The Hope Of Heaven

If you have your Bibles with you, open them to the penultimate chapter in the last book of the Bible, Revelation Chapter twenty one, Revelation Chapter twenty one. And our title as we finish is the Believer's Hope of Heaven. We've talked a lot about the Church militant and triumphant, and we spent a great deal of time looking at this age and stage and era and time of militancy. But now we look at pure triumph. Where are we headed? Where are we going? Where does it all end? How does it all end? You know, death is a constant companion to the living. Its presence becomes more and more prominent as the years go by. It's always there, but we don't always recognize it. But sometimes death looms large. It seems not only inescapable and inevitable, but it seems imminent, and it just weighs on us and its hopeless. There have been several such times in my own life. In each of these situations that I faced that caused me to think differently about death were not unique to me. Others have faced similar situations and have had death become more real to them as a result. The first was the death of my cousin, the cousin that I had grown up with. He died at sixteen. Those of you who know anything about my story, you know I was born and raised in south central Los Angeles, California, and drug infested, gang infested South central LA. And by God's grace, I got out of there. Amen. My cousin did not get out of there. We grew up together. I was an only child till I was fourteen. He was the closest thing I had to a brother. And I left South Central and he didn't. And at the age of sixteen, he was gunned down in a drug deal that went bad. And it was the first time that I went to a funeral, and all of a sudden, as a teenager, who's invincible? I looked down into the casket of my teenage cousin, who shortly before that I would have thought was also invincible. But he was gone, and it changed the way I thought about death. I wasn't a believer at the time. I didn't hear the Gospels of my first year in university, so there was hopelessness and despair. The second time that this loomed large was was when my father died at the age of fifty five. Now, I'll never forget that. I didn't grow up with my father, but I knew my father and God had restored a relationship between me and my father. My father had come to faith, and I actually had the privilege of discipling my father when he was a new believer, and then God took him at fifty five. Related to that was my own recent brush with death. Interestingly enough, my second heart surgery took place almost fifteen years to the day after my father's death from a massive coronary And for all of us, we can't forget the pandemic. I know that now we look back at the pandemic and now you know we're here, and you know we're not afraid, and you know we're upset because of things that were told to us. But when that thing first came and they had the ticker going every day and they're saying millions are going to die, you don't have to tell me. I know you were going online checking that thing. What's the what are the numbers this morning? And it made us aware death. Many, if not most, of us, have lost people in the last couple of years of the pandemic. These are the kinds of events that remind us that no one gets out alive, that the death rate is one per person, Amen somebody. So where do we find hope in such times? How do we find hope in those times? Because again, knowing that death will come to us all is one thing, But having a hope in spite of the fact that you know that is another. No one gets a diagnosis, a terminal diagnosis, and then high fives the doctor, and so there is this tension. Right for me to live as Christ but to die is gain. There is this tension. So how do we have hope in the midst of this tension? And I believe here in Revelation twenty one we have a wonderful answer to that question. Four things I want us to see here in this text. First, that the believer has hope of a world that is better than this one. We have hope of a world that's better than this one. And that's incredibly important because it helps us to realize in those moments where where we're clinging to life. It helps us to realize that you know, we're clinging to some when God has promised us something better, we cling to it because this is what we know but God has promised us something better. Look at the first two verses. 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 down out of Heaven from God prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. What an incredible sight. The new Heaven and the new Earth. This is a qualitative statement. They're qualitatively better than the old Heaven and the old Earth, but not qualitatively better. Like you know, a twenty ten model Mercedes and a twenty twenty model Mercedes. I know you say, Mercedes, if you go and buy one and get that first car note and you'll be saying, Mercedes payments are killing me, right, And so that new car is qualitatively better. Hey man, there's nothing like it riding in that brand new car, just nothing like it until the next year. That's not what's in mind here. The idea here is is not just that this is something that's better, but that this is something that this first Heaven and first Earth were pointing to. It is the fulfillment, it is the reality. It is the ultimate hope, and there's nothing better coming after the new Heaven and the new Earth. It's as good as it gets, because it is the redemption of the heavens and the Earth. Paul captures a bit of this sense of anticipation in Romans chapter eight, famous passage beginning there at verse eighteen, where he writes, for I consider the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed in us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been growning together in the pains of childbirth until now, and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit grown inwardly. As we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons the redemption of our bodies. There is this close relationship between the redemption that we await, the redemption of our bodies, the ultimate redemption of our bodies and the redemption that the earth experiences Firs. Corinthians, fifteen forty two to forty four. So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown perishable? What is so own? Rather it is perishable, is raised, is imperishable. It is sown in dishonor it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. And in like fashion, the new Heaven and the new Earth is this redemption of what has been fallen and corrupted. There is a sense in which we see the creation of the world in Genesis chapter one, in Genesis chapter two, and then there's the fall in Genesis chapter three. And ever since that fall, not only man but the world itself has been subjected to corruption. And here we see that that corruption will end, and there will be not a better heaven and a better Earth, but a new redeemed heaven and earth. The redemption is seen not only in what is present, but in this text also what is absent. The sea. An interesting he makes that point that the sea is no more. What is this a reference to? Well, there are a number of references here. But if we look, for example, then other parts of Revelation and other parts of the scriptures, especially Isaiah, which is relied on heavily. Here in Revelation twenty one, we see the sea as this place of cosmic evil Revelation twelve seventeen. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea in thirteen to one, and I saw a beast rising out of the sea with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on his horns, and blasphemous names on its heads Isaiah fifty seven to twenty. But the wicked are like the tossing sea, for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. But not only that, but the sea is also understood to be the place of the dead, that the sea will give up its dead at the end of the age Revelation twenty, verse thirteen. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it death, and hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them according to what they had done. So the sea here is this, this ominous picture. And again in Isaiah fifty one ten and eleven, was it not you who dried up the sea the waters of the great deep, who made the depths of the sea away? For the redeemed to pass over, and the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with singing, everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away because there's no sea. It's not just about what's present, but it's also about what's absent, and we'll see that again later in the text. The new Heaven and the Earth do not include such threats. There are no ominous things in the new Heaven and the New Earth. There is nothing to fear in the new Heaven and the New Earth. All of those things that currently characterize the sufferings that we endure and the corruptions that we endure will be gone. They will be no more, They will not be present, they will not be part of the new Heaven and the New Earth. And then there's the new Jerusalem. Notice, new Heaven, new Earth, new Jerusalem. Notice how we get smaller and closer and focused in, and now we get to the New Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem, this bride that comes down out of heaven. Look at the text again, and I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared a bride adorned for her husband. This is not the old Jerusalem fixed up. Amen, this is a new thing coming down out of heaven. Revelation twelve seventeen, or I'm sorry, Revelation nineteen seven and eight. Let us rejoice and exult and give him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure. For the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. Notice what he says here in twenty one. He sees the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, dressed for her husband, dressed in what dressed in these fine linens, which are the righteous deeds of the saints. So we see that this new Jerusalem, this bride of Christ is about the people who have been made righteous by Christ himself two Corinthians eleven to two. For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I've betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. This new Heaven, this new Earth, with its righteous people who have also been made new. We see a picture of this, and Ephesian chapter five. We know it well, husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the Church and also gave himself up for her, Why that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish, preparing her for this day, making her ready for this day. That is our hope. Our hope is that God is going to restore all things. There will be new heaven and new Earth and new Jerusalem, and God's people will be redeemed and restored and make completely righteous folks. This place is not our home. It was never meant to satisfy us, and it never will. And yet we cling to it. We cling to it number one, because it's all we know. But we also cling to it number two because we do not allow ourselves to be encouraged by truths like this as much as we ought to. You know, there are a lot of Christians, many Christians, who actually avoid the Book of Revelation. We just think it's so mysterious and there's just you know, we can't get anything out of it. Now. In one sense, we there is some truth to that. I say that as a person who came to faith late. And remember I heard the Gospel to my first year at university and I got a Bible, and I don't know why. Can't expl blame it, but for some reason I thought it'd be a good idea to read the last book first. Not advisable. I didn't grow up in church. I didn't have reference point. But when we know and love the Word and are familiar with the Word, make sure that we know and love the whole word and are familiar with the whole word, and don't run away from this book because it is meant to encourage the people of God in the midst of dark and trying days. Not only do we have hope of a better world, that is to come. But more importantly than that, we have hope of a life in the presence of God himself. That that's more significant. Amen new Heaven, new Earth awesome, But new Heaven, new Earth without the New Jerusalem coming down as this bride who is prepared to spend eternity with God himself, then it wouldn't really matter how new this heaven and this earth were. Verse three, And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. Notice that we've gone from And then I saw, and then I saw to now I heard. So there's a there's a pattern here. There's this pattern of of John seeing things and then hearing, either from God or from an angel, an explanation of the things that he just saw. I saw this thing and it was incredible. I saw this thing and it was glorious. It was wonderful, and men, somebody explained to me what I just saw. And here is the point of it all. The point of it all is that this is a dwelling place for God. And his people, that he will dwell with his people, and that God himself will be with them as their God. I'm astonished by the fact that everybody wants to go to heaven, but a large percentage of them don't want Jesus. Amen. There are people who want nothing to do with Jesus and nothing to do with the Church, but they want to go to heaven when they die. It makes no sense whatsoever, because ultimately heaven is about a place where we will dwell with our God, with our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Ezekiel thirty seven, Verses twenty six and twenty eight give us a wonderful picture of this. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them. And I will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place shall be with them. I will be their God. They shall be my people. Again. You hear these obviously, Obviously John is alluding to this in Revelation twenty one. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord who sanctifies Israel. When my sanctuary is in the midst or is in their midst forever. We learn later on that there's no temple in the New Jerusalem. No temple why because this dwelling place is with us, there is no need for a temple, that there will be no separation of our lives. Where we go and you know six days of the week that we go and that we labor, and then we come on that seventh day. And that seventh day is that day that we come and have the Lord's Day, and we have no every day. Every day is the Lord's day. Every day is dwelling in the presence of God. Every day is communion with God himself, perfect unbroken communion with God himself. That is what we anticipate. That is what our hope is. Beloved. If you don't love God's place and God's people, now what makes you think not only that you're going to inherit a place with God and God's people forever, but what makes you think that you belong there? Just a thought? But I also want you to notice that this New Jerusalem is not like the old Jerusalem, in that the old Jerusalem is this people where this place where you know, God's people, the nation of Israel dwell but This new Jerusalem is a place where all God's people dwell. There is no ethnic division here in this new Jerusalem. This is the fulfillment of the Abrahamic Covenant. We see this in Genesis twelve one through three. Now the Lord said to Abram, go from your country and your kindred and your father's house, to the land that I will show you, and I will make you a great nation. And I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed. This is the believer's hope, not any particular group of people's hope. This is the believer's hope. Why is it our hope? Jesus answers that question. Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me. In my father's house many rooms, and I go and prepare a place for you. Why does it go and prepare a place for us, so that where he is we may be. Also, this is about perfect communion with God. This is not just about streets of gold. Amen. By the way, that's symbolic. It won't matter. Trust me. Anybody who could get to heaven and be disappointed if there's not literal gold streets ain't going to heaven. Thirdly, the believer has hope of complete healing, and the older you are the bigger amen that gets. But I don't just mean the healing of your body. Look at verse four. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Now this hearkens back to verse one. In verse one, listen carefully. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Here the former things had passed away. And then he says, and the sea was no more. Here he says, death shall be no more. So there's a connection here. There are things that God is doing away with. God is doing away with death, but he's also doing away with all of those things that plague us number one in this current heaven and this current earth, and number two in these current bodies. And he's not just talking about physically. Our body's being made new, and these ailments being taken care of. Although that's good, Amen. But notice he's talking about mourning being gone, and crying being gone, and pain being gone, and he's not talking about arthritis, although that too. Seven Corinthians four, seven to ten. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed but not driven to despair, persecute it but not forsake, and struck down but not destroyed, always carrying the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. But there will come a day when that is no more. You know, it's interesting everybody talks about, you know, you have heart surgery, and you talk about joining in the zipper club, you know, and you get your nice little for the rest for the rest of your life. You're reminded of it every time you look in the mirror. But that's not That's not even the only one. There are other pieces of that whole puzzle. And every once in a while I'll get a glimpse of something and I'll just be reminded. And all of us have those things, but we'll be freed from all of that, And not just the visible scars, but the invisible ones as well, the ones that bring tears and mourning and pain, those things too will be gone. We all have scars, but when the believer has a hope of heaven, they don't define us. Our hope does. And this is the beauty of the joy that we have. We won't bear these scars forever. But there's a final piece. The believer also has a hope of perfect justice. Look at verses five through eight. 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 springs of the water of life, without payment to the one who conquers. He will have this heritage, and I will be as God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolators and liars. Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. This is the fourth time that John is told to write something down. Chapter one, verse eleven, Chapter fourteen, verse three, Chapter nineteen, verse nine. These are punctuated moments. The whole thing is to be written down. Amen, that's what John was called to do. I'm gonna show you something, and you're gonna write it down, and you're gonna tell But every once in a while there is a point of emphasis where he's told, write this down, like a professor giving a lecture who expects his students to take notes and be prepared. But every once in a while there's something that needs to be emphasized, and you say, to students who are already taking notes, write this down. And that's what happens here. The declaration that these words are trustworthy and true are coupled with the identification of God himself as the I Am, as the Alpha, and as the Omega, as the beginning and the end. These things are trustworthy and true because of who God is. The believer has a hope of heaven. Because our hope comes from God himself. We don't have hope because somebody flatlined for a few minutes and then came back and wrote a book. We have hope because of the words that we find in God's book. Our hope is rooted in the very nature of God himself. Isaiah fifty one to one. Come everyone who thirsts, come to the waters. And he who has no money, come by and eat. Come by wine and milk, without money and without price. Those first two promises are important. The one who's thirsty will be given from the springs of water without payment. Amen. The one who conquers God will make him a son. And both of those things have the same idea, this idea that those who come to faith in Christ and those who those who endure by God's grace des viduals will be rewarded at the end of the age. Amen. But it's just as important to remember that individuals who have been listed throughout the Book of Revelation, the cowardly, which is the opposite of the one who conquers the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral. We've heard all about this in Revelation eighteen with the great prostitute, sorcerers, idolators, we've heard about that from the beginning verse of Revelation, and liars their portion. It's in the lake of fire. What is all this, What all of this means with what all this means is that there will be justice at the end of the age. And that's good news. That is why Paul could tell us in Romans twelve, but love, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God. For it is written vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Not everything will be made right in the here and now, but it will be made right. And be very careful with that, because we do have this tendency to want justice out there and to want justice right now, to want perfect justice right now. Know this perfect justice will come. If we all got what we deserved last night, there wouldn't have been a session this morning. But perfect justice will come. And that's what our hope is as believers, that God will make all things right. And God making all things right is different than God making all things like I want them. But that will be made right. We will inhabit a new Heaven and a new Earth and the new Jerusalem. We will spend eternity in perfect communion with our perfect God, we will experience perfect healing and wholeness, and there will be perfect justice. These things are not in doubt. And it's interesting, why is it? Why is it that we can hope in these things? Because God identifies himself not only as the I Am, but as the Alpha and the Omega, as the beginning and the end, you know, as a father, one of the things that I've learned to do is be very careful about making promises amen, because there are times when I simply cannot do what I had every intention of doing. And children, all children come equipped with this special monitor that allows them to remember with perfect recall, any and all promises that you make them, Which is why the wise father learns to say, Lord willing, amen, Daddy's going to do his best. But why because we can neither foresee nor control the circumstances that lie ahead of us, and because of that, we can't make promises. And so our children come to know that, and they get disappointed in knowing that. And what they are mindful of is that we are finite, and that as much as we would love to do everything for them that we say, we are not in control. And therefore we will fail at times. God is not like that. He is the Alpha and the Omega, and the beginning and the end. He is not saying this is your hope of heaven, God willing. He's saying, this is your hope of heaven. I'm God so beloved. As you face your trials and your temptations, and as you come to those moments in your life where death looms larger than usual, hold on to this hope. I remember it was the night before the last surgery. Was in the hospital and Bridget had come and she had asked me for some things. You know, we were responsible parents, and we had done a will and every everything before we moved to Lusaka, but we hadn't really done much of that since then, and things are a lot different than they were. And so the night before my surgery, my dear wife sits down and broaches the subject that no one wants to approach, and she says, listen, I need some stuff from you. And I said I'll do it. And so I made the plan to just write down all the things that she would need if it didn't go the way we hoped it would go. She came back a while later and she said, Babe, did you do it? And I said, I don't think I can. She said why. I said, well, if you had come to me, you know, a few months ago, and we said we need to sit down and we need to do this, there'd been no problem. But tomorrow they're gonna put me to sleep, crack open my chest, stop my heart, fix it, hope it starts up again. And I just feel like doing this right now. It's just I don't even want I can't even tell you what it feels like to do. I just I just don't know that I can do it. And my dear, sweet loving wife asks me, where's your hope mhm, to which I was responded, I was just waiting until you came to that I can do it now. I just wanted to make sure that before I did it, that that you were squared away theologically. But here's the thing, Saints, when you're staring at death, that's not the moment to get your hope squared away. The time to get your hope squared away now, because when those moments come, we don't have time to develop a theology of heaven. What we do is react and respond out of the deep convictions that have already been established, and make God, by his grace establish us in these convictions. That there will be a new Heaven, and a new Earth, and a new Jerusalem, and that we will inhabit that place with God in perfect communion with our perfect God. That we will be healed and completely and perfectly heal in every way, and that perfect justice will indeed come. That's the believer's hope of heaven. Let's pray, Gracious God, our heavenly Father, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the God who made the world and everything in it, The God who sustains the world, the God who is sovereign over all things and upholds all things by the word is Power, the God who is not surprised or off guard by anything. And our great God who will bring perfect redemption at the end of the age. God, we bow before you as a humble and grateful people, and pray and ask that you would buy your grace root us and ground us in the hope of heaven. For we ask this in the name of our great bridegroom, the one who died to redeem us, who has gone to make a place for us, and who will return and receive us unto himself, and that name that is above every name, the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, our roc and our Redeemer. And his name we pray Amen.