Revelation Ch 21

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:02

Good morning. Wow, it's hard to believe that today is August 1st already. And today's passage is Revelation chapter 21, verses 1 through 8. We've now caught up on the book of Revelation, the reading and the meditation of it. And those of you who want to catch up, the entire series of Revelation is stored for us in our church's homepage, Riversidepeople.org. And please do use our homepage for your resource of Bible reading, meditation, and so forth. Today's passage, Revelation 21, verses 1 through 8, opens with John's vision of a new heaven and new earth. Now, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, as verse 1 says. So a new world is opening up. And the sea, which is often in the Bible, the sea is symbolic representation of chaos and evil. And the sea is no more. So John then sees the holy city, the holy city, the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Verse 2. The significance of this is that this is a city built by God and it comes down from heaven. All cities that human beings are involved with are cities that we build ground up. And we raise towers like the Tower of Babel, and every city that humans build are man's attempt to reach heaven. Whereas New Jerusalem is God bring bringing this great holy city down from heaven. Verse three. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold the dwelling place of God is with man, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. And this verse is continued with a promise, verse four. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, and neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away. So the one seated on the throne affirms, Behold, I am making all things new. He identifies himself as the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, offering the water of life freely to the thirsty. Verse 6. The passage concludes with a contrast. Those who conquer will inherit these promises, while the cowardly, faithless, and wicked will face the second death in the lake of fire. So let's take a look at this passage a little bit more careful closely. Who is God? God is the sovereign creator and redeemer who brings history to its ordained completion. As the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet, as the Alpha and Omega, He's both the beginning and the end, ensuring that his purposes never fail. God dwells with his people, fulfilling the covenant promise repeated throughout Scripture. I will be their God and they will be my people. That's the covenant promise that is peppered throughout the entire Bible. And here there is a full fullness and the fulfillment of that covenant promise. And God is also the one who wipes away every tear and uh by even abolishing death, sorrow, and pain forever. God reveals himself as not as a distant uh supreme being, but as as one who brings uh his people into perfect and everlasting union and fellowship with himself. And our guilt is that we often live as if this world were uh the ultimate, um, fearing the loss of comfort, status uh, and security while basically forgetting that all of this will uh one day rolled away, passed away. So we uh we foolishly treat the sea of chaos um such as worldly powers, wealth, and pleasures as if these things will last forever, rather than longing for the new creation God has promised. So at the same time we struggle with um spiritual cowardice and compromise. Verse 8 lists the cowardly and faithless first, reminding us that failing to persevere in faith is not a trivial thing. Uh too often we shrink back from costly discipleship, choosing safety and approval of others over holiness and loyalty to Christ. And in this passage, grace shines in God's promise to make all things new and his fulfilling it. Um making all things new is a gift that comes entirely from God. The holy city descends from God and the water of life is given without payment, and so believers are not uh self-made conquerors on their own, but believers are heirs of God's kingdom because we belong to Christ who alone conquered uh sin and death for us. So the greatest blessing of this new creation is not just the removal of pain or death, but it is actually the presence of God Himself, who will dwell with His people forever and ever, fulfilling every covenant promise in the Bible. The grace of God also calls us to persevere, knowing that those who overcome do so only through the Lamb's victory, and that our inherent inheritance rests securely in Christ's finished work. Let us pray. Faithful and sovereign Lord, we praise you as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. You are the God who dwell with your people and make all things new. Forgive us, O Lord, for living as if this world is our final destiny, uh home. Forgive us for our fear, compromise, and even failure to live as those who belong to your eternal kingdom. Thank you, O Lord, that in Christ we already taste the first fruits of the new creation. Thank you for the promise that one day you will wipe away every tear and abolish death forever. We pray, O Lord, that you will strengthen us to persevere in faith and in holiness. Fix our eyes and our hearts on the hope of the new heaven and new earth, that we may live today in a night of the glory to come. In Jesus' name, uh Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.