Revelation 21:5-8 "Dwelling with God" 2

Introduction

A few weeks ago we began looking at the pinnacle of our inheritance being God as our God and us being His people for all of eternity.

There will be a new heavens and a new earth and the glory of the Kingdom of God in Christ will be established for eternity. (Kingdom Imagery Rev. 22:14-15)

In our text this morning we see that Christ, as He is seated on His throne, declares the dynamic of this glory and we find that it is all rooted back in Him. Look at verses 5-6 as we see the glory of the benevolence that is bestowed upon us.

I. The Glory of the Benevolence (5-6).

All of what God has done and all that God is doing through Christ is initiated by Him as an expression of Sovereign grace.

God is making all things new through Christ. That is the hallmark of redemption’s story. God regenerates and He works His restorative grace in the transformation of the old to the new through Christ.

This is the current dynamic being spiritually lived out now in the lives of true believers. The dead have been brought to life and are being sanctified from the old man into the new man.

In the future when Christ returns and the trumpet sounds we will be changed in the twinkling of an eye and we will be like Him (I Cor. 15:51-52).

Eternity will be a complete transformation.

The Lord Jesus declares His identity in verse 6 as the Alpha and the Omega. This is a reference to the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

He does this to identify Himself as the beginning and the end. He has the authority to set the parameters of all things. He is the basis of all existence, order and structural limitations.

You can see similar statements in Revelation 1:8, 18; 22:13.

Remember that Colossians 1:16 tells us that all things were created by Christ and for Christ. I promise you, because Scripture declares it, that eternity will bear this out to a greater degree than we can even imagine.

Remember, “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (I Cor. 2:9)

Even evil, death and the grave will testify to this in the end when Christ is glorified in their destruction.

Christ is the one who benevolently bestows this upon us without cost to us. He gives us us drink from the water of life without cost to us. He is the basis of our eternal life.

It is without cost to us, but it cost, and He paid it on our behalf. Our King died in our place to secure our redemption and to set us in the place of blessing before God.

And that blessing is not just the spiritual and material blessings of our salvation. But it is the glory of the future aspects of that as well that will be revealed in our eternal inheritance. Look back to your text at verses 7-8:

II. The Glory of the Inheritance (7-8).

What is the Lord Jesus referring to when he says “this heritage” in verse 7?

All that the eternal state entails but especially the barrier being removed and the experiential Fatherhood of God being established for all eternity.

And if you go back to verses 3-4 you can see what it is like.

Now who is the one who “conquers” in verse 7?

Given what we see in Revelation I believe the one who conquers is the one who is transformed by Christ and perseveres courageously to the end in their war against sin by the Holy Spirit. They continue in their sanctification and they ultimately triumph in Christ.

Through trials, through tribulations, through famine, through nakedness, through danger and sword. In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. (See Romans 8:31-39).

Conquerors are not the ones who only talk and claim to win battles. Conquerors are the ones who actually are battle tested and in the end when the dust settles are standing triumphantly by Christ alone.

This is set in contrast in verse 8 with the antithesis of what it means to be a conqueror. The cowardly live out their sin with little to no desire or concern for Christ.

Their desire and pleasures are for the appetites of the world and their eternal home will be in the lake of fire. Their names were not recorded in the Lambs Book of Life.

Notice it says their “portion”. This term is connected to the term “heritage” of verse 7. The point is that both groups have a “heritage” and the contrast is astounding.

The one who conquers has an inheritance of restoration of blessing and relationship with God and the coward who is afraid of their own sin battle is eternally judged.

And in both cases, the final word is that God wins and the Lamb of God is glorified in that triumph.

Superficial religion may be the most dangerous and deceiving perception on planet earth. Even when it is practiced inside a form of Christianity.

Charles Spurgeon said, “Superficial religion will always be fashionable because it does not require self denial”

It is in the end a religion of form but one that denies the power of transformation and living courageously by grace through faith alone in Christ.

It is why churches reflect the culture today instead of the culture reflecting the Church. It is also why there are lost people setting every Sunday on pews. They are not really Christians, they just play one on Sunday.

Unbelieving husband after church on Sunday morning. I am not but she is. She is the real deal.

Conclusion:

Christian are you the real deal or the cheap imitation?

Buying a print of Russel Case’s painting.

Called Russel and he said I have a lot of those. You can any of them you want. So sorry you paid money for it. I said well the frame was worth something.

I look at the picture but Russel looks at the brush strokes.

The print verses the real portrait that reflects the brush strokes of the divine artist.

Conquerors have the battle marks that reflect how they have triumphed in Christ. They are works of divine art that testify to the glory of God.

Confess and receiving grace is not just a weekly fix but it is weaning us off of self-reliance and on to Christ. It is cultivating love in our hearts for our Master and stifling our love for sin.

The more we are in love with Christ, the less we will love our sin. We will find it harder to dabble with that which nailed Him to the Cross in the first place.

Come to Him again and rest in His provision of grace for your forgiveness.

Unbeliever you need a savior. Believe the gospel.

Let’s Pray!