The Dream Home

Intro

*Open with talking about theme rooms in Extreme Makeover: Home Edition*

What do you think about when you think about your dream home?

When we finally get to the end of Revelation, we are also at the very end of human history

Jesus has returned, He has conquered all things and people opposed to Him (including Satan and the beasts), He has judged all people righteously

Those who have their name written in the Lamb’s book of life get to move into their eternal dream home… this is our hope!

Pray

The Greatest Renovation

Revelation reveals that this eternal dream home is NOT brand new; it is the greatest renovation

Read Rev. 21:1; 5.

“All things new” vs. “all new things”

Creation is at the very beginning and the very end of Scripture (Garden of Eden imagery)

There is a river of life (Rev. 22:1)

There is the tree of life (Rev. 22:2)

No longer will anything be accursed (Rev. 22:3)

God has fully and completely re-made all that we had broken through our Fall, sin and shame

Cf. Romans 8:18-25.

Creation is now Re-Creation, made perfect, the way God has always intended it to be

This means that our eternal hope is much more… physical than we often think

*Refer to “I’ll Fly Away” lyrics*

Sure, we get to be with Christ and reign with Him once we die… but that is only temporary

Our eternal dream home is a resurrected and imperishable body in a renewed Creation

Cf. 1 Corinthians 15:42-44.

The greatest example is the resurrected Jesus (touch and feel, but also… teleport)

God’s Dream Home

This eternal dream home is not just ours… it is God’s too

What does God’s dream home look like? His dream home is dwelling with His people. He wants to be with us

Rev. 21:2-3.

God has ALWAYS wanted to dwell with His people; it has ALWAYS been His dream

Walking in the Garden with Adam and Eve (Gen. 3)

After the Fall, it’s like God’s dream home burned down

The Tabernacle became God’s dwelling place with His covenant people

Even set up camp with the Tabernacle in the centre

Solomon built a more permanent dwelling place for God in the Temple

Just like the Tabernacle, God’s glorious presence filled the Temple

At His birth, Jesus made His dwelling among us

“Tabernacled...” and we are going to unpack this more!

The NT teaches that in Christ, WE are the temple (dwelling place) of God

Not just individually, but together (God with His people)

Finally, in our eternal home, a holy God can truly be with His people

Made holy in Christ; nothing unholy can be part of this (Rev. 21:27)

John sees a few things that drive this point home: God is dwelling with His people

New Jerusalem measurements: (Read Rev. 21:15-16).

12,000 stadia x 12,000 x 12,000 = a cube… a huge cube

Do you know what else was a cube?

Read 1 Kings 6:20.

The New Jerusalem is the Holy of Holies… it is God’s dwelling place!

Further displayed in the splendor of New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:18-21)

Walls are full of precious gems, gates are made of pearl, streets are made of gold… all to show that God is present

Explain the “levels of holiness” in the Tabernacle: bronze -> silver -> gold

More beautiful the closer you get to God’s presence… God’s dream home is to dwell with His people

Our Dream Home

Our dream home is not so different… it is to be in God’s presence

Revealed in what the New Jerusalem is (in addition to being God’s Temple and presence)… it is the Bride of Christ

Read Rev. 21:2; 9-14.

Once again, John hears about a bride, but sees a city

This city has 12 gates that are the 12 tribes of Israel

Even arranged the same way as they camped around the tabernacle! (3 to the east, north, south and west)

God stays true to all his OT promises

The city has 12 foundations that are the 12 apostles

The New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, IS the entire people of God (past, present and future)

Sorry to break it to you, but there is no literal city

*Refer to free-falling in a cube, or walking streets of gold, or standing before the pearly gates (show picture)*

The point Revelation is trying to make is not where, but who:

Our dream home is to be in the presence of God in a completely renewed Creation, however that may look

To be in God’s presence is to have complete and full access to Him

Read Rev. 21:22-26.

There is no need to go to the Temple, because the Temple is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb.... wow!

There is no need of sun or moon, for the light of the new Creation is God’s glory… wow!

There is no need to shut the gates to the city (Holy of Holies), because we can ALWAYS be with God

At last, we can see His face (Rev. 22:4)

Never allowed before! Too holy! We would die… but not in our eternal dream home, because there we have been made holy too

Being in God’s presence provides us with everything we need

Rev. 21:4.

In this life, we will continue to experience all these things (don’t let anyone give you a false promise otherwise!)

But I look forward to the day in which mourning, crying, pain, sickness and death are no more

And that day is coming soon

Jesus is Coming Soon

We have learned a LOT over the last 11 weeks

We have learned about the Revelation of Jesus Christ: Who He truly is, what He has really done, what He is actually doing right now, and what we anticipate He will do

Revelation is NOT just a book concerned with the future, but with the present

Let’s put these lessons into practice!

Rev. 22:7.

Revelation IS a book that gives us great hope for a future, one that speaks into the struggles of today

Read Rev. 22:20-21.