Home Run! -- Loyal OK Peace UCC

Home Run!

Revelation 21:1-22-6

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then He said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars--their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. Here will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.

The angel said to me, "These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show His servants the things that must soon take place."

Our final goal as New Testament believers is a new, transformed and redeemed world where Christ lives with His people and righteousness dwells in holy perfection! In order to erase all traces of sin, the earth, stars and galaxies will be destroyed. Heaven and earth will be shaken and will vanish like smoke. The stars will be dissolved and the elements destroyed. The renewed earth will become the dwelling place of both human and God. All the redeemed will possess bodies like Christ's resurrection body - ones that are real, visible and tangible - but incorruptible and immortal!

The new heaven and the new earth will not be separate from each other; the earth of the saints, their glorified, bodies, will be heavenly. The world as we know it, with all its troubles and tumults, will have passed away. There will be no sea! Matthew Henry said, "This aptly represents freedom from conflicting passions, temptations, troubles, changes, and alarms; from whatever can divide or interrupt the communion of saints."

The New Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state, the church triumphant. Its blessedness came wholly from God, and depends on Him. The presence of God with His people in heaven will not be interrupted as it is on earth. He will dwell with them continually. All of our current troubles will be forgotten. Our tears will be wiped away by God Himself! Christ makes all things new.

Whatever price you and I have to pay as Christians, it will be worth it!

"He who overcomes will inherit all of this." Note verse 8... "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars - their place is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur."

They used to kid us that Sunday school and church were for "little kids, sissies and little old ladies." Now the world just ignores us and says that church does not offer them anything. Let me tell you, there will not be any "sissy Christians" in heaven! I often chuckle at the story of the Christian who liked to take his Bible to school. One day a bully was picking on him about being a sissy and weakling. The bully challenged the Christian to step outside and duke it out. The Christian replied, "Look, if you are so brave, you carry the Bible!"

21:4 "God will wipe every tear from their eye." The effects of sin... such as sorrow, pain, unhappiness and death are gone forever. The evil things of the first heaven and earth have completely passed away. Believers, although they will remember all things worth remembering, will evidently not remember those things that cause sorrow. Perhaps we will have an understanding heart.

The cowardly are those who fear the disapproval and threat of people more than they value loyalty to Christ and the truth of His Word. Their personal safety and status among others means more than faithfulness. Among the "cowardly" are those who compromise the gospel - they would rather accept a watered down truth than be willing to be disapproved of by others.

Please! Make it your goal to please God! All the rest will fall in place! Many churches today proclaim that is possible for a person to be a true child of God and an immoral person, liar, adulterer or murderer. Such people contradict the Word of God.

The "New Jerusalem" is called the Bride of Christ - the reference, of course, is to the people IN the New Jerusalem, just as we call this building "the church" when in reality we are talking about the PEOPLE IN the building.

This new city will be 1400 - 1500 miles square! If you drive from Oklahoma City to Los Angeles or Washington, DC, then 100 miles out into the ocean, then straight south that far, then straight up that far, you will have an idea of how big the New Jerusalem is! Verses 18-21 describe it beautifully.

The very radiance of God will light the place, and probably we will be pretty "bright" ourselves. Remember when Moses went back to the mountain to get a new set of the Ten Commandments after he broke the first tablets of stone? He had asked God to let him see God's glory. His face was so radiant when he came down the mountain that he had to put a veil over his face so he could talk to the people! (Exodus 34:33)

Rev 21:27 "Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."

In chapter 22 we are reintroduced to the tree of life... Adam and Eve were kicked out of the Garden of Eden after they sinned so they could not eat of this tree - otherwise they would have lived forever in a state of sin. There will be no more curse - Jesus became a curse for us so that we can overcome sin in this life... but now the reason to overcome (i.e., Satan) will be in the lake of fire that burns forever!

We will have the name of the Lord stamped on our foreheads... there will be no night there... and we will reign forever and ever!

If you have any doubts at all about making heaven, I would strongly recommend that you resolve those doubts right now. Jesus told the thief on the cross next to His, "today you will be with Me in paradise." Why? Because the thief made Jesus the Lord of his life.

Is He the Lord of your life?