if you have your Bibles with you open them to the penultimate chapter in the last book of the Bible Revelation chapter 21 Revelation chapter 21 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 and it seems not only inescapable and inevitable but it seems imminent and it just weighs on us and it can make us hopeless there have been several such times in my own life and 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 at 16 those of you who know anything about my story you know I was I was born in and raised in South Central Los Angeles California and Drug infested gang infested South Central LA and by God's grace I I got out of there amen my cousin did not get out of there we grew up together I I was was an only child and until I was 14 he was the closest thing I had to a brother
and I left South Central and he didn't and at the age of 16 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 look 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 gospel to 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 55 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 55 related to that was my own recent brush with death interestingly enough my second heart surgery took place almost 15 years
to the day after my father's death from a massive corner and for all of us we we can't forget the pandemic I know that now we we look back at the F the pandemic and and now you know we're we're here and you know we're we're not afraid and you know we're we're 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 what are the numbers this morning and it made us aware death many if not most of us have lost people 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 hope in spite of the fact that you know
that is another no one gets a 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 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 21 we we have a 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 we're where we're clinging to life it it it it helps us to realize that you know we're clinging to something 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 a 200 10 model Mercedes and a 2020 model Mercedes I know you say Mercedes but you go and buy one and get that first car note and you be saying Mercedes payments are killing me [Applause] right and and so that new car
is is is qualitatively better amen there's nothing like it riding in that brand new 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 8 that famous passage beginning there at Verse 18 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 Bond bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the
glory of the children of God for we know that the whole creation has been groaning 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 1 Corinthians 15:42 to 44 so is it with the resurrection of the Dead what
is sown perishable what is RA what is swn rather is perishable what 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 heavens 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 1 and
Genesis chapter 2 and then there's the fall in Genesis chapter 3 and every 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 in Earth the Redemption is seen not only in what is present but in this text also what is absent the sea in it interesting he makes that point that the sea is no more what what is this a reference to well there are
a number of references here but if we look for example in other parts of Revelation and other parts of the scriptures especially Isaiah which which is relied on heavily here in Revelation 21 we we see this the sea as this place of cosmic evil Revelation 12:17 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 13 1 and I saw a beast
rising out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads with 10 diadems on his horns and blasphemous names on its heads Isaiah 57:20 but the wicked are like the tossing sea for it cannot be quiet and its Waters toss up M 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 20:3 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 see here is this ominous picture and again in Isaiah 51101 was it not you who dried up the sea the Waters of the great deep who made the depths of the sea a way 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 the 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 new 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 heavens and the new Earth or 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 no notice new heavens new Earth New Jerusalem no no 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 as a bride adorned for her husband this is this is not the Old Jerusalem fixed up amen this is a new thing coming down out of Heaven Revelation 12:17 or I'm sorry
uh Revelation 19 7 and 8 let us rejoice and exalt 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 21 he sees the holy city the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband dressed for herb husband dressed in what dressed in these fine Linens which are the Righteous Deeds of
the Saints so we see that this this New Jerusalem this bride of Christ is about the people who have been made righteous by Christ himself 2 Corinthians 11:2 for I feel a Divine jealousy for you since I 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 in Ephesians chapter 5 we we know it well husbands love your wives as Christ Lov 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 a new Heaven A New Earth a New Jerusalem and God's people will be redeemed and restored and made 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 void 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 in one sense we We There
is some truth to that I say that as a person who came to Faith late remember I I didn't hear the gospel till my first year at University and I got a Bible and I don't know why can't explain it but for some reason I thought it'd be a good idea to read the last book first not advisable I I didn't grow up in church I didn't have a 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 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 was 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 a pattern here there's this pattern of John seeing things and then hearing I 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 then 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 37: 26 and 28 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 21 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 temp Temple that there will be no separation of Our Lives where we we
we we we go and you know just 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 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 that there there is no ethnic division here in this New Jerusalem it this is the Fulfillment for of
of the abrahamic Covenant we see this in Genesis 12 1-3 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 trouble you believe in God believe also in me in my father's house are many rooms and I go and prepare a place for you why does you 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 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 bodies 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 2 Corinthians 4: 7-10 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 persecuted but not forsaken struck down but not destroyed always carrying in the body the death of Jesus so that the life of Jesus May 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 the zipper Club you know and you get your nice little scuff for the rest for the rest of your life you reminded of it every time you look in the mirror but that's not even 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 cars forever but there's a final piece the believer also has a hope of perfect Justice look at verses 5 through 8 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 his 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 1: 11 CH 14:3 chapter 19:9 these are punctuated moments the the whole thing is to be written down amen that that's that's what John was called to do I'm going to show you something and you're going to write it down and you're going to 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 the students to take notes and be prepared but every once in a while there's something that needs to be emphasized ized and you say to students who are already taking notes um 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 51:1 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 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 these individuals 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 18 with the great
prostitute Sorcerers idolators we've heard about that from the beginning of verse of of Revelation and Liars their portion is in the Lake of Fire what does all of this all of this mean 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 12 beloved 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 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 [Applause] 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 the last um surgery was in the hospital and Bridget had come and she had asked me for some things you know we we were responsible parents and and we had done a a will and everything before we moved to AKA but 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 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 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 been no problem but tomorrow they're going to 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 what 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 to which I responded I was 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 squar it away [Applause] 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 is 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 may God by his grace establish Us in these convictions that there will
be 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 healed in every way PR 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 up upholds all things by
the word of power The God Who is not surprised or caught 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 by 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 Rock and Our Redeemer in his name we pray amen [Music] [Music] [Music]
