Heaven: Why it Matters Now (Part 3)
Notes
Transcript
Please turn to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21, beginning at verses 22.
I think this text is very appropriate as we think about Mother’s Day—if you are new here, we have been going through the book of Revelation chapter by chapter, verse by verse.
and today’s passage continues our conversation about heaven—particularly the new heaven and the new earth.
and I think this text is appropriate—b/c on this day—we deal with grief…some of you as mothers have lost loved ones—family…some of you have lost your mom—a day like this makes you long for her. some of you miss your mom tremendously...
a passage like this reminds us of the hope that await all of us who are in Christ
....and if we don’t know Christ to turn to him so that we can be with Him forever.
Please stand as I read - this is the vision the Apostle John got from God
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 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.
24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
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.
1 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
2 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.
3 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.
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
5 There 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 for ever and ever.
What is heaven like? why does it matter?
so far we have said...
What is Heaven like:
No sea = shalom—everything is right. no more pain, chaos, disorder
marriage = intimacy with Jesus (the best marriages on earth pale in comparison to our intimacy with Jesus—they point us to him)
like children receiving an inheritance from their Father
last week - we said it it like the best city ever — the New Jerusalem - it’s a community, perfectly safe—worshipping Jesus.
today it is place with no temple.
look at Rev 21:22
22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
have you ever visited other countries and seen some of the elaborate temples and cathedrals—Japan, China, Thailand, India?
or perhaps if you go to a big city and see some of the ornate churches downtown....some of the churches that are over 100 to 200 years old—beautiful buildings...
there is something really interesting about visiting those places…a sense of transcendence, awe, majesty, grandeur, worship—holiness—even other temples from other religions, even though as a Christian we believe very differently—there is something seemingly sacred about it.
even the temple in Jerusalem—at the time of Jesus—it was a magnificent structure—added into by King Herod—some of these sacred sites took decades, centuries to build.
the disciples were even impressed by these buildings...
look at Mark 13:1
1 As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
so the fact that there is not a temple in the New Heaven and New Earth—may seem a little disappointing—b/c if any place would have the best temple structure ever—it’s got to be that!
if you get it to its core—what is the purpose of a temple: a place to meet with God
Here is another way to put it:
Temple: where God and human beings dwell together
I want you to think of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation…if we have that definition of a temple—where is the first place…where the idea of God dwelling with man shows up?
answer?
Garden of Eden…(Genesis 1-2)
in fact, look at Genesis 2:15 (before sin enters the world)
Genesis 2:15 (NIV)
15 The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work (avad) it and take care of it (shamar).
work it, take care of it…same Hebrew verbs as used to describe the priests who served in the tabernacle or temple
Numbers 3:7 (NIV)
7 They are to perform (shamar— same word as take care of it) duties for him and for the whole community at the tent of meeting by doing the work (same word) of the tabernacle.
so it’s like Adam and Eve are priests, meeting and dwelling with God perfectly in the Garden Temple
it’s amazing! can you imagine!
2. Sin: Kicked out of the temple - But sin disrupted it — Genesis 3. Adam and Eve chose to rebel against God—putting themselves in the place of God (that’s what sin is), and they are kicked out of the first temple--
24 After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.
and outside of God’s presence, there are tremendous consequences—all is not right. we are broken with God, others, ourselves, and creation. pain and suffering.
and the rest of the Bible is driven by this question—of we need to dwell with God for life but how do we do it, now that sin is here?
3. The tabernacle (a portable temple) (Exodus 25 - 40)(lev. 16)
the next major space in the Biblical text we see the temple show up is the tabernacle.
You see—the Israelites were slaves in Egypt for 400 plus years—but God sent Moses to deliver them from slavery in Egypt, and lead them into the Promised Land!
and God enters into a special relationship with them at Mt. Sinai where he gives them his law and how to be in relationship with them.
as part of that, he makes a way for them to dwell with Him
and it involves this thing called the tabernacle. this tent structure—a portable temple.
now, if you read about the tabernacle—it is in Exodus chapters 25 - 40. God gave elaborate instructions how to dwell with him
it is built with gold and richly colored fabrics—beautiful—fit for a king.
it is furnished with special furniture—a table for food, the ark of teh covenant, a lampstand.
God was said to dwell with his people in the tabernacle
and the tabernacle was divided into 2 sections—the holy place (where only priests could enter), and the most holy place, where only the High priest could enter once a year—and he went in there on the Day of Atonement to offer blood animal sacrifices for the people’s sin where the Ark of the Covenant was—God was said to dwell with his people there.
God set up this entire system of tabernacle, priests, sacrifices, law—it is overwhelming!
It’s why many of us stop reading our Bible.
Our Bible is pretty interesting in Genesis and half of Exodus—but when you get past that—you start reading all these rules and regulations—God had an entire tabernacle and temple system to show that if you are going to approach God you have to do it his way.
this is the old covenant system.
and God’s presence—the cloud was seen to dwell in this tabernacle
4. Temple - King Solomon — (1 Kings 6-8)
eventually that tabernacle was replaced by the temple in Jerusalem—built by the son of King David—Solomon. it is magnificent—glorious! Incredible!
God’s presence fills the temple when Solomon prays for it and dedicates it.
this is the high point of the OT
God’s people are in the land, with a king in David’s line, with a beautiful temple…with God’s law.
surely now—God will dwell with man, right?
no—they rebel against God, including the king.
the entire people struggle to follow God.
5. Babylon destroys the temple (Jeremiah 52) and temple is rebuilt (Ezra)
so God has the Babylonians come in and destroy the temple--
Ezekiel the prophet shows God’s presence leaving this temple in the OT
eventually — God, under his grace, brings his pe ople back to Jerusalem.
They rebuild the temple and the city—just read Ezra and Nehemiah.
but the rebuilt city and rebuilt temple just are not as glorious as before. the prophets had predicted an awesome temple in the future—but these are not it! (end of Ezekiel — I don’t think a new temple will be built someday in Jerusalem — )
6. Jesus Christ
fast forward to Jesus Christ.
Look at how the NT describes Jesus
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
that idea of dwelling—it’s literally the word he came and tabernacled among us.
just as God dwelt with his people in the OT in the tabernacle and temple—he now dwells with us—but bodily, in the flesh—in the eternal Son of God who added humanity to his existing divinity!
look at John 2:18-21
18 The Jews then responded to him, “What sign can you show us to prove your authority to do all this?”
19 Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”
20 They replied, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?”
21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,
If the temple is the place where God dwells with man—Jesus himself is the place—being fully God and fully man—where God dwells with man. In Him—He is the temple—where God and man come together.
and through his sacrificial death on the cross—he enables us to dwell with God by faith in Him—through Him—the ultimate temple. In Jesus, we dwell with God!
one of the most startling things that happened, when Jesus was hanging on the cross...
50 And when Jesus had cried out again in a loud voice, he gave up his spirit.
51 At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook, the rocks split
that is the temple in front of the Most Holy Place---that ripping is showing that we now have access to God in a way they didn’t have before—because Jesus---
and he is the perfect priest—who Hebrews says entered the heavenly temple when He died and rose again. He is the perfect sacrifice...
and when you I believe in Jesus Christ—when we believe that He is who the Bible says He is—that we are sinners, in need of Him to save us by his life, death on the cross and resurrection...
when we surrender to Jesus and his kingdom kingdom...
the Bible says this:
6. You are a temple individually (1 Cor. 6:19-20)
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
it’s amazing! our bodies, they become places where God lives in us by His Spirit...
don’t take that for granted...
One of my friends recently posted this on FB--
When we get to heaven and ask Moses what was it like to part the Red Sea, or King David—what it was like to slay the giant Goliath—they will turn to us—and ask what was it like to have the Holy Spirit living inside of you on earth?
we have a tremendous advantage where all of Christ’s benefits are applied to us by the Holy Spirit...
Moses in the OT longed for this--
29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”
that is true of us today—all of us have God’s spirit in and on us—the moment you believe in Jesus Christ—we become a temple
7. we are a temple as a church community (1 Cor. 3:16-17)
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
God’s dwelling place is not just us individually in Christ—but as a community--
4 As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—
5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
God is dwelling with us together in the same way he would dwell in the most holy place once a year on the day of atonement—He does that now all the time in us individually and especially collectively...
8. the New heaven and new earth
there is no temple needed…(vs. 22)
look back a few verses.
15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
16 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.
17 The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick.
this city is as wide, and long, and high—same dimensions—built like a cube...
that’s an oddly shaped city...
but we know in the tabernacle and temple—the most holy place where the ark of the covenant was—where God would dwell with His people—was built like that.
God is telling John and us—that the entire city—the entire new heaven and new earth—we together in heaven are a dwelling lace where God meets with his people.
and if you look at verse 18 and following—
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
and so on...
all of these 12 gemstones—were used in the breastplate that the high priest wore, representing the people—showing us again—that we don’t have to be a high priest—that the entire city —we as the beautiful, multi-cultural people of God—have access to God fully.
so…what does this mean for us now....
individually - If I am a place where God dwells by is Spirit...
what does that say about me now?
Do I realize that I have the presence of the living God inside of me? Do I remember that everyday? It’s easy to get overwhelmed, down and frustrated…but that’s amazing!
my identity? where do I find it? is it my performance, success, comfort, what other people think—or is it the fact that I am a temple of the living God...
how I treat my body? what I think about my body?
earlier in 1 Corinthians 6:18-20
18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body.
19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.
as a Community:
how are we thinking about the Body of Christ—oh I have to go to church—but church is not so much a place—but a people, gathered together for the purpose of seeking Jesus and glorifying Jesus together.
how we are treating everybody...
16 Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?
17 If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy that person; for God’s temple is sacred, and you together are that temple.
how can you and I appreciate grow with Christ now?
if we are places where God dwells by His Spirit...
how can we appreciate that now?
how can we look forward to and long for the day when we will dwell with God by His Spirit?
how can you and I develop that relationship NOW?
(ADD some Hebrews 9 stuff?)
this passage summarizes our Savior Jesus Christ---
1 Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary.
2 A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand and the table with its consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place.
3 Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place,
4 which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron’s staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
5 Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover. But we cannot discuss these things in detail now.
6 When everything had been arranged like this, the priests entered regularly into the outer room to carry on their ministry.
7 But only the high priest entered the inner room, and that only once a year, and never without blood, which he offered for himself and for the sins the people had committed in ignorance.
8 The Holy Spirit was showing by this that the way into the Most Holy Place had not yet been disclosed as long as the first tabernacle was still functioning.
9 This is an illustration for the present time, indicating that the gifts and sacrifices being offered were not able to clear the conscience of the worshiper.
10 They are only a matter of food and drink and various ceremonial washings—external regulations applying until the time of the new order.
11 But when Christ came as high priest of the good things that are now already here, he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not made with human hands, that is to say, is not a part of this creation.
12 He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, thus obtaining eternal redemption.
13 The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean.
14 How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!
skip down...
23 It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.
24 For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made with human hands that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God’s presence.
25 Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own.
26 Otherwise Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But he has appeared once for all at the culmination of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.
we have that now—in anticipation of the new heaven and new earth—
are we standing amazing in Christ?