Sermon Tone Analysis

This morning I am giving you an end times timeline of everything that we have talked about for the last several weeks.

This is what I have according to what I have read and researched.

Again, since these things have not occured yet, it is hard to tell everything that will happen.

We have to try and interpret the scriptures to get a timeline.

Let’s take a moment and recap what we have looked at the last few weeks.

The story of the Bible beings in the paradise of a Garden in Genesis.

And the story ends in the paradise of a city in Revelation

John writes...

We began this series by looking at Israel.

It is the central to God’s plans for building His community.

God promises Abraham.

We also learned that most of the prophecies about Israel have been fulfilled.

Israel has blessed the world, by giving us the Savior and the Bible.

After an 1800 year absence, Israel is back in their own land.

For the first time in 1900 years, Israel has her own Temple Mount.

After 1950 years, Jerusalem is once again recognized as the capital of the nation.

We also learned that signs in the skies have been fulfilled, they signal the beginning of the Tribulation.

And Ezekiel’s War, described in Ezekiel 38 and 39, is likely the final prophecy that needs to be fulfilled before the Tribulation begins, could be fulfilled any day, as the nation of Syria is on the verge of collapse, and the three key nations of Russia, Iran, and Turkey, all have boots on the ground inside the borders of Syria, and if Syria collapses, Ezekiel’s War could begin as soon as the next day.

When this happens be looking up because the rapture could be upon us.

Or the rapture may take place and then this happens.

We don’t know.

But Revelation 4:1

After this moment, we read in the next several chapters of Revelation about a seven year period that we know as the Tribulation.

In the timeline that I have given you, you will find the events of the Tribulation with scripture references.

Last week, we took a moment to look at the glorious time of 1,000 years of peace and Jesus reigning over us.

After this period, Satan will be released and will lead a rebellion and he will finally be defeated forever with a word from the Savior’s mouth, and permanently be cast into the lake of fire.

We have covered a lot of details in the past few weeks, but we are not finished.

Today, we are going to finish this story.

If you have your Bibles, go with me to Revelation 21:1-2

The final event that God has projected for us in His word is the coming of the New Creation.

This will be a complete new creation.

The new creation is God’s ultimate design and ultimate desire, and our ultimate destination.

It’s the place we were made for, the place we are longing for, the place where we will spend eternity.

The New Creation has a New Heaven, a New Earth, and a New City Called the New Jerusalem.

This is the city that we are longing for.

How many of you, these last several months and just over a year, you have wished the world was better?

The truth is you were made for a better world.

And some day soon you will have a better world.

So, what will this future home look like?

Heaven will be made up of people from every ethnicity.

We’ll be diverse, but united, like our church strives to be every day.

Heaven will be made up of cultures from every nation, tribe and language.

We’ll be a healed people.

Each of us will have a session with the Lord where He will hear all our pain and wipe it all away.

All the evil, all the disappointment, all our sorrows will pass away forever.

God is making everything new.

Nothing that was before will be there.

Everything will be made new.

Nothing wicked or harmful or false will enter into heaven.

Everyone there will be His sons and daughters, completely washed clean because we’ve asked forgiveness and are now fully bathed in His righteousness.

That’s us—the church.

We’re the Bride.

Jesus is the Lamb.

Next time you’re at a wedding, when they play, “Here comes the Bride,” you just think, “that’s us!

That’s me.

I’m going to be part of the Bride of Christ.”

The new creation will come to us.

The New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven and become our eternal home.

12 is the number of completion.

Nothing will be incomplete there.

There will be 12 gates.

Looking back in scripture we know that there were 12 tribes of Israel, they are represented by 12 gates.

There were 12 apostles representing the church.

These are represented by the 12 foundations of the City.

12,000 stadia equals 1,400 miles.

Jerusalem will be either a perfect cube, 1,400 miles long, wide, and high, or a perfect 4-sided pyramid, with each side 1,400 miles in length.

The city’s building materials are so perfect, we have trouble even imagining them.

Look at how John describes the rest of the Holy city.

Now go to the last chapter of Revelation.

This is what our eternal home will be like.

When we think of living in heaven, we will actually be living on the New Earth.

The hub of the New Earth will be the New Jerusalem.

At 1,400 miles by 1,400 miles by 1,400 miles, New Jerusalem will cover a territory as large as the distance from Canada to Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the eastern border of California.

The city is nearly 2,000,000 square miles at its base, which is forty times the size of England and ten times as large as France.

And that’s just the ground level.

If this pyramid is built like a high rise, with each story twelve feet high, it could have as many as 600,000 stories.

Today, New York City has a population density of 27,000 people per square mile.

Billions of people can occupy the New Jerusalem, with a population density of several square miles per person.

We won’t be crowded, but we will all be living near each other.

River of Life

One of the great wonders of the heavenly city is The River of Life.

It’s “clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God.” Jesus, the Lamb, occupies the throne.

The River flows down the center of the great street.

Water is essential to human life.

New Jerusalem is the center of human life.

Water flows downward from the throne, which means God’s throne will occupy the highest ground in the city.

Anyone wanting to visit God’s throne need only follow the River upstream.

The Tree of Life

Another stunning feature of the city is its Tree of Life.

The Tree stands on each side of the River.

This is the Tree that was in the Garden of Eden, but removed by God so that fallen humans could not eat of it and live forever in their sin-bound state.

It’s been in existence since Creation and bears fruit every month.

It’s a source of food, and a source of healing.

Every person has wounds, and every nation has wounds.

They’ll all be healed at the Tree.

We will be reconciled to one another by means of this Tree, just as we were justified by the Tree that became Christ’s cross.

The Tree of Life is a single tree, with shoots underground that send up shoots all over the city.

Aspen trees are like this.

A whole mountain can be covered by one tree whose roots go everywhere, which explains while all the leaves on the entire mountain turn brown at the same time.

Hebrews 11:14-16 assure us that there will be countryside as well as city streets and buildings.