Revelation 10

Remind people about

the 10th Birthday Celebration on Dec 11th - Please RSVP so we can cater

10am here.. gonna be awesome!

no PM gathering this date.

Ministry Team Thank you - Dec 10th - Please RSVP too!

6pm @ Edwardstown Bowling

Tithing

please do it.

Baby Dedications!

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Revelation 21:1–22:5 (CSB)

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. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” He then 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, arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The city had a massive high wall, with twelve gates. Twelve angels were at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes of Israel’s sons were inscribed on the gates. There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The city wall had twelve foundations, and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb were on the foundations.

The one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out in a square; its length and width are the same. He measured the city with the rod at 12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the angel used. The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold clear as glass. The foundations of the city wall were adorned with every kind of jewel: the first foundation is 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, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

I did not see a temple in it, because the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. Its gates will never close by day because it will never be night there. They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.

What we’ve been seeing through the letter of revealing Jesus is that it’s not primarily a book about end times

it’s not here for us to look to events in our day and try to draw lines from them to the signs of revelation,

Rather it’s to look BACK at how God has delivered His people over and over and over again; how He’s doing it now, and how He’ll ultimately do it in the end.

Typology we saw in “the royal line” series a few years ago - foreshadowing and promise of the one who was to come.

We see the same in the revealing!

Over and over again we have types of deliverance, types of promised land, types of enemies of God, and types of God crushing them And bringing His people Back to Himself.

Rev is the culmination of all of what has come before, so that we TODAY can trust in God.

“All good things must…” what?

come to an end?

No! It’s the opposite of that!

ONLY good remains.

Remember the visions of heaven we’ve seen so far in Rev? How majestic and amazing it is?! Now it’s gone, and been replaced with something MORE glorious!

Let’s see some of the features of the new city:

Like the beginning of the Bible, we see a new creation

Like the beginning, in the new beginning we have a marriage

Like in the beginning, in the new beginning we have God walking with His people in the cool of the day

As in the beginning, we have light for the day and night, but it’s not the sun and moon, but God Himself

As in Eden, we have a river running through

As in the beginning we have the tree of life giving immortality.

We’ve mentioned before in other sermons that Eden wasn’t perfect, but it was flawless.

God put the first humans there to work it, and to flourish, and fill the earth with the image of God… only, they needed to trust in God, and not take wisdom into their own hands to rule themselves!

But when we rebelled and took the fruit of self-governance, the ground was cursed.

22:3 there will no longer be any curse

The curse is reversed!

In the garden comes the promise that the seed of the woman will crush evil, now in the new city NO evil can enter, because “it is done”! The seed HAS crushed the serpent!

Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

God doesn’t take us out of this world into an immaterial heaven forever; He makes this world into what He wanted from the start.

It’s not “all new things”, it’s “all things new!”

more features of the new city in the new creation:

No more sea

no division of nations

No chaos (denoted by the sea), but the created order of God.

Remember what was in the beginning in genesis 1:2? The watery depths.. chaos, from which God brought the order of creation.

the trees of life on either side of the river of life, who’s leaves are for healing of the nations

Ezekiel’s prophecy (ch. 30-38)

The name of the city is “YHWH is there”

YHWH shammah

City is a cube

2200km wide, long, and high!

that’s from here to Perth!

remember this is an apocalyptic symbol! It’s NOT giving us the architectural plans of the new city, it’s telling us what the city IS!

the only other cube in scripture is the holy of holies in the tabernacle and temple… where God dwelled.

where we couldn’t go before, into the holiest place, but only a representative on our behalf; now that we have the greater and true representative in Jesus, we all get to go there and live there with God.

it’s not a small room any longer, it’s astonishingly massive!!

“They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.”

imagine the grief, crying, pain, and death experienced just by those in a room this size

the death of loved ones, even this week for some.

the loss of children

the grief of strained or broken relationships

the disappointment of missed opportunities

the tears of frustration at injustice

none of these will be I’m the new city

Zechariah’s prophecy “the streets will be filled with the sound of children playing there”

contrast to the judgement last week, where there is no sound outside the city… no joy.. no laughter.. nothing.

But in the city of the Lamb, the kids laughter fills the streets.

I’m looking forward to meeting some of my kids who died in the womb, and laughing along with them in the streets of the new city.

But best of all… we will see Jesus.

the new earth isn’t glorious because our loved ones in Christ will be there (although that will be amazing!)

It’s glorious because God is there!

Sometimes hear people say things like “when I get to heaven, I’m gonna ask God “why did you allow suffering”, or “explain mosquitoes or cats”

No, you wont. You’ll get to be with God in His glory, and YOU will be in glory!

We will see His face

The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.

even the most glorious & powerful creatures in heaven hide their eyes from the overwhelming glory of Gods; they have wings to protect their face.

the biggest Old Testament prophets whom”saw God” only ever saw the train of His robe, or the remnants as He passed by

But we will see His face and live

Not because His glory is in any way diminished!

But because we who are united to Him in Christ will be ourselves glorified.

“the Lord God will give them light, and THEY will reign forever and ever”.

we will reign with Him forever and ever.

Who isn’t in the new city?

“The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

There are two streams

There are two streams

- the river of life, which leads to immortality

all those in the lambs book of life, who have trusted in Jesus and His finished work

lake of fire, which is the second and final death

All those who don’t trust in Jesus, but are justly judged on their own works will die.

even death is thrown in there; so there is no more death

Both streams come from God’s throne - justice and mercy

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Sermon on the mount

store up for yourselves treasure in heaven

Where your treasure is, there your heart is.