Seeing God - The Christian's Inheritance

Andrew Grey preaches on Revelation 22 v 1-5.

This sermon is from Sunday 8th February 2026.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Our Bible reading this morning is from the book of Revelation, right near the very end of the Bible, Revelation 22. And if you have one of the Black Church Bibles, that's on page 1041. Good, let me pray, and then I'll read from God's Word. Almighty God, Heavenly Father, we thank you that you open up your lips and you speak to us. You do so by your Holy Spirit, you are involved in it, and you do so in the Bible. So as we read and then hear your word preached, we asked for the first time or the umpteenth time that you would open up our eyes to see and learn wonderful things. We pray specifically that you would show us yourself. And we ask that for Jesus' name's sake. Amen. Amen. So, our Bible reading this morning, uh Revelation chapter 22, verses one to five. Let's listen to the words of Almighty God. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. Thanks be to God for his word to us today. Do you like to peek at the last page of a book? Do you love to know the end of the story before you get there? Or do you do all you can not to find out the very last page of the story? Now, what about the end of your story? Jesus Christ teaches us that the final page for each one of us is a never-ending page. There's no full stop, there is no the end. Or rather, the end is without end. So Jesus Christ and the Bible would speak to us about a heaven and about a hell. So what about the end of your story? Some people have no idea what the end of their story is. Some people do not want to turn that page, they don't want to know or think about it, though they, though we all know in our heart of hearts, that we all must. The Bible would say that in the end we will all be somewhere. This world, uh, this life is not all there is, and the great proof of that is the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection means that all of Jesus' words are true, Jesus' own resurrection, life, it is like a prototype of what lies ahead. So today we're thinking about the Christian's end. What are we to look forward to if we belong to Jesus Christ? Very simply, Christians have a glorious inheritance. Inheritance works like this: someone promises to give you a gift because you have a share in their will. That's how an inheritance works, isn't it? Promise of a gift, because you are connected to that person via a share in their will. Now, Emmanuel Regulus, we've been listening in recent weeks to the Old Testament book of Joshua, in which, many centuries before the coming of Christ, God's Old Testament church was promised an inheritance, the promised land, the land that flows with milk and honey. And they were to enter that land and inherit it, receive it, enjoy it, and live faithfully in it. And that land and their experiences were intended by God to be a vigil aid, if you like, a vigil aid for the Christian. We are on a journey, we are pilgrims towards our promised land, towards our inheritance. And today, just for one week, we're pausing our series in the book of Joshua just to consider directly what is our inheritance? What is the Christian's inheritance? What is promised to the man or woman, boy or girl who is joined to Jesus, which they will receive at the end of our pilgrim journey. And the Bible would say to us that that inheritance is one that can never perish or spoil or fade. It is kept in heaven for you. And so we can look forward to it eagerly. Now I want you to imagine you are going on the most amazing holiday on Friday. It's half term. You're looking forward to it. You prepare for it, you put up with adversity while you wait for it. Your mother nagging you to put out your socks and all that sort of thing. Now, our Bible reading today from the very end of the Bible, from Revelation chapter 22, it gives us a tiny little window into the Christian's future, the Christian's end, the Christian's endless end, our inheritance. So, Christian people, try to imagine this. This is what we will experience one day. Words can only begin to convey what our inheritance will be like, but God has given us words to paint this picture in our hearts and minds. Now, before we go any further, it is super important to be clear about one thing: that heaven is received as a gift. Heaven is received as a gift, it is an inheritance. That is, it is given by Christ to those whose names he has written into his will, if you like, or into his book. It is something that is given. It is not earned, it is not paid for, it is not deserved, it is not merited. And our verses in Revelation 22, I hope you've still got them open in front of you, they make that really clear. We're given this vision of a city, it's God's city, and at the centre of it and of everything is a throne. And we are told that it is the throne of God and of the Lamb. See that in verse 1. Now, Christian people know and rejoice that we are not on the throne of our own lives, and that we are not on the throne of the universe. So the Christian is someone who has willingly given over the steering wheel of their life to the one true God. And from this throne, from God flows. Well, what flows? We read that flows from it, the river of the water of life. We're shown a picture of the tree of life, whose fruit brings healing. So we will see that this is like the Garden of Eden, but better. So like Eden, but better. And here is the life that we need. It is the gift of God, it flows from his throne. Now, life in the Bible, it is not mere existence, it is not just existing. That is not life. Life is being cleansed of our sins. That's the chiefest part of the healing that is spoken of here, that's portrayed in terms of this tree with its fruit and its leaves and the water that nourishes it. It's being cleansed, washed clean of our sins. When a person comes to Jesus, we find that is our first and our greatest need. And that cleansing it comes from the death of Christ on the cross. Hence the Lamb. You might have been wondering, why is there a lamb on the throne? Well, the Lamb is the sacrificial lamb, the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The cross is the heart of the gospel. But then having been cleansed, this life is face-to-face fellowship with our God. That is life. Face-to-face fellowship with our God. It begins when a person becomes a Christian. It is enjoyed in this life in part, and perfectly when the Christian comes into his or her inheritance. And our question today really is this: what should Christians look forward to most? What do you most look forward to? What is the heaven of heavens, if I can put it like that? And I want us to show us simply that the heaven of heavens is seeing God. Seeing God. Some would say there is no such place. Others would say, Well, I've no idea. Plenty would say things like, Well, it's the place where I can play golf all day. A Muslim might describe a world of 72 virgins. Essentially describing a fantasy world of self-indulgence. That's what that boils down to, really, isn't it? And not only is that fake, we do not get to define heaven and hell, God does, but it's actually also hideous when you stop and think about it. Indulging ourselves infinitely and forever. It's not just wrong, but we know we would tire of it. Now, even Christian people, it might be we need a little bit of a corrective here. Maybe we've understood that heaven is real and it's it's concrete, it's a renewed creation, it's not a floaty thing with clouds. It is as real as Jesus' resurrection body. But it could be that we have bought even just a little bit into that self-centered picture of our inheritance. Now I will get to dot dot dot, and maybe it's not as crass as everlasting gulf, but what is the heaven of heavens? Very simply, the heaven of heavens is seeing God. So Revelation 22, verse 4, they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. So what this encourages us to do is to get everything in its right place. And here, everything in its right place in our inheritance, in our eternity. So there's us and there's other people, and there's the renewed world, and there is the work and the activity of that renewed creation, and there is the triune God, Father, Son, and Spirit. We want everything to be in its right place. Now, this verse, right at the end of the Bible, it is quite literally the climax of the entire Bible story. When we go back to the very first couple of pages in the perfect world of the Garden of Eden, we find that our first parents they walked and talked with God. Then they sinned and they walked away from the face of God, and he turned his face away from them. Yet he is so kind that he gives himself to sinful people, and he promises his presence with them. So through the Bible, as we turn the pages, this is the hope of God's people. A man called Job said, For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth, and after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God. It's the believer's hope. It was even the experience of God's people. Back in the Old Testament, on the Mount of Sinai, Moses and the elders of Israel we read, they saw the God of Israel. Can you imagine? They saw the God of Israel, they beheld God, and they ate and drank. This was the longing of God's people. Psalm 27. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. This is what Jesus promised. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. It's what Jesus prayed. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am to see my glory. And then we come to the end. They will see his face. Now, different ones of us here, I would guess that we will respond differently to this thought of seeing God, seeing the face of God. For some of us, it may seem a weird or even mystical thought, and maybe we can't see why this is so desirable, the thought of beholding God. Well, just stop and consider for a moment. We are so about ourselves. So we live in a world of self-expression and self-care and finding ourselves and indulging ourselves. It's the world around us in spades. Maybe that's some of us too. But many of us know, I know, that that is actually the route to misery. We know that there is a right forgetting of ourselves. We need to forget ourselves and find something or someone outside of ourselves who is solid and lasting and real and good. And what the Christian faith offers, the God of the Bible actually is what the Christian faith offers. He is that someone. He has a glory or a weightiness. So he won't ever become boring, he won't ever let us down. The desires and the appetites of our hearts, they are intended to find rest and pleasure and fulfilment in him. And it's upon this weighty and glorious God that the Christian and the church will look. For others of us, um, the thought of seeing God, it may just seem flatly impossible. How can you see God? And when you understand the God of the Bible, what he's like, that's actually a very good question. So imagine a nuclear reactor for a moment. How could you safely look from the inside at the inside of a nuclear reactor? It's just an insanity, isn't it? Or how can you look on God? And when you know something of the glory of God, the godness of God, that is a pressing problem. And the amazing answer is, we shall be like him. You might have a handout in front of you, you'll see in the middle of that uh sixth page, verse from 1 John chapter 3. And in it we read that extraordinary sentence, When he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. Over Christmas, uh we played a bunch of different games. Uh, one involved piles of different colored cards. Now, it is a good move to play a game like that with someone who is colour blind. I particularly enjoyed that game. Now, we are colour blind people when it comes to the face of God. We are just blind. But the action of seeing Jesus in his glory, it will cure our sight. That's what that verse says. The action of seeing Christ in his glory, it will cure us. That is, it will it will purge away our sin and it will enable a clear and a perfect vision. So, what will it be like to behold God? Dare we even begin to answer that question? Well, Christian, first we will see the Lamb. So here in the city, uh there is the throne of God and of the Lamb. We will see the Lamb, that is our Redeemer, the mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, God the Son, in his human nature, in which he suffered and died. But we will see him in his glory. With the transformed eyes in our head and the senses that support those eyes, we will see him and we will love him. The bride sees not her garments, but her dear bridegroom's face. That's the essence of it, isn't it? Seeing Christ. But that is not all. We will see God, the invisible God, God the Holy Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in his godness, we will see him. Extraordinary thought, isn't it? Joined in union with Christ, we will see into God in the fullest possible way. Now, how can we imagine that? How can we conceive of that? Well, the Bible gives us some clues. Having God turn his face towards you is like being in the light. Okay, having God turn his face towards you is like being in the light, the light of his face, the light of his countenance. So it's not that you're looking at the light, you know, as if you're holding a torch and you're looking at the torch in your hand. Rather, God is shining in all of his goodness and his beauty and his purity and his power and his wisdom. He is shining, he is the light, and you are in the light, and the light is in you, and in that light we live. It's a hard thing to wrap our heads around. You know, having God in us, knowing him as fully as we are able, seeing him in a way we cannot imagine through a mind and a heart that are made fully new, knowing him as instinctively as a baby knows its mother's face and smile. So we will see the Lamb, we will see God, and we will see God in all things. Who will be there in that renewed creation? Well, there'll be other Christians, the saints, and we will see God in them, glorified Christians, and we will see God in the rest of his creation. So imagine a renewed and perfected creation in which everything is flooded with the glory of God. Now, here's one thing that means it means that eternity will not be like an endless church service. I don't know if you've ever wondered wondered that. So, unlike in this respect, all that we do in the renewed creation, all of our activities, all of our interactions with other people, well, God will suffuse it all, he will be in it all. God will be in all. Now, truthfully, truthfully, we cannot know what this will be like, except that it will be good. So, what do we do? Simply live now in the light of that. Live now in the light of this inheritance. The greatest danger of all would be that we do not receive this inheritance, that we do not see God, because we are not in Christ. That's the only way to know and see and enjoy the one true God. So if here is Jesus Christ, the only way is to be joined to Him. Um, the alternative is to face God in His justice without Christ's saving grace. Now, for some of us, this last page of the story that I've been talking about this morning, well, you maybe realize that you actually need to know the rest of the story. How do you get there? Well, let me encourage you. Uh, when you go away this morning, you might like to take away um a gospel, one of these little booklets, one of the eyewitness accounts of the life, death, resolution. Resurrection, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, that is the way into this story. Might like to take away this other little book, is Easter Unbelievable, because we're talking about at the heart of it all the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. Take away something and read it. Come back to church, talk to a Christian friend. That is simply the most important thing that you could do. And what about for the Christian? Well, it is okay to work hard and sacrifice now. All will be very well, won't it, on that day? All will be well. And so when the Lord brings griefs into our earthly pilgrimage, so imagine we're on a journey towards that place, he brings griefs into it sometimes. The Lord Jesus tells us to take up a cross and follow him along the way, and that brings sacrifice, doesn't it, when we follow Jesus seriously. Maybe it's saying no to legitimate pleasures, or it's saying no to sins, and there comes a cost and a pain. When we try with the Lord's help to lay up treasures in heaven, not on earth, well, it's okay, isn't it? In fact, it's more than okay because of the inheritance prepared for us. And so we can practice now looking at Christ then. So one day, so one day, and this this is the Christian's greatest joy, one day, if you're joined to Jesus, we will be in the immediate presence of God, and we will delight in him, and we will meditate on him, and we will fix our eyes on him. For now, sort of rewind, for now we live by faith, not sight. That is hard. It is hard to live by faith, to take God at his word, but it is in God's word that we meet God. We meet God, we see him with the eyes of faith. And so as we look into the Bible, and this is really simply an encouragement to be Bible people, we do those same things now that we will do one day in our heavenly home. That is, we delight in God as we meet him in the scriptures. We meditate on him as we meet his son in the scriptures, we fix our eyes on him, on God as he gives himself to us in his word. Now, we have a limited attention span. Uh, let's be honest. Maybe you're like me getting increasingly frustrated at how easily distracted you are. So we've got a bit of a choice, don't we? Uh, distractions of the world and all of those things that fill our eyes and our senses and grab our attention versus, well, can I, how can I delight and meditate and fix my eyes upon God as He's given us in the Word? And why would I do that? Why would we do that? Well, knowing that one day in Christ we will see. Let's bow our heads. Uh I'm gonna pray. Let's bow our heads. Heavenly Father, we ask this of you, that we might dwell in your house all of our days, that we might gaze upon your beauty. Uh, we pray for the first or the umpteenth time that you would grant us a sight of the Lord Jesus by faith right now, in his kindness, in his power, in his wisdom. Uh move us, we pray, to shift our gaze from things that distract and pull us away. Help us to look to him, in whose name we pray. Amen.