E13: Heaven and Earth Made New (Revelation 21–22)

The story ends with renewal, rest, restoration, and the presence of God with His people. This final episode reflects on the hope and future that Revelation ultimately points toward for those who will stand firm and conquer.

Transcript

Michael Berry: You have reached the end. I think you deserve an award. I mean, I didn't even like listening to my voice this entire time. So kudos to you for hanging in there. ⁓ To John Hill, who edited this entire thing and got the raw version and made it palatable. ⁓ Thank you for your time and effort working through this with me. Of course, thank you to my wife. who listened to me when I felt like this whole thing that I was doing was a little too much and too deep and too wild and I was too far off. ⁓ Thank you for encouraging me to keep going and that what I was doing here was valuable and worthwhile. Yeah, so thank you and I love you. To those of you who have walked through this wild but beautiful book with me, ⁓ I pray that you've been blessed by it ⁓ as I was, and I hope that ⁓ I could provide some sort of guidance in your understanding of these deeply important words of Jesus through John to us, his bride. And so I thank you for hanging in there with me ⁓ and sticking this out. In this session, I'm going to start in a little bit of an odd place. You know, it would make sense to start at Revelation 21 verse 1, but I'm actually going to start at Revelation 21 verse 9. All my cards on the table here, it's because I want to end this whole series on 21, 1 through 8, because I think that's going to wrap us up really well together. ⁓ and kind of bring this whole thing to a conclusion. So that was one point, but also I wanted to start in verse 9 because there's one last bit of literary thread from the Old Testament that still needs to be wrapped up. And I hope you don't groan when I tell you where it comes from. You can probably guess it's from the book of Ezekiel. And I know we've been best buddies with Ezekiel over this entire study, but We have to go back and visit him once more because what we see in Revelation 21 and 22 can really only be understood properly with Ezekiel as the backdrop. So first, we're going to read Revelation 21, 9 through 22 verse 5, so we can start to form the picture. Then we're gonna jump back to Ezekiel 40. We'll pull out the key points. of the vision that he has there, and then we'll come back to 21 verse 9 and gain the understanding that he has for us. Once again, as you know, we're in the last session here, so I don't know if it bears repeating, but when we go back to Ezekiel, when we go back to books of the Old Testament and pull from there, we're gaining the main point that is in the context of that. particular passage of that book back in the Old Testament, we're bringing it with us to the New Testament to gain the understanding that the author of the New Testament book has for us. So that's what we're going to do here. So with all of that being said, let's jump into our scripture for today. 21 verse 9, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. So here, right off the bat, ⁓ we know from chapter 19 that the bride equals the people of God. ⁓ In verse 10, it says, 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. We also see that the bride is this new city. ⁓ So we're going to be dealing with the people of God in this section. Now, if we would have read the first eight verses first, we would actually understand verse 10 as a recapitulation of verses one through eight, because we'll read here in a little bit ⁓ in verse two that He has already seen the city of Jerusalem descending from heaven in that section. So he is articulating a different point about heaven than he did in verses one through eight, as he sees the city of God come down from heaven again. Okay, that's kind of the reset here in these verses. And in these verses, the number 12 is gonna be all over the place. And if you can remember the significance of the number 12, it conveys the idea of God's covenant people, right? We have the 12 tribes of Israel, we have the 12 apostles, and so you're going to see that number all over. So let's continue on, verse 12. It had a great high wall, remember this is describing the city, it had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at the 12 gates, 12 angels. And on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. On the east three 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. 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12, right? And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and its walls. The city lies four square, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his measuring rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits, by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. I even have a question mark right there in my Bible. ⁓ I don't know what that means, which is also an angel's measurement. I have no idea. Verse 18, the wall was built of jasper. While the city was pure gold like clear glass, the foundations of the wall and the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, second sapphire, the third a gate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seven, I always struggle with this, chrysalite, the eighth barrel, the ninth, Topaz, the tenth, struggle with this one too, Chrysoprase, ⁓ the eleventh, Jasonth, the twelfth, Amethyst. 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. Verse 22, 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 it its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. And the 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 ever will enter it. Nor anyone who does what is detestable or false but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life, which we saw back in chapter 20. Verse...sorry, chapter 22, verse 1. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and 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 fruits, 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. We saw that earlier in Revelation. 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. So like I laid out at the beginning, now that we've read that, we're going to turn back to Ezekiel 40 and we're going to highlight the main focal points of his vision ⁓ back then. And as you are hopefully turning there, I'm going to turn there as well, but I'm also going to. give you a bit of context as it relates to the temple ⁓ in Jewish theology. So the temple as a structure, it started out after the Israelites were brought out of Egypt in Exodus and they built what was called the tabernacle. ⁓ But the theology of the tabernacle ⁓ predated even the tabernacle itself, it goes back to the Garden of Eden because the whole idea of the tabernacle or eventually the temple is God's presence dwelling with his people. And that is where we first see that. God walking in the cool of the day together with Adam and Eve, God is with them in unity. So the temple in the Jewish mind is God dwelling with his people. That's the key word, with. And so the temple or the tabernacle was a literal place on earth where God's presence dwells and it is housed in the Holy of Holies, the key focal point of the entire system. The point is not, is God omnipresent? Yes, of course, that's the Jewish people would just say, yeah, of course he is. But this is the significance of God's presence with us is found in the Holy of Holies God being with his people and that Holy of Holies was where the high priest was the only one that was allowed to enter in and even then only one time of the year which was the day of atonement and that's why the Tabernacle when it was consecrated it was filled with the glory of God in Exodus 40 and that glory of God Dwelled in the Holy of Holies ⁓ and So the temple remained this structure of cloth and blankets, essentially, until Solomon came about many, many years later and built the first temple as a building. And it was a magnificent building in Jerusalem. First Kings is where we see the temple being consecrated and God's glory fills that temple. And this building became the center of sacrifice, of prayer, of covenant. living of God with his people. And so the Israelites lived in that realm, ⁓ in that first temple, is what we call the first temple period. ⁓ And that first temple stood for a little bit over 400 years. But because of Israel's sin, the temple and Jerusalem are destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. in 2 Kings 25. Then the Jews are exiled to Babylon, but after 70 years in Babylon, they are released, or a faction of them, I should say, are released by the Persians to rebuild their city and their temple. This rebuilding of the second temple period, or the second temple, is told in Ezra. where Zerubbabel leads the effort to rebuild the temple. And that ushers in what I mentioned before, the second temple period. This temple wasn't much to look at. In fact, the Bible says that those who had seen the first temple wept when they saw the second one because it just paled in comparison. And so Zerubbabel's temple lasted for about 400 years before King Herod came along and dramatically improved, expanded, beautified Zerubbabel's temple. And this is the temple, Herod's temple, that stood during Jesus' ministry. And Herod's temple lasted until about 70 AD, when the Romans destroyed it and left, as Jesus quoted, not one stone on top of another. And so since then, since 70 AD, the temple has never been rebuilt. And it has never been seen again. And currently in its place is the Dome of the Rock, which is the key Muslim holy place. So when we go back to Ezekiel, we have to understand when it was written. Ezekiel was written in the time of exile between Solomon's temple, the first temple, and the second temple that was built by Zerubbabel. So that's the context. And Ezekiel, in the first few chapters of his book, I believe I've mentioned this already in these sessions, it records the glory of God leaving the temple, and the glory is gone by chapter 12. But then, in chapter 40, Ezekiel prophesies of a future temple, and he gives the blueprint of this building. Now, we're not gonna read all of this. But I do encourage you to do so with the warning that it isn't the most exciting read of the Bible, I'll be honest. ⁓ It's similar to the genealogies that we see in Numbers where you're just like, ⁓ my gosh, because this angel is going to be giving measurements of this temple for most of this section and it just goes on and on and on and it goes on and on and on for eight chapters. But it is important. It's very, very important to the overall ⁓ literary and ⁓ prophetic ⁓ sense of the Bible. And so I'm going to summarize these eight chapters for us with references so that you can follow along. Hopefully, like I said, you have your Bible open and you can underline these verses or write key details down as we walk through it. And so it'll be important. All of these things I'm going to point out are going to be important when we come back to Revelation 21. In fact, you're probably even going to start to be able to pick up on these things as we're going through Ezekiel 40 through 48. So with that being said, let's jump in. We're going to be starting in chapter 40, and verse two is really where it starts taking off. And Ezekiel is taken to Israel. Remember, they're in exile in Babylon. but in this vision he's taken to Israel and he sits high on a mountain. And so there is a structure like a city to the south. ⁓ This structure like a city is the temple. And then in verse three, an angelic being like man is introduced with a measuring read in his hand. You skip on down to verse five. ⁓ he starts measuring the outside wall of the temple. And we see this is a renewed temple in Israel because ⁓ once again, that is where Ezekiel is in his vision. He's not in Babylon, even though he's being shown this vision while he's in Babylon. He's been taken to Israel. And so the angel escorts Ezekiel around as he measures the outer courtyard, the north gate, the south gate, inner court, chambers for the priests, the front porch of the temple, all of that. And then if you jump into, if you scoot on into chapter 41 and you get to verse four, he's going to begin measuring the Holy of Holies. And it's 25 cubits long and about 20 cubits wide, about 35 feet by 35 feet in in our measuring terms. and this is the most holy place, or the holy of holies. Then he measures the temple, the temple chambers, I should say, in chapter 42. If you skip on through, you get into chapter 43, starting in verse four and going through verse seven, we start to see that the glory of the Lord comes back. And the glory of the Lord fills this temple and it's declared that he will dwell with them forever. ⁓ So if we actually read that, we're going to see where is verse seven in my Bible. Here we go. And he said to me, son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place of the souls of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the people of Israel forever. And the house of Israel shall no more defile my holy name, neither they nor their kings, nor their whoring by the dead bodies of their kings. at their high places. So you're seeing that God is coming to dwell with them forever. And this is a very important note here, because for the rest of chapter 43, from verse about 13 onwards, what we're going to see is him describing the altar, the sacrifices, both the sin offerings and the peace offerings, those are key, the sin offerings and peace offerings are resumed. And so these are seen. in various spots throughout chapter 46. So about 43 verse 13 through chapter 46, you're gonna see little bits and pieces of ⁓ sacrificial conversations. If you jump then into verse 44, verse 15 begins, the rules for the priests, those who will minister in the temple. Then in ⁓ chapter 45, land begins to be distributed to the 12 tribes of Israel throughout all of the geographical location of Israel. In chapter 46, the feasts are established ⁓ and in 47, Ezekiel is brought back to the center of the temple. So he's gone through the entire structure. He's seen what, it's supposed to work in all throughout this vision. But in 47, he's brought back to the center of the temple and he notices ⁓ water flowing from the holy place and it runs through the temple court and it runs out of the wall and grows from a brook to a creek, to a stream, to a river. and he tries to cross it at every point. And eventually the river is so deep that it forces him to swim. But in verse seven of chapter 47, he comes back from his swim and he sees all sorts of plants and vegetation, particularly trees. And he is told that this river eventually flows into the Dead Sea and the water there becomes fresh and supports an ecosystem with animals and fish and plant life and all of that. And then we get into chapter 48 and chapter 48. We see in the very last verse, it's verse 35, that the city, it gets described and then it is named something. And the whole book ends with this verse. And the circumference of the city shall be eighteen thousand cubits and the name of the city from that time on shall be the Lord is there. So all of Ezekiel, he's been tracing how the glory of God removes itself from the people of Israel because of their sin and their rebellion against him. And at the end, he recreates, he builds back this temple and his glory dwells in this temple and the name of this city, which is also the temple, right? ⁓ That is, the Lord is there. And so the key all throughout is the Lord with His people. Now, this is a pretty magnificent vision that a lot of people believe is still to come in the future and be a physical place. However, there's a big problem with this whole scene for Christians. And you of course are going to ask why. No temple that was constructed after this vision came about ever came close to looking like this temple that's described in Ezekiel's vision. Zerubbabel's temple was lackluster compared to Ezekiel's temple. And when Herod came along and even when he expanded and beautified Zerubbabel's temple, it was still less than half the size of Ezekiel's temple in this vision. So, neither of the temples in the second temple period fulfilled Ezekiel's prophecy literally. And that's not necessarily a problem until Jesus came along. See, when Jesus arrived and he ministered, he died on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for sin, he rose from the dead, ascended to heaven, that created a really big problem if this temple was going to be a literal temple in the future. Because starting in Ezekiel chapter 43, what resumed? I made note of it. sacrifices. So if this temple wasn't fulfilled before Jesus by Zerubbables or by Herod's, that means that if this temple is a literal temple that is supposed to come in the future, God would then be reinstituting sacrifices of animals for the remission of sins in that temple. Now, I've mentioned it before, but the framework of the Left Behind series or ⁓ dispensational premillennialism or really any kind of premillennialism, ⁓ it accounts for this temple in the millennium in chapter 20 of Revelation that we read in the last section. Even though a temple is never mentioned there, they've got to place this temple somewhere ⁓ in the realm of after Jesus came. And so they have to place it somewhere and they claim that when Jesus comes back to rule on earth with the renewed ethnic Israel and the converts that they bring in during the tribulation, that this temple is then built and the sacrificial system is reestablished during that time as a ⁓ quote, memorial remembrance of Jesus' perfect sacrifice, similar to the way we take communion now. And I need to say, I've been fairly gloves on with the dispensational premillennial view of the end times. But at this point, I simply cannot. This teaching that there will be a literal temple in the future that reinstitutes animal sacrifices for the remission of sins is directly contradictory of the entire book of Hebrews and the rest of the New Testament. Hebrews 10, 10 says, by that we will have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Verse 18, where there is forgiveness of these sins, there is no longer any offering for sin. So I cannot propose that the entire system that was done away with by Christ's perfect sacrifice once and for all on the cross will be reinstated by God and Christ himself at any point in the future. We simply cannot go there. We should never get to a place that any of our interpretations of the Bible discounts the sacrifice of Jesus' perfect blood on the cross. But if this temple is to be taken as something to be literally fulfilled in the future, you have to explain it somehow. And a memorial is the only way to do it. And to me, that just comes dangerously close to a line that followers of Jesus should be terrified to even come near. So, if you're with me on that, the question becomes, what do we do with this temple vision? Well, The only other option for me is that this temple was never meant to be a literal building with a literal sacrificial system, but it was meant to highlight a theological reality. God's people in exile will be restored to be with him in the future. And there are a few reasons why I believe that on top of the reinstitution of sacrificial system issue that I just walked through. And those three reasons are this. The size of the temple in Ezekiel's vision is actually larger than the entire site of Jerusalem and assumes that the area is flat. So it ignores geography of the temple court as it currently is, or the temple mount as it currently is. ⁓ And so massive amounts of foundational dirt works that would even strain today's capabilities would be nearly impossible ⁓ with physics and even modern technologies. Yeah, God can do what he wants, of course, but is that really the point here? So that's the first point. The second, the dimensions given in the measuring of the temple is actually problematic. So if you've drawn this to scale, like any of us, that was dumb. If you've drawn this to scale, you haven't drawn this to scale, very few people have, but the ones that do, so many of these features occupy the same physical space. So this temple is physically unbuildable. One example is the priestly chambers, they can't fit without overlapping the court space. ⁓ They also can't fit without blocking gates or going beyond even the court boundaries. so Ezekiel never brings this up, never notices this because he isn't concerned with blueprints of an actual building. He's making another point or he's maybe he's seeing another point. And so those are the first two. The last is that the river that forms from the temple and flows to the Dead Sea would have to run east. The problem is that is uphill. A river coming from Jerusalem based on the topography must flow west. So all of this in conjunction brings me to the conclusion that this temple was never meant to be a physical space to be constructed. God's purpose in giving this vision to Ezekiel was to show instead a theological presence to be realized. God with his people who have come out of exile based in their rebellion. So you may ask the question, well, why did God give Ezekiel the sacrificial system for his temple if he knew Jesus was going to be the ultimate sacrifice and render all these animal sacrifices obsolete? If this was If this is going to be fulfilled in the future, like symbolically, how is that the case? I think God wasn't concerned with giving the Jewish people in their exile the complete picture of the future that he was planning at that point. You know, it's not like he's going be like, hey, you know, just so you know, his whole system is actually futile because of this guy named Jesus who's going to come along and he's going to get killed on this thing called cross. You don't know that yet. even know what a cross is just yet, but you know, he's not going to do that. It would have just made things incredibly confusing for them. What God was concerned with was giving them hope, giving them a picture of a perfected fellowship and holiness ordered around his presence. So with all of this in mind, I want to shift back to Revelation 21 verse nine. and I want you to tell me what this sounds like. We see in Revelation 21 verse 9 that John is taken, where? To a great high mountain. He says, the angel says to him, come I'll show you the bride, the wife of the lamb, and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain. and he showed me the holy city of Jerusalem. And what does this city of Jerusalem have in it? It has the glory of God in verse 11. And what happens then? This one speaking to John has this ⁓ measuring read and he goes around and he measures the city, he measures the walls, he measures the gates, all of that. Well, you say, OK, well, that's great. But Ezekiel was describing a temple. Where is the temple in this section? Well, if you get down into verse 22, it says, And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb. And so there is no temple in this vision in Revelation because God and the Lamb are the temple. Therefore, there is no sacrifices needed because the Lamb Himself, as we've seen throughout Revelation, is the only sacrifice and He is the literal temple. And then we see, of course, the glory of God again. And you say, okay, okay, all this is checking out. Where's the river? Chapter 22. We see this river flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb in verse 1, and it flows through the middle of the street of the city. And then we see on both sides of this river, the Tree of Life. So, all of this, all of this is pointing to that vision of Ezekiel, of what he saw, that people coming out of their exile because of their rebelliousness ⁓ who have turned to God are going to be with God in the future. That is their hope. And if you remember, Ezekiel's temple was named the Lord is there. And I think this is the coup de grace of this whole vision. It rests in the details of the measurement of this city. And this is beautiful. When I saw this, was like one of those warm, fuzzy, goose bumpy feelings. ⁓ But every single one of the Holy of Holies, remember that's where God's presence literally dwelled, ⁓ every single one of the Holy of Holies from the tabernacle to Herod's temple was a perfect cube. The tabernacle was a perfect cube. Solomon's temple, the Holy of Holies, was a perfect cube. Zerubbabel's temple, perfect cube. Herod's temple, perfect cube. Ezekiel's temple, perfect cube. Did you catch the dimensions of this city ⁓ in verse ⁓ 16? Its length is 12,000 stadia. Its width is 12,000 stadia. Its height is 12,000 stadia. It is a perfect cube. Jesus is showing us that this city is the Holy of Holies where the very presence of God dwells. And the name of this city by happenstance is the Lord is there. Jesus is showing that our future is secure in the declared presence of God dwelling with His people who have come out of exile. And if you think what we've just seen is amazing. We haven't even touched the rest of 21 and 22. And that's where we'll now turn to wrap up this amazing and just magnificent book. Have you ever had a moment when you have felt the embrace of safety after the fear of danger or chaos? ⁓ I went to school in Joplin, Missouri at Ozark Christian College. I started back in 2009. It was a long time ago and I loved this school. ⁓ The community that was built there, ⁓ the professors I got to learn from, the campus itself, I just loved it. And overall, it's a fairly small and insignificant school in the grand scheme of the world. The student body is generally in the 1,000 to 1,500 students every year. It's not an incredibly beautiful campus compared to state schools. Nobody's gonna be blown away by the magnificence of the architecture and the size of the library. But I still remember the first day I rolled into campus ⁓ and I came up the entryway and saw the entrance monument and those three letters OCC. was just before that during that summer was a life change for me. And those letters, that monument was just incredibly comforting to me. And when I... leave school to go home for Christmas, Thanksgiving, whatever it was, and come back. was just ⁓ a sense of goodness of that school. In 2011, which was my junior year, the school year had commenced. And I stayed around, of course, wrapped up by Thursday or Friday with tests and all that sort of stuff. But I stayed around to watch graduation on a Saturday. And I was actually going to go to graduation and then leave and head back home to my hometown. after graduation on Saturday, but I got a call earlier Saturday morning and it was from Academy Sports and they had invited me in for a job interview on Monday. So I asked some friends if I could stay with them. Well, I was already staying with them Friday night, but I asked if I could stay with them, of course, Saturday night and Sunday night. ⁓ so, it's late Sunday afternoon and my buddy Kevin and I, are watching Air Force One. And we were in an apartment on 20th and Connecticut. And the tornado sirens began to go off. Now, I grew up in Oklahoma, Kevin grew up in Iowa. Tornado sirens didn't mean anything to us, right? You hear them and then you go out, you look up into the sky, where's this tornado? and you're trying to find it and all of that. That's what that's what you do when tornado sirens came on. So they didn't mean anything to us. And so, you know, tornado sirens came on. You still watch still watching Air Force One and and then the lights went out. And this is a little more serious, but they came back on pretty quick. Just as you know, Harrison Ford told the bad guy, get off my plane and and then the lights go out again. and Kevin and I look at each other and ⁓ we then like good Oklahoma and Iowan, I think that's who they are, Iowa boys, we went out the front door and we looked east, know, just the dark clouds, whatever. We looked west and we couldn't see the apartments just across the parking lot. And that's when things went haywire. Things started hitting the sides of the apartment we were in. And we found ourselves in what we didn't know at the time was the deadliest tornado in US history. It claimed 161 lives and it transformed thousands more. And my buddy and I didn't know what to do other than what we've always been told, which is go to the bathtub. And so we ended up in the bathtub kind of huddling in and as we're sitting there in the bathtub, things are pelting the outside of the wall. Something hit the wall and flexed the entire wall in. It actually knocked us almost out of the bathtub, scared us to death. So we crawled across the bathroom floor and just huddled next to the vanity just in time. before the entire apartment structure just deconstructed around us. ⁓ And the door to the bathroom ended up falling on top of us and covered us as we huddled in the bathroom and ultimately that door kind of protected us. ⁓ I have never been more scared in my entire life. I was absolutely powerless to control whether I lived or I died. It was, it was a feeling that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. And so, ⁓ we were huddled there for what felt like an eternity. ⁓ and, ⁓ and then eventually, of course, the tornado rumbled off, and we pushed the door off of us and we stepped out into absolute chaos. It was pouring rain. Um, we had literally just been watching air force one. So we were barefoot. had shorts and t-shirts on the temperature dropped. I don't know. I don't know how much it did probably 20, 30 degrees. Uh, and we were freezing. We were soaking. Um, we went across the, uh, across the parking lot into one of the apartments that was actually still standing. Uh, one of the people, uh, that was living there. grace graciously gave us some shoes gave us a jacket ⁓ and then we went about the apartment complex trying to help who we could. ⁓ Eventually we became what we felt like was useless and on top of that we were in complete shock and had nowhere to live had no idea what to do where where to go. And so we just began walking. Neither one of us said anything to either one. We just started walking. ⁓ And as we began to walk north, we actually ran into, miraculously, we ran into a friend who was in the Walmart that was destroyed and it was a few miles away. So we met up with him ⁓ and we just kept walking north. Eventually a pickup stopped by and we hopped into the back and They said, where are we going? Where are you guys headed? ⁓ And we said, Ozark Christian College. ⁓ I have always enjoyed that entrance. but I am not sure I have ever enjoyed it more than that day. To see, because we didn't know, we didn't know how widespread this was, but to see that it was still there and to see that it was standing. It was this moment of relief and this moment of security. We had a place to sleep that night. We had a place of shelter, a place of peace after the chaos. And so after all that happened, we were safe. I doubt that feeling will even be able to hold a candle to the feeling of peace and safety. We will all feel when Jesus finally comes back to claim His bride and usher in eternity in Revelation 21. You and I, we all live in the midst of chaos and pain and sin and death and fear, but Revelation 21 is the hope. It's the hope that we hold on to in Jesus Christ where we will finally be safe. And so we turn there into the scriptures. Chapter 21, verse 1. 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. We've seen the sea a handful of times in Revelation. ⁓ And I don't know if I've done a great job of explaining this, but the sea is always in an apocalyptic literature, this symbol of chaos. And in chapter 4, we see that the chaos is seduced, remember? It's subdued. Remember, it's like a sea of glass in front of the throne of God. And so it's subdued. The chaos then is reintroduced, or the sea is reintroduced in chapter 13, or chapter 12 and 13, where the dragon brings the beast from the sea. And so we have chaos producing chaos in chapter 13. But here in 21, Chaos is eradicated. There is no chance for future, further chaos. And this is hard for us to even imagine in our current state, but what God says, He will do. And so even though it's hard for us to imagine, we look forward to it with hopeful anticipation. And the I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down 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 was 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 water of life without payment, the one who... There it is. Nika'o. The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son. Versailles does the bookend. It is almost as if this new heaven and this new earth are presented as this place of refuge for those who have come through a great war and have emerged as conquerors. And so over all of these sessions, we have traced revelations call for the people of God to conquer and what that conquering looks like. And here we finally see why. This is the culmination. This is the reward. And it is far greater than we could ever imagine where we, as the people of God, inherit that which is Christ's. Remember Paul in Romans says that we are heirs, co-heirs with Christ. His perfected creation is our inheritance. And Revelation 21 and 22, they are not merely restoration chapters. It is vindication. These are chapters of vindication and enthronement. This is the culmination of God completing what was already won at Calvary. A final victory over sin, a final victory over death and a people who he has claimed for himself who can endure, who can conquer. And you say, endure? Yes. This is an inheritance for those who have clung to the King amidst the chaos, not earning their salvation, but being made fit to reign with the King. Everything, everything in your past, everything claiming power in your presence, everything that will seek to enslave you in your future, all of it is forming the kind of person who can reign with Christ forever. And here's the key. without recreating the fall. Remember, what was Adam's purpose back in the garden? His purpose was to reign with God over God's creation. And he failed. Why did he fail? I think it's because he never knew suffering. He didn't know what sin and death looked like. He didn't know what being conquered by the enemy would do, and so he allowed himself to be overcome by the dragon, the serpent, as Revelation 12 reminds us he is. But his failure did not cast away the role that humanity was called to do. It simply left the role void of a suitor. until Jesus stepped in. And this is why Christ had to come to the earth to suffer. Have you ever read that odd verse in Hebrews where the writer talks about Jesus being made perfect through suffering? It's in Hebrews 2 verse 10 and it says, For it was fitting that he for whom and by whom all things exist in bringing many sons to glory should make the founder of their salvation perfect. suffering. Jesus, in his humanity, had to suffer, not only to understand the pain of sin and death, to be able to relate to you and me, but to prepare him in his humanity for the future reign. That is why he is tempted at the beginning of his ministry, because if he couldn't withstand that, he wouldn't have been fit for his future glory. So Hebrews 2 10 shows us that Through his suffering, he will bring many people to glory. But as it stands, we are not yet currently glorified. That will happen in the new heaven and the new earth. And that is why Paul writes in Romans, it's in chapter 18 verse 17, he says, if we are his children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided. We suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. Friends, our suffering by the grace of Jesus and the power of his blood is producing in us a character and a knowledge that will lead us to our future reign. And when you look across the scriptures, you see this. This this starts to just pop out everywhere. James, chapter one, verses two through four. Remember, he says, Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds. For you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. You, me, we are not yet perfect. We are not yet complete. But we will be. 1 Peter 2, 21 says, this you have been called because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might follow in his footsteps. He goes on later in chapter 14 verse 13, he says, but rejoice in so far as you share Christ's sufferings that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. That's end of the age language. Romans 8, 18, Paul writes, for I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing to the glory that is to be revealed in us. Second Corinthians 4, 17, for this light, momentary affliction is preparing us for an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison. See, only people formed by this ethic will be trusted with an eternal authority over creation, and Revelation 21 and 22 show that God finally looks at the pinnacle of His creation, who have been perfected by the suffering blood of Christ, and He states, them reign. Let them do the job they were created to do. And that's why Jesus says in Revelation 22, 12, He says, behold, I am coming soon. If you look on further in chapter 22, verse 12, behold, I am coming soon and I'm bringing with me my recompense to repay each one for what he has done. I'm coming soon, bringing my recompense with me to repay each one for what he has done. This is a reward. Some say that it's a reward, but the word is recompense. And that word is something that we rarely use, but it means compensation. It means a reward given for a loss or harm suffered or effort made. That's directly from the dictionary. I didn't make that up. But that word recompense brings this all together. You are currently being sanctified by Christ. so that in the new creation, your free will is healed and perfected in its desires and its longings so that you can reign in obedience. So the perspective shift for us all throughout the book of Revelation is that our view of heaven is not a return to Eden and a return to ignorant bliss. It moves beyond Eden. because of our faithfulness that has been forged through love, through suffering, through the word of our testimony, and through the clinging to the blood of the Lamb. And with that in mind, we start in verse 13 of 22. And we read on and we see Jesus say, I and the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and they may enter the city by the gates. The outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and I am the descendant of David, the bright and morning star. spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come and let the one who is thirsty come let the one who desires to take the water of life without price I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book if anyone adds to them God will add to him the plagues described in this book And if anyone takes away from the words of this book, of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city which are described in this book. He who testifies to these things says, surely I am coming soon. Amen. Come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. And so with that, we complete our study of this magnificent book that I hope anchors you even deeper to the love of God that is ours in Christ Jesus. And I want to leave you with some of the greatest words that have ever been formed and written down on paper. and as I read them... Just take it in, take in these words in light of our study through these sessions. And I think they're gonna take on a new meaning for you today. You'll probably recognize it right off the bat. What then? shall we say to these things? If God is for us. can be against us. He who did not spare his own son but gave him up for us all. How will he not also with him graciously give us all things? Who shall bring any charge against God's elect? It's God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Jesus Christ is the one who died. More than that, who was raised? who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us, who shall separate us from the love of Christ, shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword, as it is written. For your sake we are being killed all the day long, for we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered. No. in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. and all God's people said.