome stuff we hope for. We're getting a glimpse of where we are going if we have put our faith in Jesus. But if we can kind of take a step back, when we think about the future, maybe we can feel a little a little guilty. Like, I don't know, is it appropriate to think about the future when so much bad is happening now? Uh sometimes people have complained about Christians like they're too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly good. Is it appropriate for us to think about the new heavens and the new earth? Or should we only be focused on the immediate, the problems of today? You know, don't worry about all that, that'll just happen regardless. Well, look, I think the reality is it's impossible not to think about the future. Like, you're thinking about the future all the time. You're probably thinking about the future of like when I stop talking, like when I'm gonna get another slice of pizza, or what I'm gonna do tonight after large group. Um, let alone the future of your life, the career you hope to have, the person you hope to fall in love with, the places you hope to live. We think about the future as naturally as we breathe. And everyone either realizes that there is something more to come or at least hopes there is something more to come. It's a pretty cold-hearted person who thinks this is the end of it completely, there's nothing after it. Yes, there are people who say they believe that, but they don't actually live their lives that way. That the future is important to us all. We live out in the present what we think the future will be. That our picture of the future automatically shapes the way we live in the here and now. The decisions we make are shaped by our sense of the future. Good example of this. This past weekend we did our 20th anniversary reunion for RUF at KSU. Woo-hoo, hootie-hoo, give it up. Uh it was awesome. Y'all got to catch up with lots of alumni uh who had been involved in RUF over the years. One of the sweetest uh comments someone made was it's awesome to see the friendships I invested in then in college that I hoped I would still have are still friendships. That like the people I spent time with in college and went to large groups with, and you know, uh, I think they said back in the day they played frisbee a lot, you know, like played frisbee, you know, like that those people I still talk to on the phone and still pray with and can still get together with. That the hope of that of the future affected their now. And the same is true of all of us. So let me ask you the question: what is your picture of the future today? What is your imagined future? Lots of times people will talk about young people today having a lot of future fear. Um, that like the future is not getting better, uh, that the world seems to be getting worse, you know, that the economy is not as good, you know, that it can't find a job, stuff like that. Um, there are a lot of bleak things going on in the world. We want to own that. We're not trying to shy away from that. But hey, if you're here today and you're not sure about what you believe or if this whole Christianity thing is true, hey, I want you to know, as a Christian, we believe the Bible teaches that while there is a lot of brokenness and sin and death now, that it's not gonna be that way forever. That there is a future that is good where the world is made whole, where we are made whole. That is the resurrection hope of Jesus. And so that's really what we're seeing play out in this passage today. It's not a fairy tale. We're not just manifesting this. No, we believe it to be true because God has said it's true. Alright, so thinking about the new heavens and the new earth. There's a lot in this passage. You're like, man, he couldn't even pronounce half of those crystals, you know, like what's going on there? Uh so we're gonna try to look at it just with two simple things. What isn't there in the new heavens and the new earth, and what is there in the new heavens and the new earth? So let's look first at what isn't there. At the very beginning, verse one, he says, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. So maybe it sounds really obvious, but the first heaven and first earth is not there anymore. Like, what does that mean? Well, like, all the broken things that result from the curse of sin that make life miserable now will not be there. That God has completely remade and renewed his creation. And that comment about the sea, uh, I remember reading that with someone, and they're like, so is there like no ocean, no beach in heaven? Like, that stinks. I love going to the beach. Uh, it's not so much there's no water, it's more that the sea represents like chaos uh in the Old Testament. So the idea is like all kind of the natural forces of this world that cause chaos and destruction that are completely unmanageable, that they are no more. There's no more fear of hurricanes or earthquakes or tsunamis, there's no more cancer or school shootings. That all of these are done away with because the old heavens and the old earth have been done away with, and now it's all been made new. And that's good news, is it not? So lots of times people are like, well, what will it look like? Well, honestly, the best answer we can give is it looks a lot like this, but without sin. What are the new heavens and the new earth gonna look like? It's gonna look like the current earth and the current heaven, but without sin completely. Which is hard for us to even fathom because sin is so built in, death is so built into our existence now. But the thing I want you to take away is the things you fear now will not be forever. Whether it's just like really distant fears of like economic crash and my ability to get a job in the engineering world or something like that, or very like close present fears of where am I gonna live next week? You know, or is this person gonna harm me? None of those things will continue in the new heavens and the new earth. Alright, what else isn't there? Well, he goes on to say, uh, tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain will be no more. Uh and I love that it's like God Himself saying this from the throne. So it's not just like, I don't know, I heard there might not be any tears or pain anymore. But no, God himself says, I will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And I love that God is actually saying, like, it's not that your like tears and your sadness will just like, it's not like uh men in black where they like wipe your brain and you're like, oh, I don't even remember that happening. Actually, there's like a dignity there where God's saying, Hey, I recognize you've gone through some hard stuff. And God is saying, like, I've seen those tears. I've seen those nights that you've been alone in your bed, crying yourself to sleep. And he's saying, like, there's real pain there. But also, in the new heavens, the new earth, those tears will be wiped away. That your good heavenly Father is gonna wrap you in his arms and embrace and say, Don't worry, that's never gonna happen to you ever again. Because all things have been made new in God's redeeming power. Yeah, I mean, think about like just even the pain aspect, right? There will be no more pain. Uh, all the things that like steal your sense of joy from life will be gone. Anyone like have chronic pain? You don't have to raise your hand, but you know, like there are people in this room, you have uh maybe chronic health issues that cause you pain all the time. Look, cards on the table, maybe some of you I've told this to you, like I have a nasal condition uh condition, uh, and it causes like constant sinus problems, uh, and often that will then cause like migraines and headaches. So, like, springtime is the worst for me because allergies just make it even worse. So there's not really a day where I don't wake up and feel like I have a migraine. And it's pretty amazing to think that one day in the new heavens, the new earth, I'm not gonna struggle with that. There will be no more pain. My nose will function in the way it should. And the natural budding of plants is not gonna be like torture for me, but purely just a beautiful thing like it should. I don't know what particular pains you're going through, but I want you to know that if your faith is in Jesus, that's the same hope for you as well. What else won't be there? Well, he goes on in verse 8 to talk about, he kind of lists all these like uh ungodly, unholy things, right? And really his point there is in the new heavens and the new earth, like that kind of behavior won't be there anymore. Sin has been dealt with. Now there's only holiness and godliness. We don't have to be worried about people being uh cowardly or unfaithful or physically harming one another or abusing each other or pursuing other gods or lying or cheating or any of these. It's all been dealt with, and now we live out our holiness perfectly without fear of stumbling or temptation. And you gotta imagine, like, in John's day in the first century AD, when they're really suffering under persecution for the Roman Empire, there was a lot of pressure for them to give in and to essentially publicly reject Jesus and like declare the emperor to be a god. So Jesus saying, uh God saying here from the throne, hey, in the new heavens and the new earth, there will no longer be any cowardice or faithlessness or idolatry. That would have been a blessing for them to hear. They're like, hey, we're we're suffering under that now, but it won't always be that way. That the temptations to turn to those things will be dealt with and gone. Alright, one other thing I want you to see here is he says that there's no temple in the new heavens of the new earth, in the new Jerusalem. Now, maybe that detail doesn't sound very important to you, but actually that's a huge deal in the story of the whole Bible. Because throughout the Old Testament, right, like God had given the temple to his people as this place where he met with his people. But the temple was kind of this intermediary between God and man. Because of our sin, we couldn't go fully into the presence of God. So God gave us this temple with the sacrificial system to represent the separation that humanity had with God. But now it's saying, look, there's actually no need for that kind of temple anymore. There's no need for that kind of intermediary. That would have been shocking to someone like John writing this in the first century, because in the ancient times every city had some kind of temple, whether it was to the God of the Bible or other gods, you know, like temples were very common in ancient cities. And so to hear there's no temple at all because God is just there is an amazing statement. But it kind of goes even deeper. This is like the elite, you know, ball knowledge that uh y'all just track with me, it's gonna sound a little teachy. But like, he's not actually saying there's there is no like temple because actually the entire city of New Jerusalem is like a temple structure in the way he describes it. Like when we got to the part of the chapter where it's like, and then an angel was measuring the wall, and you were like, Why did I come to large group? Uh this is weird. Uh, all those particular details are actually pointing to something more important, which is not the exact measurements of the city, but once again, that the numbers are figurative, like they have been throughout Revelation, to point to this perfect structure, this massive structure that actually looks like the Old Testament temple, but is bigger and more massive and overwhelming in every way. All the mention of like the jewels and the gold and stuff, this is temple imagery from the Old Testament. It's saying there isn't a need for like one building to be a temple because all of God's creation is now one giant, amazing temple where God Himself is. That there's no place you will go in the new heavens, the new earth, where God's presence will not be. That you can't escape him in any way, and you can't, you know, hide from him or run away from him, and that's a good thing. Like the whole message of the Bible is how do we get back into relationship with God? And we don't need priests to go between us. We don't have to make sacrifices anymore because the Lamb of God has already made the sacrifice we need. What else is not there, real quick? It says, look, there won't be a need for the light of the sun or the moon. It's not necessarily saying that there's no more sun and moon, but that there's not a need for its light anymore because the light of God is so present that we aren't dependent on the shifting planets for light. It says there are no closed gates at the city, because the city is not a secret, it's not in danger, they don't have to worry about bandits or raiders or things like that. I mean, just think about the implication of that. In the new heavens and new earth, there will be no more borders between nations. No more closed borders, no more war zones, no more trench lines, no more barbed wire or fences, none of that. That God's people will have fully realized their mission to reach and gather the nations into the kingdom of God. That thousands and thousands of years ago, God called Abraham and Sarah, and he said, I want you to be a blessing to the nations. And here in the new heavens, the new earth, all the nations are now welcomed and united under the kingship of God. And it's not a whitewashing of their unique identity. No, we saw earlier in Revelation. Like John can tell there are people from different nations and tribes and languages, but they're all united in Christ. I think that's really good news to us right now, in a time where our world seems to be at war constantly, and where our politics certainly can't get along in any way. That one day all that war and death and dysfunction and disunity will give way to the unity that God can bring. And finally, it says actually in chapter 22 that there will no longer be any curse anymore. So think all the way back at the beginning in Genesis. When because of Adam and Eve's disobedience, curse affected everything, the curse of sin. It affected the soil itself, birthing children, relationships between men and women, all of it. All of that will be done away with. No more curse. That in the new city, the new Jerusalem, the blessings have so overrun reality that there is no trace of the curse, that creation has been set free from its slavery to futility and frustration. Don't you long for that? Doesn't that speak to your soul of like, God, come back, come back quickly. We want that now. We want that today. How do we get there? How do we get to this new Jerusalem, this new and better garden of Eden, this garden city that God has promised us in the future? Well, we see that the first man, Adam, right, he came to the tree of life and he rejected God and he brought death and the curse to all creation. But Christ, the last Adam, he came to a dead tree in Jerusalem, and by being murdered, unmurders all those who would come to him by faith. That if you put your faith in Christ, that the way is open to God, and that this promise is for you. This hope is for you. And if you're here tonight and you're feeling quite hopeless at the state of the world, I would encourage you to consider the truth claims of this passage seriously. That can Jesus turn the tree of the knowledge of good and evil into the tree of life? Or to put it in the terms of our own, like, can God redeem your life from your sins and your brokenness and your own death that you can't escape? The answer is yes. John chapter 20, verse 31, John says it perfectly himself. These things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name. That's the message of all of Scripture. Alright, so if that's what's not there, and how do we get there? Then let's think about what is there in the new heavens and the new earth, real quick. Well, maybe it's the most obvious statement of the century here, but God Himself is there. We've talked a bit about this, but look, the whole Bible is about the separation between God and man because of our sin. And God over and over again says, My desire is to be with my people. God desires his creation enough that he would redeem and restore all the world. Like, God didn't have to do that. He could have been like, look, my people reject me. Okay, well, I reject them. You know, like tough. And he's like, no, this is my creation. I love it, and I want to redeem it. God's desire is to be with his people. This is our eternal destination in Christ, to be with God and God to be with us in the new heavens of the new earth. That the word it actually used there, like he will dwell with them, is the word to tabernacle, you know, which is an old testament rich phrase there. It's in like God is coming to you, and he's setting up a tent in your heart. Like he is coming to dwell there. It's not temporary, he wants to live there, and he wants to see his work, his life, his spirit pour out of you. Once again, maybe this sounds obvious, but the next thing we see that is there is a new heavens and the new earth. It's healed, it's restored. And look, in Greek, I know it's gonna sound a little teachy, but like there's two different Greek words for something being new. So one is just like uh a brand new thing, like, you know, uh, this is a new shirt that I just you know wove together, uh, or I bought from the store in modern terms. Alright, but the word here for new heavens and the new earth is not that word, but it's when you like rebuild, restore, renew something. That God could have just started fresh, he could have scraped us all off of the planet Earth and put some new dirt down and started over with a new humanity. But instead, he said, I'm gonna take this messy clay that's already misshapen and broken, and I'm gonna reform it into something beautiful. That's God's commitment to his creation, that that's his character. Alright, also, like, what is there in the new heavens of the new earth? Look, y'all, real things are there. This might sound like a side point, but often when people think about like heaven and eternity, it's like we're all just kind of gonna be these like floating ghosts and stuff like that. Like, no, that's not at all how the Bible imagines it. That's a very like Greek philosophy idea, but it's not actually how the Bible teaches. No, God cares about us body and soul. Jesus resurrected in a real body. And he cares about your body as well as your soul. And he wants to redeem a real planet, a real world, a real people. There will be real material things in the new heavens of the new earth. Walls, streets, uh, things like this. What else will be there? Well, people will be there. Maybe that sounds obvious, but like, I think sometimes we imagine heaven as somewhat empty. Like, I don't know, not that many people want to know about Jesus. And it's like, no, actually, that's not God's perspective at all. That God has been at work redeeming people from the beginning, and his plan is to keep going to redeem as many people as he so desires. It says, the kings of the earth from all the nations will be drawn into the new heavens, the new earth, bringing their glory to his throne. That God truly cares about all people. It says there will be a spring of water of life there that you can get without payment. That in the new heavens of the new earth there's only life. There's no death. To drink from this water is to drink in life and experience life eternal. There's nothing you have to do to earn it. Pay for it, prove that you're good enough for it. It's just a continual gift of grace over and over again for all of eternity. And finally, there's a wedding. There's a wedding. Did you catch that? It said in the new heavens and new earth, that the new Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And then later it says that the Lamb's spouse, wife, right, is like this new city, the people of God gathered here. That in the new creation, it's gonna be like, you know, the joy and the party and the celebration that you'd experience at the best wedding you've ever been to. And we saw this already in Revelation 19, but we're seeing it again here because it's important language to God. That God has always been committed to his people in this loving relationship, what we call a covenant relationship. That God is saying, I'm coming back for my bride, I care about her, I love her, and I'm gonna gather her together. What's something that we can take away from that just personally? Well, look, hey, if you're here tonight and you're single and you're wondering, you're dreaming, am I ever going to meet that person? Am I ever going to get married? I don't think it's too much of a stretch, actually, to read this passage and say, someday we will all be married. Someday we will all be married. That in the new heavens and the new earth, that we will experience the joy of being united with Christ as his people, his bride. That's good news. And look, I think often, sometimes people are like, yeah, but I love it if like Jesus didn't come back until I actually got married now, you know, had that experience, and then he can come back, you know. And it's like, look, I think the reality is, as look, I'm married, I highly recommend it. You know, please if you can, if that's God's will for you. But the truth is, any earthly marriage now actually pales in comparison to the wedding supper of the Lamb, to the gathering of Christ's bride with her husband. And we know that because actually Paul tells us this in Ephesians. He says, look, like your marriages now, your weddings now are actually just a sign of what God will do one day. It's pointing to something greater. So that means even at the best moments of our earthly marriages now, it's actually just like a little taste, a little appetizer of something so much greater that we are all going to by faith in Christ. That truly we will all be married someday and it will be the greatest joy of our life. God says about all this, it is done. Once again, in the Greek, this word here, it means uh to come into being to imply motion. Like the idea is what God has done. It's not like, well, it will be done someday. No, the implication here is it's done and it's like emerging into reality now. But if you're like, all right, Chris, I get it. This is all in the future, and that's wonderful, but my now kind of sucks. Well, guess what? Actually, the promise of this passage is the kingdom of heaven is breaking in here and now. It may be hard to see it at times. The brokenness of this world can sometimes crowd out seeing it and hearing it, but it is breaking in. It is emerging, it is coming into this world. Jesus himself, when he was asked in the gospels, where is the kingdom of heaven? He says, Look, it's within you. It's between you, it's all around you, it's bursting forth in different ways if you have spiritual eyes to see. So look, we should set our minds on the promises of Christ, on the things to come. That Jesus Himself wants us to meditate on his return. That's not idle thinking, it's not a waste of time. No, it actually shapes our now to think about our future in Christ. Especially when your now is pretty terrible. And look, uh, to wrap things up, I found this kind of long quote, but it's a really beautiful story from a book called Everything Sad Is Untrue. This is based on a true story of a family who uh, like they were living in Iran, they converted to Christianity and they had to flee the country after that. But it really speaks to this idea of how our future hope in Christ shapes our now in beautiful ways. So the author, Daniel Nayeri, he says this. He's talking about his family, he says, his mom in particular, who came to faith. And he says, look, when I tell the story, people always interrupt me and ask, okay, but why did she convert? Why did she leave a rich family, her job as a famous doctor, and then have to flee her country for Jesus? Why did she convert? And he says, here is the part that gets hard to believe. Sima, my mom, she read about Jesus and she became a Christian. And not just a regular one who keeps it in her pocket. No, she fell in love. She wanted everybody to have what she had, to be free. She realized that in other religions, you have rules and codes and obligations to follow to earn good things. But all you had to do with Jesus was to believe he was the one who died for you. And she believed. All the villages my grandfather owned, all the gold, my mom's own medical practice, all the amazing things she had that we don't have anymore because she's a Christian. All the money she gave up. We're so poor now. People still ask, but why did she convert? And I don't have an answer for them. How can you explain why you believe anything? So I just say what my mom says when people ask her. She looks them in the eye with the begging hope that they'll hear her, and she says, Because it's true, why else would she believe it? It's true, and it's more valuable than seven million dollars in gold coins, and thousands of acres of Persian countryside, and ten years of education to get a medical degree, and all your family and your home, and maybe even a better life. My mom wouldn't have made the trade otherwise. If you believe it's true, and that there is a God and he wants you to believe in him, and he sent his son to die for you, then it has to take over your life. It has to be worth more than everything else. Because heaven's awaiting on the other side. It's that or my mom's insane. There's no middle. You can't say it's a quirky thing, she thinks sometimes because she went all the way with it. If it's not true, she made a giant mistake, but she doesn't think so. She had all that wealth, she had the love of all those people who helped in her clinic. They treated her like a queen, and she's poor now. People spit on her on buses. She's a refugee in places where people hate refugees. She left behind family and friends and comfort, and she'll tell you it's worth it. Jesus is better because it's true. We can wonder and question and disagree. You can be certain she's dead wrong, but you can't make my mother agree with you. It's true. Jesus has died. Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. This whole story hinges on it. Seema, my mom, who is such a fierce Muslim that she marched in the Iranian Revolution, who studied the Quran the way very few people do, she read the Bible and knew in her heart that it was true. Look, y'all, how can you keep going in the here and now when your life is hard? It's because it's true. And I don't know any other way to say it, and my hope and prayer is that it's true for you as well. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the truth of it, and we thank you most of all that you are faithful and true. And that one day you will come and remake all this. Lord, come quickly. Our world is broken. We're broken, I'm broken, and we need, we desire to see the fullness of your redemption here. So, Lord Jesus, come quickly. We pray all this in your name. Amen.