The New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-22:5)

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Good morning church. You can go ahead, grab your Bibles, open up to just about the last page, probably the second to last page, depending on what version you are in Revelation, chapter 21 we’ll be starting in verse nine this morning revelation, 21 nine, as you’re turning there, I was reading recently. It was American pastor who had traveled overseas in order to train up some pastors in a part of the world where it’s very difficult to be a Christian, although the church is also exploding. There just tremendous growth. And he actually was talking to pastors there that he was training, you know, kind of what’s your plan here? How are so many people come to Christ that said they have a five fold plan for church growth. Every day they want everyone in their church to read the Bible. Make sense? Pray, Yup, okay, share the gospel with someone. Absolutely not sure we do it here, but yep, expect a miracle that one’s probably beyond the bounds for a lot of us. And then this was the one that was actually the most striking. To develop a theology of suffering. That was, me key to church growth was to develop a theology of suffering. And it it was clear that this is what they were doing. So there he is, this American pastor sitting cross legged on a dirt floor, eating a thin gruel that they had offered him. He realizes he’s the only one eating in the room, and so he says, aren’t you guys going to have some too? And through the veils that they all had over their faces, they said, No, we’ve all been fasting for the last month to prepare for our ordeal, our coming ordeal. What ordeal? He asked, of course. He said, Well, you know, we we’re here illegally. We left our country illegally to come and meet with you in order to get this training, and they’ll have noticed our absence, and so when we go back, we’ll be tortured and then imprisoned. But after, you know, a number of months, maybe a year or two in prison. Then at last, we’ll be released and we can begin to minister. That was, by the way, why they had veils on their faces so they wouldn’t crack under torture. And let you know the government officials know who else had been there for the training. So again, after you know year or two are in prison, no big deal, they’ll get to minister the gospel for a little while, and then they said, eventually, when, not if, but when they are discovered, they will be executed. And only then they said, will we have rest, eternal rest. What’s maybe most interesting about that story, to my mind, is that none of these men are going to be beatified by the Catholic Church. They’re not getting invited to, you know, big EVAs, mega church, Protestant conferences here in the USA, book deals, podcast. They are nameless and in this case, even faceless, unrecognized, unsung heroes here, because their eyes are so fixed on glory and the life to come, the eternal rest, that they will enjoy the fullness of joy, the hope of heaven that we talked about, you would need that if you’re going to do what they were doing. And we need that. We need to have that end in mind if we’re going to live well now. So let’s look ahead to where we’ll dwell forever, so that we have that vision in our minds. Now we got an intro to this last week, couple verses about what the new creation is going to be like, the new heavens and the new earth. That’s like a postcard, like, you’re going to go visit your friend in Hawaii or something. They send you a postcard, and they’re like, look at where you’re going to be. And you’re like, Wow, this is amazing. Okay, today we get the tour. Like, when you show up there, and they’re like, here’s the beach, here’s the pool, whatever it is. I’ve never been to Hawaii. I have no idea. Okay, so that’s what we’re getting today. We’re getting the tour of the new creation. In these three scenes, we get to see the city, the temple and the garden, a lot of overlap, because, spoiler alert, it’s all the same place. So let’s dive in, starting with the city revelation, 21 nine to 14, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, came and said to me, come I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal, had a great high wall with 12 gates, with 12 angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the 12 Tribes of Israel, three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the names of the 12 Apostles of. At the lamb. It is great, by the way, to get this tour of this city, the New Jerusalem, because we already had a tour of the other city, Babylon. In fact, a lot of the same words are used here, including the angel saying, Come and I will show you what this city is like. There’s this reminder there that we have a choice before us, which city we want to inhabit, where we want to dwell, the city of man or the City of God. Now, the key to choosing, well, just in general, in life, is to see where your choice will take you, like like consulting a map almost, you know, if we we head down this path. Well, there’s death and destruction at the end of it, fallen. Fallen is Babylon, the great. And if we head down this path, well, there’s eternal glory, easy choice. Notice that the city is called the bride, which we saw last week as well. And we’re talking about the people of God, the church. That’s who the bride is the fact that we are called Christ’s bride just shows the depths of intimacy and love and joy that we will know in God’s presence forever. Like I’m doing premarital counseling with a couple right now. And there is, as there always is when I do prayer marital counseling, a palpable joy, excitement, right? They are ready to be together. It’s like the that only so much more, because it’s longer. You know, marriage in this life is until death parts us, but this marriage that is coming goes on forever and ever, and so we we keep seeing this relationship that we’re going to have with God, and how good it will be. We’re gonna be his covenant people, right? I will be your God, and you will be my people. Will be adopted as his children, so not just people, but his kids. And again, not just people, but his bride in that kind of relationship with him. Well, then John’s taken up to a high mountain for his final vision, the last time we get the phrase that he was carried away in the spirit for this last vision here. And just like Ezekiel, chapter 40, verse two, Ezekiel is also taken up to a high mountain in order to see this city that’s coming. Why a high mountain? I don’t know. Probably a good vantage point, but I’m not sure the city is descending. We talked about that last week. Just the grace of God there. We can’t get up to it, so God brings it down to us. Now, think what a city is, is a city the place, or is a city the people? And the answer is both, of course, and that’s what we see here. We have God’s people in God’s place at last, because that’s what the New Jerusalem is, where we will be saints in the new creation, dwelling with him. And what a place it will be. And it shines with the very glory of God, which is what makes it so hard to describe. By the way we’ve seen this throughout revelation, but especially back in the throne room. Vision, back in Revelation chapter four, we were trying to describe the glory of God, and words failed us. If you remember, back then, I talked about trying to explain like a video call on a smartphone to a prehistoric tribe, and that’s kind of what we get here. And so we get all these words, like, it’s like a precious jewel. It’s not a precious jewel. It’s like a precious jewel. Just a good reminder for us as we look at all of this, this is not a literal description of the city. Would be a wildly dumb looking city if it were a literal description, by the way. No, these are symbols that are meant to stir longing and wonder within us. We need these symbols because the glory of God strains the limits of speech. Just as an example here Jasper, if you’ve ever seen it, is it kind of runs the spectrum from like yellowy brown to dark brown. It is never clear, never clear as crystal. And So already we’re beyond words like picture jasper, but now make it clear, and you go, No, that doesn’t make any sense. That’s like picture a square circle. I don’t even know what to do exactly, because that’s how good glory will be. We can’t even describe it. The point is just God’s splendor, the overwhelming majesty and beauty of who he is, filling the new creation, like waters the sea. Around this city is a great high wall. City wall is very important for a city’s protection, in contrast to today, by the way, back then when the Bible was written, the city was the safest place you could be because you were inside the wall, and so you were protected from bandits and whatnot. This is why Nehemiah, for example, was so upset that the city’s walls had been broken down. Meant Jerusalem wasn’t safe. Safe. Well, here we’ve got a great high wall. Except the question, of course, is, why do we have a wall? God has already defeated all of our enemies. Well, right? Because this isn’t meant to be literal. I don’t know if there will literally be a wall there or not, but the point is, what does this suggest to us? And it suggests that this will be a place of eternal security and rest, where we will be unbothered by the hellish elements that have been cast outside the Forever city. There are 12 gates, and on each of the gates is written the name of an Israelite tribe. Course, shows that the Old Testament saints, the Old Testament people of God, are a part of God’s forever. People, of course, people like Moses, David, Isaiah, and then on the 12 foundations are written the name of one of the 12 Apostles, the 12 Disciples of Jesus. Here we’ve got the New Testament, saints, and so it’s the whole people of God together, the foundation, though it’s interesting that it’s the apostles. Of course it is, because it’s the apostolic word, the word that the apostles preach the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, that is the foundation of the Forever city we know Ephesians, 220 for example, that God’s house is built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. In other words, it’s based, it’s founded on the Word of God with Christ, Jesus Himself, the word that we proclaim, of course, as the chief cornerstone. A little bit later in Ephesians, Paul goes on, though, and he talks about this mystery that God has sent him to proclaim. And he says this mystery was not made known to people in other generations as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to God’s holy apostles and prophets. This mystery is that through the Gospel, the Gentiles are heirs, together with Israel, members of one body. So the good news, part of the good news, the New Testament, is that it’s everybody, people from everywhere. We’ve seen it in Revelation people, language, tribe, tongue, all coming together. And the very structure of new creation, the gates and the foundation, prove the truth of Paul’s remarkable words, everyone, Jews and Gentiles, dwelling together, all of God’s people now in God’s place, which shines with the splendor of his glorious presence. But if God’s there and dwelling there, it’s gotta be more than a city, right? It must be a temple also, because that’s what we call the place where God dwells. Sure enough, it is. Let’s keep reading, looking at the temple verses 15 to 27 the angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 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. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. The wall was made of Jasper, and the city of pure gold as pure as glass. The foundations the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. First Foundation was Jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth, onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth barrel, the ninth, topaz, 10th, turquoise, the 11th, japthe and the 12th, amethyst. 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each gate is made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple. 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 at the lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there the glory and honor the nations will be brought into it. 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. So an angel then measures the city for John. Exactly what happens in Ezekiel as well. By the way, although we get way more detail in Ezekiel you’ve ever read it in your yearly Bible reading plan, you know the part where they measure the temple. It can feel a little tedious. It’s okay. We can acknowledge it. There are 91 verses measuring just every prayer like here’s what the steps going up to the temple are like. And we wonder, why do we get three chapters about the measurements of this temple in Ezekiel? And the answer is, because it’s a promise to the exiles. Ezekiel is is prophesying to those who have been exiled in Babylon. And so there’s this promise you’re going to return and rebuild, and it’s gonna be this glorious temple, this, this, this much better city. It’s gonna be this unimaginable fulfillment. You can think about how that would have encouraged them there in Babylon, except the fulfillment was actually even more unimaginable, because the fulfillment was not, not the temple that you know, guys like Zerubbabel and Haggai and Zechariah talked about, because that was such a piddling little temple that the old men cried when they saw it, because it didn’t look like the glory of Solomon’s temple. It’s not Herod’s temple. Couldn’t be, because look at who Herod was. No, who’s the temple, this unimaginable fulfillment. It’s Jesus, right? The Word became flesh and made his dwelling, His tabernacle, his temple among us, that’s the glorious fulfillment, he says. Destroyed this temple, and in three days I’ll raise it up again, right? That’s the resurrection. Well, here these two ideas are brought together, Ezekiel and John, because we have the body of Christ, His Bride now dwelling in New Jerusalem, the new temple with Christ Himself. And it’s a big place, we get some big numbers. So 12,000 stadia between 14, 1500 miles in each side. Now, why 12,000 because that’s the full number, right? 12 is like the 12 Tribes of Israel, the 12 Apostles. That’s the full number of God’s people, 12 times 10 to the third power. Lot of perfect numbers, very big numbers, exactly. So everybody who’s supposed to come in will come in, and this area here would actually be greater than the area of the Roman Empire. Roman Empire was a little longer, but a lot shorter. And so this is greater than the Roman Empire, which was the known world at that time for these people. So we have almost a geographic fulfillment of that idea of every tribe, nation, people and tongue coming in. But what’s most interesting about the measurement isn’t how big it is, it’s the fact that it’s a cube. So you can see that it is verse 16, as wide and high as it is long, it’s a cube, again, ridiculous layout for a city, by the way, the stairs are going to be killer and satellites would actually be smacking into it, based on it, you know, right now, no oxygen up there, very cold, all that kind of stuff we’re dealing in symbols. But why? Why? Why is it a cube that’s such an odd symbol, because there’s only one other significant cube in all of Scripture, the most holy place in the temple of God, not the temple with its courtyards, with, you know, the holy place you got the altar there on the porch. No, just the most holy place behind the curtain, behind that veil that tore in two. So the whole city is not just the temple, but it’s actually the Holy of Holies, the most holy place. So we’ve seen how architecturally splendid it is, with all these jewels and stuff. That’s great. But better still is that it’s this intimate place where God’s very glory dwells, the most holy place. This is the holiest place on God’s earth, only the holiest person, the high priest, holiest because of his office, not because of who he was, but the holiest person could go on go inside of only one day, the holiest day of the year, the Day of Atonement. And there was quite a ceremony for him to be able to enter in to that place. And that’s where we will dwell. 24/7, for eternity. There’s a high, wide wall we talked about that, of course, that’s the idea of the eternally secure people, and then we get to the building materials. This is where you keep costs down when you’re doing construction. So a little while ago, a couple years back, we had some water damage one of our bathrooms. Insurance gave us a couple $1,000 you know, to redo our bathroom and stuff. So I went to the store and we were looking at stuff. It became very clear very quickly, we were not going to be using real stone in our bathroom, not even close, right? So, again, this is where you keep costs down. Not a concern here. Like, let’s just talk about this for a moment. So Fort Knox famous. I mean, it’s almost a like a byword for security, right? So Fort Knox has $173 billion in gold bars inside of it. When I checked, I don’t know what the price is. Now, 170
3 billion in gold bars. It’s inside. You know, the vault granite walls. There is a blast-proof door that weighs 22 tons to keep it safe. And of course, you’re going to keep it safe. You’re keeping it safe from people, because people are the worst we’ve seen that throughout revelation. So they don’t trust anyone. There are ten different people who have to enter their unique combination in order to open this vault so that nobody can. And steal it on their own. And of course, then you got the fences, you got the walls, you got the armed guard there and all of that. What’s crazy about this is that all the gold in that vault would form a cube less than 20 feet on each side, like easily fit inside this room. Actually, even crazier. Stat, all the gold that has ever been mined in the history of the world is worth only about $6 trillion so just crazy in its own right. All the gold ever mined in the history of the world could fit, that means, inside an Olympic-sized swimming pool. That’s wild. So you get all that protection in Fort Knox for so little of something that is so valuable because it’s actually rare, in contrast to like diamonds or something, all that protection for so little of what’s so valuable, and God paves the streets with it in the New Jerusalem, except, by the way, it’s clear as glass, which gold never is, because the beauty of this city transcends human speech and fitting earthly analogies. Did I mention the jewels? Yet I haven’t gotten there. Now these precious stones, we won’t go through them all, but they’re associated with Eden, like the Garden of Eden, the paradise in which we were first place. You can see some of them in Genesis 2, but especially Ezekiel 28 talks about more of them. Solomon, when he built the first temple, he did lay the foundations with precious stones like these. It also fulfills. Isaiah, 54:12, the Prophet says, afflicted city lashed by storms and not comforted. I will rebuild you same promise of rebuilding with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. And then, of course, the high priest chess piece had the 12 Stones, one for each tribe, similar stones here, for sure and the high priest were as a reminder that, like the people of God, were to be on his heart. Well, now this belongs to the whole people, because we are all priests and God’s forever kingdom. So the stones that are used here are shining forth God’s beauty that was reflected in eden, in the temple, in the high priest vestments, but here, supremely, in the New Jerusalem, there’s no temple in this city, because the temple’s purpose has been fulfilled. We can dwell with God directly. Now we don’t need to, you know, house him somewhere special, because we can’t approach him everywhere we go. Now we can dwell in God’s what the Hebrews called, God’s Shekinah, presence, like the fullness of His glory, unmediated, undimmed. We don’t need a high priest. We don’t need a most holy place. We don’t need sacrifices, because Christ offered himself once for all time we can. We can go right into his presence, Father, Son and Spirit everywhere we go. That’s why there’s no sun or moon either, because his Shekinah glory blazes instead. Now this is not an astronomy lesson. Will there be like stargazing in glory? I don’t know. Okay, I just know that that’s not the point of what’s happening here. The point that’s happening here is it’s a little bit like trying to play flashlight tag at noon. It doesn’t work, right? Did I get you? I don’t know it’s the thing even on, because there’s so much more light in God’s presence. And remember, the sun and moon were created to display God’s glory. Well, now his glory is on display directly here. And this fulfills. You’re going to hear that word a lot today, by the way. This fulfills. Isaiah 6019, and 20. Erica read some of this for us already, the sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your Sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end. Did you notice, too, by the way, that it’s the Father’s glory that is the light? And then it says that the lamb is the lamp in verse 23, these are the Trinitarian roles, you know? So we get Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and they each have these roles, play equal in glory, but different functions. And so the father is the source of all truth, and the Son is the agent by which that truth is revealed. That’s what we have here, the Lord, it’s his glory, that’s the light, and the Son is the lamp by whom we see the light. Eight now no night means there’s no need to close the gates again. I don’t think this is an astronomy lesson. This is a little bit like there not being any sea. What we’re trying to say here is that there’s no longer any threat. Like when it’s dark outside is when it’s most dangerous. One of the reasons why the sun and moon were so important in the days before electricity and street lamps and things like that as well. There’s no threat. We live in perfect security also means that we can keep working so people are bringing their stuff. They didn’t shut the gates at any point you can, you can bring your goods into the city whenever you want. Did you notice that it’s the nations, right? It’s all peoples who are bringing their glory into the city, bringing their glory, almost as tribute to the king, as if to say, like everything we do, we are doing for your glory now, Lord, and this fulfills Isaiah, 60 verse 11, your gates will always stand open. It’ll never be shut day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations their kings led in triumphal procession, because everything’s done for him and because everything’s done for him means nothing impure will ever enter. There’s that quarantine idea that we keep talking about. Tell you what you read this and you think I’m going to misquote Liz Lemon from 30 rock here you want to go to there, like this is the place you want to be, the splendor of His glory, and yet getting to dwell with Him directly. We got one more scene still to go though, as good as it’s been, and that’s the garden. So let’s keep reading Revelation, 22 verses, one to five, and 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. Down the middle of the great street of the city, on each side of the river, stood the Tree of Life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 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. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. 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 forever and ever. One of the major themes that we keep hitting in Revelation is that no word from God will ever fail. His words are trustworthy and true, and that’s why we keep seeing his words fulfilled in this passage. Here’s another one. What’s this river that we’re talking about? Here is listen to Psalm 46, verse four. There is a river whose streams make glad, the City of God, the holy place where the most high dwells. Sure enough, there is in Ezekiel, when he had this vision of the temple where he’s measuring everything and all of that, he saw a river flowing from under the temple, not directly from the throne of God, like we have here, but from the temple. And it was bringing life to the dead sea. So the Dead Sea, nothing can live in it, hence its name and whatnot, and all of a sudden this fresh water is there, and it’s turning this dead sea into a living sea. And so that’s the image that we have here, too. It’s the reign of eternal life, like death has died and life is here to stay, and that’s why it flows down Main Street. Now, in our heads, I don’t know we’re picturing the canals in Amsterdam or something, maybe not, probably not literal, but the point is just that the new life is at the center of eternity, the center of this city.
Now we can miss the importance this moment too, because water is abundant here, like you need water, we got fountains wherever you want to go. You can turn on the tap or something like that. But water is scarce in many parts of the world, and especially potable water, like drinkable water, can be hard to find, easier today, even than it would have been back then. So there are lots of people in a lot of places in the world who walk daily to go find okay water. It’s actually interesting. I just read this week, coincidentally, somebody was comparing like the if you were to divide the world’s population into like chunks of 10% each in terms of income, and they all lived on the same street, and was describing what the houses would be like. And so at one end of the street, the poorest 10% on Earth, they’re homeless, and, you know, kind of nomadic, almost, and again, walking to find water every day. The other end of the street, that would be where we live, by the way, of course, water is there in abundance. In fact, just to kind of further the illustration, they said that people had a swimming pool in their backyard. Now think about what a swimming pool is. You have a swimming pool when you have so much clean, drinkable water that you’re willing to fill a hole in your backyard with it for purely recreational purposes, and then you poison that water so that it’s not drinkable anymore. You. Uh, I’m not knocking swimming pools in the situs. That’s not my point here. I’m just saying we because we do that here, we could miss what’s being talked about, how good this would sound to so many people. And either side of this river of life, then the Tree of Life is growing. I know big tree covers both sides. I don’t know what it looks like exactly. Why is the tree of life growing there? Because there’s no more curse, because Christ has redeemed us from the curse at this point, so we can eat again from the tree of life. We got kicked out of the Garden of Eden. We couldn’t eat from it because of our sin, Adam and Eve and all of that stuff. And here we are back in that place, eating from the Tree of Life against that we live forever. Once again, we’re drawing from Ezekiel vision, Ezekiel, 47:12, says, fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of this river that he saw. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month, they will bear fruit because the water from the sanctuary flows to them, their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing. Fulfilled, fulfilled, except we bring again Genesis along with this vision in Ezekiel, so the leaves don’t wither, and these trees actually bear fruit monthly, which is not how fruit trees work. So it’s better than this existence, of course, if you’re familiar with Psalm one, you know that there are clear allusions to Psalm. One here also right blessed is one who does not walk and step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, who meditates on his law day and night. That person will be like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither. So there’s the same idea where we’re quoting this psalm quite clearly. You kind of put all these things together, though, what do you get? What that means is that when we meditate on God’s word and put it into practice, we are living this eternal life. Now we are becoming like the new creation that we will enjoy forever. And so it’s worth asking what this looks like for you today. Like, are you drawing life from this river by reading God’s word, meditating at it, memorizing it, studying it, so that you’re healthy and bearing the fruit of the Spirit? This is what brings healing to the nations. Then all around, people are seeking a return to Eden. They want the joy that they had at first. No problem is there’s only one way you got to drink from this river and eat from this tree, not going to find it elsewhere. Can’t possibly earn it. It has to be given to us in Christ, because, again, we are born under a curse, and it’s Christ who redeems us from the curse by becoming a curse for us in our place. We’ve talked a lot about the lake of fire, the wrath of God in this series, right? He took that on himself. He was cast into the lake of fire, as it were, so that those who trust in Him would not need to be, but could instead go home with him forever. And then we get the climax of it all, and they will see his face. Verse four. That’s as good as it gets. That’s what we’re all longing for. No one has ever seen God’s face before. Moses couldn’t. He asked to see God’s glory. Exodus 33 and God says, You can’t see my face, for no one may see me and live now. It’s true, same chapter, just a few verses before, it says that Moses talked to God face to face, but that’s an idiom that’s just saying like he had a one-on-one conversation with God. It certainly doesn’t mean that he actually saw his face. This is why John tells us in John chapter one, why it’s so good that Jesus came, because he says John 118, no one has ever seen God but Jesus, the one and only, has made him known. So we did get to see Jesus’s face. But of course, with Jesus, we had divine glory, veiled in human flesh, veiled in flesh, the Godhead, see, hail, the incarnate deity, all of that stuff. And yet here at last, that’s what we all get to do in his presence, basking in the light of His glory forever. Now I said that’s as good as it gets. Do you believe me? Is this what you’re most looking forward to in glory? John Piper, in his book, God is the gospel. The title kind of gives away the point of the book. Says it like this. He says, The critical question for our generation, for every generation, is this, if you could have heaven with no sickness, with all the friends you ever had on earth, all the food you ever liked, all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, all the natural beauties you ever saw, all the physical pleasure? You ever tasted, no human conflict or any natural disasters? Could you be satisfied with heaven if Christ were not there? And if we’re honest, most of us go, Sure, that sounds right. That is what I’m looking forward to. We’re wrong. We’re wrong. This is the best part, like I talked last week about the joy of our reunion with loved ones who have died in Christ and we are looking forward to that is so real and that is so good. But let me help you understand how that’s going to play out. We all kind of have the vision in our heads. I think most of us have the same vision too, right? It’s like never in a city or anything, is it? It’s always in a field, really green grass, really blue sky, sun is shining, and there is the person you’ve been waiting to see. Maybe it’s like an airport arrivals gate, you know, they got the sign, mom, dad, husband, wife, child, friend, and so like the arrival gate, you know you’re running to them, but here’s what’ll happen as you get close and you see the sign, your gaze will move. You will look over their shoulder and stand transfixed with your eyes on the glory of Jesus, Christ and the loved one who’s there with a little sign. How are they gonna respond? They’re gonna go, seriously. You’ve been talking for the last 50 years about how excited you are to see me, and now you won’t even acknowledge Mike. No, that’s not what they’re gonna do. You know what they’re gonna do? They’re going to turn with you. They look and they’re going to go, I know, isn’t he glorious? That’s how that’ll play out. Heaven is heaven because Christ is there, because we get to see God’s face, at last, to be welcomed as his bride, as his children, as His people. The treasure of the new creation is God Himself, which is why earthly treasures are used so casually in constructing this city. Doesn’t that have implications for how we live our lives today? Because a lot of us like gold and jewels and maybe even Jasper, a lot, right? We’re drinking salt water when the river of life is right there. So let’s, let’s kind of pull this together. So we get to that application implication idea, the big idea today, do all that you can to experience the best of heaven. Now, do all that you can to experience the best of heaven now.
So what does it look like to live now like God is the best part and will be forever. Now we could go a lot of directions with this, and in your community groups this week, you will have opportunity to do just that, because we probably need to work this out in our lives in different areas. But let me just take one example, riches, because they show up so much in this passage. Come in the side door, though, we’re going to get to riches, I promise. But imagine you’re out of town or something like that, and you’re visiting a different church. You’ll understand why you got to be in a different church. Here in a moment, you’re in a different church. You’re walking through the lobby, and you overhear one of the elders of the church casually sharing about the extramarital affair that he’s in with no word of rebuke from his conversation partner. But you know, kind of like, Wow, good for you, man. And as you’re backing up, like, I don’t know what I just stumbled into, you knock into one of the women’s Bible study leaders, who’s talking about how she’d been flirting with a guy at work and has now begun to make explicitly sexual advances toward him. Would you worry about that church like maybe the Spirit of God is not active in this place? There’s not real, genuine forever life there. Okay, but what if you were to walk through our lobby even in just a few minutes? Do you think you’ve ever overheard somebody complaining the home is too small and kind of run down a lot of stuff that needs to happen? Or another conversation over there with somebody who’s clearly envious of his neighbor’s new car. That’s the sin of coveting that I’m describing, and we have open conversations about it. Sin boldly in this area, think, well, that’s because it’s not the same Brandon like these are different? Are they different sins? They’re both in the Ten Commandments, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not covet. They actually get lumped together quite a bit. You can see this in Hebrews 12, or here’s Ephesians five, verse five. You can be sure of this. Paul says, no immoral, sexually immoral, impure or greedy person. Such a person is an idolater, which, by the way, is the first commandment has. Any inheritance in has Did you catch that no greedy person has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of his God? It actually makes sense that they show up so often together, because there’s significant overlap here, because in both instances, you’re seeking the fullness of joy in the things of this world. What we long for his true intimacy, and will settle for pornography because we’re dumb spiritually speaking, and what we’re longing for is the riches of glory, and will settle for gold bars. We are coveters, living in a covetous society. In our lobby is the air from Elmhurst, and that’s just a good picture of what happens with the atmosphere of the cultures we indwell. We are like those proverbial frogs being slowly boiled. So we have gone from praying, Give us today our daily bread to mountains of bread before us all the time, glutting ourselves on them so that we are overweight and sick, literally, but spiritually as well. We’re going to need something to rouse us from our sinful slumber. It’s not going to be guilt and shame that never works. No one ever changes because of that, what will rouse us is an invitation to greater joy, which is what we have in this passage. Imagine getting to the new creation and being excited about the gold, like that is not the point you’re walking on it. You go down to the river to get yourself a drink. Your shoes are muddy. You’re wiping them off on the gold because your eyes are still on Jesus. And if that’s its value in eternity, live like that’s its value now, that will move you from coveting to sacrificial generosity. That’s what would motivate a group of pastors in a closed nation to be so willing to give themselves away for the gospel of Jesus Christ. That’s how we can hold life in this age cheap, because we know that life in the age to come will be so dear. Now I will tell you I am no fan of Joel Osteen. He is a heretic. He is one of the wolves in sheep’s clothing that Jesus and Paul warned us against. But he was on to something when he encouraged us all to live our best lives. Now he was just totally wrong about what the best life is. He life is. Just need to be so clear that the best life is God. God. So do all that you can to live your best life now by experiencing the best of eternity. Now let’s pray to him, Father, open our eyes to behold your glory, to see how good you are, to see that the fullness of joy is found in you and you alone. To have the deepest desire of our heart, the longing that courses through us to be seeing you at last, face to face and seeing you as much as we can here and now, show us what that looks like, each of us here as individuals in this room, to live today like you are The best part of our lives because we know that you are. We ask this for your name’s sake. Amen.