All New Things

fear the night we will walk the valley with you by our side you will go before us you will lead the way if our god is full love is sure you will cheer me up can set the father's love is a strong mighty fortress love is greater who can stand against us the strength to praise you and take my body take my time nothing we are nothing without you making us your son thank you for the gospel access thank you that it motivates us thank you that it changes us thank you that it shapes us chapter 31 verse 8 do not be afraid or discouraged for the lord will personally go ahead of you he'll be with you he will neither fail you nor abandon you need to say anything more than that that's that's

the word right there that is that is our god he's with us always wherever we're at whatever's going on in our lives it's here in this moment before we sing this next song i just pray that uh god does some work in your heart um wherever you're at whether it's in a time of peace you're at or a time of storms um whatever's going on lift us all up to the lord tonight there's peace that outlasts darkness hope that's in the blood there's future grace that's mine today but jesus christ is one so i can face tomorrow before tomorrow's in your hand all i need you will provide just like you all yes we will going before us thank you bringing us his nature so that we can live unashamed unbound by sin

free to love in christ free to walk in the spirit and truth thank you for your freedom thank you for your grace and your mercy unending i ask that you would change us tonight for your word to just do something in our hearts tonight god that's in your name that we ask good evening if you would open up in your bibles excuse me to the book of revelation chapter 21 revelation 21 what an exciting chapter to go through um this has been the most fun i've had studying revelation so far because this is the happy part of revelation right because the title of tonight's message is all things new because what we talk about tonight is we talk about uh the new heaven and the new

earth and so there's there's two things that we'll cover he'll he'll talk in an overview about the new heaven and the new earth and then in the second half of chapter 21 we're going to talk about the he goes into detail about the new jerusalem and so we pick up in chapter 21 verse 1 with this it says then i saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there's no longer any sea i saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god made ready as a bride adorned for her husband and i heard a voice from the throne saying i saw the holy city coming down out of heaven from god and i heard a voice saying behold the tabernacle of god is among men and he will dwell among men and they shall be his

people and god himself will be among them and he will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will no longer be any death there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain the first things have passed away and he who sits on the throne said behold i am making all things new he said right for these words are new and he who sits on the throne said behold i am making all things new 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 give to the one who thirsts from the spring of water of life without cost he who overcomes will inherit these things and i will be his god and he will be my son but the cowardly

and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral person and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death now there's two things as he sees this new heaven and new earth and there's two kind of divisions of this there's the things that he saw and then there's the things that he heard so the first thing that we'll talk about is the things that he saw now before we get into that i want to remind you about what we covered last week last week what we saw was the millennial kingdom satan had been bound for a thousand years after he died and he was bound for a thousand years after he died

Jesus returned to earth. Jesus returns to earth. Satan is bound for a thousand years and the earth just flourishes. Everything is amazing. But Satan is loosed after the thousand years and he gathers an army that comes against the Lord. And of course, as this army comes against the Lord, we were told that fire came down from heaven and consumed the army. And Satan was thrown

into the lake of fire. And then there was a great white throne judgment and everyone whose name was not written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death. And so those that are left now are those who will live with God eternally. And so now that that earth has passed away, and we'll talk about that in just a minute, we're going to see this new heaven and the new earth. So we start off with the things that he saw. He says, then I saw a new heaven and a new

earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there's no longer any sea. The first thing that he saw was the first heaven and the first earth passed away. And there's no longer any sea. The first thing that he saw was the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there's no he sees is this is this new heaven and new earth the word new there means new in quality or fresh and the reason why it needs to be new in quality or fresh is because the old earth had passed away i need us to understand something about the the ground upon which we stand it's all going to burn up with fire as a matter of fact i'd like for you to go with me to a place in second peter

hold your finger here go back to second peter chapter three it's not very far second peter chapter three it's a few pages back to your left and i want to pick up in verse three for context sake because peter talks about this exact thing in second peter chapter three verse three it says this know this that first of all in the last days mockers will come with their mocking following after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for ever since the fathers fell asleep all continues just as it was written from the beginning of creation for when they maintain this it escapes their notice that by the word of god the heavens existed long ago and the earth was formed out of water and by water through which

the world at that time was destroyed being flooded with water but by his word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire kept for the for the day of judgment and the destruction of ungodly men but do not let this one fact escape your notice beloved that with the lord one day is like a thousand years and a thousand years like one day the lord is not slow about his promises as some count slowness but is patient toward you not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance the day of the lord will come like a thief in which the heavens will pass away sound familiar with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat the earth and its

works will be burned up since all these things are going to be destroyed and the earth will be burned up to be destroyed in this way what sort of people want you to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for and hastening the coming of the day of god because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning and the elements will melt with intense heat but according to his promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells i want you to take note of something because as we've mentioned revelation is the culmination of everything in scripture right it's it's sort of tying a bow on all of scripture and putting the cap on it

because it's the end of all things i want you to think about what peter had to say because it says in the end they will willfully forget that god created the heavens and the earth essentially that's what he says they will forget that god spoke the earth into existence what have we seen today what do we see in our world today i'm here to tell you right now if you propose in any institution of learning the idea that creation is even plausible you will be laughed out of the room the world has willfully forgotten that god created the heavens and the earth but you know what the second thing that the world has willfully forgotten is that he at one time destroyed it with a flood see here's the thing about noah's ark it's not just a fun story about

all of the animals getting onto a boat together although i'll not lie that part's pretty fun too but it's a story about god's judgment upon the earth a judgment which was a foreshadowing of the judgment that is to come a judgment that dealt with a demonic activity that had to be cleansed from the earth so that god could send a savior but now that god has sent his savior the culmination of all things will be judgment because the third thing that they willfully forget is that all of these things will pass away listen with fervent and intense heat why are there new heavens and a new earth because this place will burn up god will flick the bick and light this place on fire now one thing that we're not

told about by john is what that looked like okay now i don't know how many of y'all have ever seen uh raiders of the lost ark you guys ever seen that remember when they open up the the the ark of the covenant and all of the people just like right they just melt it was the scariest movie i ever watched when i was like eight years old right because everybody just melts when they open up the ark of the god i look back now and i'm like this is the worst graphics ever like it's the worst special effects anybody's ever seen but that's how i picture the earth at this point in time according to what peter says because it says intense heat the elements will melt away and there will be a new heavens and a new earth

now we need to understand that when he speaks of a new earth he literally is talking about a new earth i believe this is literal we're not talking about a millennial kingdom here we're into the eternal realm now and when he talks about the new heavens he's not talking about a new dwelling place for god he's talking about the new heavens a brand new sky it won't be affected by all the things that we're affected by now and it will be fresh it will be new in nature because as good as this place is and i and i'm here to tell you right now when you travel to other parts of the country you see so many beautiful things amen like i love sunsets in kansas i really do i think

honestly i've seen sunsets in the mountains i've seen sunsets on the beach but sunsets in kansas are better than any place i've ever seen in the country but i love to look at the skyline in the mountains and i love to hear the sound of the waves roaring in the ocean and those crazy guys that can ride on those things because i can't i know i've tried it doesn't work but there are beautiful places on the earth but this place is going to burn up and what's coming is so much better than we can ever imagine which is why paul told us eye has not seen nor ear heard nor has come into the heart of man what god has prepared for those who love him right and so this back to

revelation so this new heaven and this new earth come because the the old passed away because the old had to pass away because it was all tainted by sin and then the second thing that he saw was it says i saw the whole oh wait there's one thing i didn't address it says and there's no longer any sea i have no idea what that means i have no idea why there's no more sea uh amir sirfati said something interesting he said it doesn't mean that there won't be any more bodies of water perhaps it simply means there won't be any bodies of salt water uh but there's nothing that would indicate that there's no more bodies of water perhaps there's no more sea because if you remember in chapter 21 what gave up all of their dead well the sea gave up all of the

dead uh the sea had a bad connotation as far as the jewish people were concerned so perhaps that's why all i know is it's like hey there's no more sea and all of the beach dwellers went so anyway it says the second thing that he saw was this i saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down from heaven coming down out of heaven from god made ready as a bride adorned for her husband her husband there's some really interesting things that commentators have to say about about the new jerusalem coming down out of the sky they're like we don't know if it's just suspended in time and it's just waiting to float down i hope that's true i hope that all throughout the tribulation period there's just this giant cube up in the sky and as soon as

the tribulation everybody's like what is that thing right like what what's going on here and then when the tribulation is there's new heavens and it's like right just a super gentle landing i don't know how that's going to work anyway but it says i saw the holy city new jerusalem coming down out of heaven from god and i want you to notice describes this new jerusalem made ready as a bride adorned for her husband now i want you to take note of something the words that john's writing right here are not words that he has given to write he's describing what he sees and he's describing it to the best of his ability and as he looks at this new jerusalem coming down all he can think is and when i saw this new jerusalem

it was like a bride it was adorned and ready for her husband now listen i have the privilege of doing a good number of weddings and i love it i love it i love it i love it i love it i love it i love doing weddings because they're just that day is just so amazing and i'm here to tell you right now there is nothing more beautiful than a bride on her wedding day as a matter of fact my favorite thing to do and probably a lot of your favorite thing to do as well although i get to go to a lot more of them than you do is i love to look at the groom's face when he sees his bride you know why because a lot of weddings that i do are for really stoic husbands right stoic future husbands and they're they're they're men's men right

and they're like and then the bride comes walking out and they're like and i'm like oh that's so amazing i love it you know why because she's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen right and so john as he's describing this new jerusalem he's like i can't think of anything more beautiful than a bride adorned for her husband and that's exactly what i saw with this new jerusalem it's beyond understanding it's the most beautiful thing i've ever seen he'll go on to describe it later as the angel gives him that description well now we come to the things that he heard he said and i heard first of all a loud voice that's the first thing that he heard a loud voice and loud voice was coming from a specific place it says it was

coming from the throne and this is what the loud voice from the throne said behold the tabernacle of god is among men and he will dwell among them and they shall he be his people and god himself will be among them i want you to think about the culmination of everything that the bible's been talking about up to this point in time in our study in the law what was the first thing that god gave them after the ten commandments if you remember he gave them the way the the pattern for how they were supposed to build the tabernacle and they were supposed to build it incredibly specific there was specific ways they were supposed to do it and they had to follow it to the letter why because the tabernacle was god's dwelling place amongst the people if you

remember the way that the camp of the israelites was set up the camp of the israelites was set up with the tabernacle right in the middle of all the tribes why because it was symbolic of god dwelling among his people and when they came into the land they were supposed to build the tabernacle they were to establish a place that god would choose for the tabernacle to be because god would dwell amongst his people and he dwelt amongst him in the tabernacle and then when the temple was built i'm telling you one of the most amazing chapters you'll read in the bible is solomon dedicating the temple because when solomon dedicates the temple the glory of the lord fills the temple and nobody can even see because the glory of the lord is so amazing why because

it went from the tabernacle to now the temple where god dwells among his people and then as when jesus is promised you remember what joseph was told you will call him emmanuel god with us do you remember what jesus told the disciples when he left he said i won't leave you orphans because i will send another helper he will be he'll be with you because he will dwell in you and we're told and by paul in the new testament that we are the tabernacle of the holy spirit we're the temple of the holy spirit because he's going to be with us and he's going to be with us he dwells in us and as a church he dwells among us but his dwelling among us is always limited because of the sinful world that we live in well the culmination of all things will be this new

heaven and new earth because what happens in this new heaven and new earth god dwells among them only he doesn't just dwell among them as a singular individual as jesus and his humanity on earth he doesn't just dwell among them because there's a tabernacle with a cloud above it he doesn't just dwell among them because the holy spirit dwells in us even though we can't see him he dwells among them can you imagine just going about life every day and i hate to bring the holy down to a common level but quite frankly he's going to dwell among us at that point in time can you imagine just high-fiving jesus every single day jesus what up right we bow down for a minute then we move on with our lives right because jesus dwells among them because god is

among them it has always been his plan it has always been his purpose and now it finds its culmination the new heavens and the new earth that's why the angel cries this voice and the cries loudly from the tabernacle or from the throne room saying the dwelling of god is among men if you notice the multiple times it says it underline it if you want to it says behold the tabernacle or the dwell tabernacle god is among men he will dwell among them and they shall be his people and god himself will be among them it's almost like this voice that was crying out wanted to make sure everybody understood god's there because we need to understand something what makes it awesome is not everything that he's going to describe for us what makes it awesome is

that god is there and then it goes on in verse four to say and he will wipe away every tear from their eye and there will no longer be any death there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain because the first things have passed away i can't think of a more amazing thought than that that there's not going to be the emotional pain that we deal with on this earth as a matter of fact we're given the indication and in the greek the phrase he wipes the tears from their eyes indicate his hand actually being involved not that there's going to be tears in heaven but it gives us a symbolic nature of the fact that there will no more be mourning in heaven there will be no grieving in heaven because all of those former things have passed away

okay well it goes on from there because he hears something else notice what it says verse five and he who sits on the throne said behold i am making all things new and he said right for these words are faithful and true he hears the one who sits on the throne well we know who the one that sits on the throne is the alpha the omega the beginning and the end it's god himself who sits on the throne who says behold i'm making all things new and i think that this is a future promise that he's giving to john and to everybody that john is going to write these words to that god is going to make all things new right now positionally you are a new creation in christ jesus right former things that passed

away all things that become new that's who you are positionally that's who you are spiritually but there is going to be a physical reality to the spiritual truth that we live in that all things will be made new you imagine what it's going to be like when there's no more death and there's no more destruction when there's no more mourning and there's no more grieving when there's no more plants that cause you issues everything's just going to be green and perfect all the time right my favorite time of year is may not only because that's when i married my wife but also because that's when everything is green and as someone who really enjoys groundskeeping that was always

the best time of year because stuff just grew right like like if you kill plants in may you've tried i'm sorry if you killed plants in may that it's on you because it's may right i mean i mean the weather's perfect we even got rain when it wasn't supposed to be raining very much and and everything's just amazing it's going to be may all the time because all things will be made new he goes on from there to say right for these words are faithful and true john had to be reminded to write again i think that's kind of interesting and he had to be reminded to write again i think for two reasons one's given to us in scripture the other is what i think happened i think the first reason why he was told to write is because john was like

right i think he got a little caught up in what was going on but then there's a scriptural reason why he was told to write because these words are faithful and true you know why he had to be told to write because these words are faithful and true because sometimes it seems too good to be true did you ever hear about what it's going to be like in heaven what it's going to be like in eternity and you think can that even be reality can that even be true and god just so that john didn't think he was dreaming and so that john didn't think it was too good to be true he said i want you to write this down words are faithful and true. You can count on it. So he goes on from there to say, then he said to

me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. Then he said to me, again, this is still speaking from the throne. This is the one sitting on the throne. This is God. And I want you to notice that he, he says one line there and it ends with a period. It is done. Remember the

last words that Jesus said from the cross? He said, it is finished. But now the words that are said from the throne are, it is done. I want you to go with me to real quick to a place in scripture. Go over to Ephesians chapter one. We'll cover this on Sunday too. So I'll, I'll give you, I'll give you a little appetizer for Sunday. Sunday morning. Ephesians chapter one. Let's start in verse nine because it's best for context

sake that way. Ephesians chapter one, verse nine says, and he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his kind intention, which he purposed in him with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of times. That is the summing up of all things in Christ, things in heaven and things on earth. In him. You know what that means? It means that at the right time, he will finish everything at the

right time. According to the mystery of his will, it will be done. Revelation chapter 21, verse six is the fulfillment of the promise in Ephesians chapter one, verse 10, because it's done. We'll be in eternity with him forever. Notice what he says. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. And I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of life without cost. There will be this

ever flowing spring of life. Jesus spoke of it when he said, come to me all who are thirsty and I will give you to drink and out of you will flow rivers of living water. Well, that will find its culmination in this new heaven, in this new earth, this spring of living water. It will be a continual source of joy and life from us. And of course, we know that that living

water is none other than Jesus Christ himself. Notice what it says in verse seven, still speaking from the throne. It says he who overcomes will inherit these things and I will be his God and he will be my son. You know what he means by that? Don't give up. Continue to overcome because he who overcomes will inherit these things. Go on, because this is what's waiting for you. And we'll address that more at the end.

But then, of course, we're given a little bit of a warning.

In verse eight, it says, but for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers, which again is the word pharmakia and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns. Burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Now we need to understand something here. This is not speaking of a salvation by works. This is speaking of a those who live

according to these characteristics. It's a reminder to everybody that reads Revelation chapter 21, that if that's what characterizes your life, you're not going to be there. Your place is in the lake of fire. Again, to have a purifying effect on all of us. Because if you're born again, your life will not reflect those things. If you're not born again, those things are what

your life continue to reflect. And I suppose now is a really good time to ask yourself a question. What characterizes my life? If someone were to say, what are the habits that characterize your life? How would you answer that question? Better yet, how would other people answer that question? The people who know you when you're not at church, the people who know you when you're not here,

what would they say characterizes your life? If it's those things, then perhaps tonight is the night to repent. After all, today is the day of salvation for all who will hear. Well, we go on from there to see the description of the gospel. We're going to go on from there to see the description of the gospel. The description of the new Jerusalem. Notice what it says in verse nine.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me saying, come here and I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. He carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone. She was like a very costly stone. She was like a very costly stone. She was

like a very costly stone as a stone of crystal clear Jasper. It had a great and high wall with 12 gates and at the gates, 12 angels and names were written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones and on them were 12 names of the 12 angels. And the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones

and on them were 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb. The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its wall. The city is laid out as a square and its length is as great as the width. And he measured the city with the rod 1500 miles. Its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its walls 72 yards according to human

measurements. Which are also angelic measurements. The material of the wall was Jasper and the city was pure gold like clear glass. The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was Jasper, the second Sapphire, the third Chalcedony, the fourth Emerald, the fifth Sardonyx, the sixth Sardius, the seventh Chrysolite, the eighth Beryl, the ninth

Topaz, the 10th, whatever that word is, the 11th Jason. The 12th Amethyst and the 12 gates were 12 pearls. And one of the gates was a single pearl and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. Now the next thing that he sees is this new Jerusalem, but he's taken there by one specific angel. And it's one of the angels that had the seven bowls of destruction. Can I just say,

if I'm one of the angels, if you were with us for the bowl judgments, you know that it was like, right? And so if you're one of the seven angels that has the seven bowls, at least you also get to show John something sweet, like the new Jerusalem. And that's what he shows him. He says, I want to show you what the new Jerusalem is going to be like. Come here and I will show

you the bride, the wife of the lamb. Now, why does he refer to the new Jerusalem as the bride of the lamb? Well, remember when he saw the new Jerusalem coming out of heaven, how did he describe it? As a bride. Adorned for her husband. Therefore, he says, let me show you that bride. And so that's what he does. I want you to notice what he says. He says, he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high

mountain. He showed me the holy city. The holy city came down out of heaven from God. So we know that it's eternal and that it's heavenly in nature. The second thing we take note of is that it had the glory of God. Now, if you remember any of the times that John and John and John and John and John and John and John and John and John and John and John and John has even come close to the glory of God, what has it done to him? It's pretty well messed

with him, right? He's fallen down and all kinds of crazy things are going on because it's too much for him to take in. So as he's writing about this, I want you to imagine how overwhelmed he is. That's why I think some of the words that he uses, gold, crystal clear, like glass, are almost like, well, that doesn't totally make sense. But if you're trying to describe something

that amazing and you've run out of words in the Greek, which by the way, is a massively more expressive language than any other language in the world, you're going to run out of words in the English, then all you can do is the best you can do, right? So this heavenly city comes down and it has glory. Notice where he says, her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal clear jasper. He says, all I know is it's the greatest jewel I've ever seen. Goes on to describe

it as having a great wall. Of course, the great wall had 12 gates and each of the gates had an angel. Now, of course, anytime you think of 12, we think of how often 12 is used within scripture, right? The 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles, and God seemed to use that number quite a bit. And that's exactly what these 12 gates line up with. These 12 gates and the 12

angels had names written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. And again, this city is a square. And so north, south, east, and west all had three gates at each of the cities or on each of the walls. Each of them bearing one of the names of the tribe of Israel. It's kind of interesting, isn't it? Because if you remember correctly, that's sort of the way that the camp of the

Israelites was set up, right? With those four sides. And who was right in the middle of it? God, dwelling in the tabernacle. Who's right in the midst among all of his people? Well, God is. And so we know that that's kind of what takes place there. The second thing that we take note of is it says the wall, verse 14, had 12 foundation stones. And on them were 12 names. The names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

Now, this question is completely ridiculous and we'll never know the answer to it.

Whose name was where Judas should have been? Was it Matthias or was it Paul? Anyway, that's a whole other debate for another time. So the 12 apostles are the 12 foundation stones. And it says, no, no, I don't want to get into the measuring rod just yet. Now, I want to point something out to you about the fact that it's the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 foundation stones. There's a

couple of interesting things about that. Number one is that it is built upon the foundation of the apostles, because after all, what is the church built upon? The foundation of the apostles doctrine, which comes directly from Jesus. But the thing I really want you to take note of is that the gates are the 12 tribes of Israel and the foundation is the 12 apostles, which oftentimes speak of the church.

Meaning that this new Jerusalem is for everyone, right? Both Jew and Gentile alike. And so everyone can seek God here. It says, then the one who spoke with me, verse 15, had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its wall. Of course, the city is laid out like a square and its length is as great as its width. And he measured the city with a rod, 1500 miles. It's length,

width, and height are equal. Now I did a little bit of reading about what 1500 miles would be. And that's basically the entire East coast of the United States from Maine down to Florida. That's, that's 1500 miles. So it's 1500 miles in its length and its width and its height. So this is some people think perhaps a pyramid. I lean toward it being a giant cube

because that's what he's just basically described for us, right? If all of those things are the same now, could it be a pyramid? Sure. I have no problem with that, but I think it's a cube. And this cube is huge, right? Huge. And it's, and it's amazing. And it's splendor and it's awesome, right? Because he, he describes this thing as being intense. He says, and he measured its wall, 72 yards. So there's a wall, 72 yards high,

going all the way around the city, according to human measurements, which are also angelic. Measurements. And so he's just described for us a massive city. I love what Amir Sirfati had to say in his book. He said, I hate made up words like ginormous, but I don't know what else you call this. It's ginormous, right? Because sometimes you have to make up words. I think that's what

John's struggling with right now. But then he goes on to describe the materials that it's made of. The material of the wall was like Jasper and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. Can you imagine how bright this city is? If the gold, and it is pure gold, is like clear glass, that means that it's see-through, but also shines light off of it because that's what glass does, right? Glass tends to reflect

light. And so it's reflecting this amazing light. It says in the foundation of the foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. And it lists all the precious stones that it was adorned with. Then the equate, the equate, the equate, the equate, the equate, verse that would go along with this was the description of the breastplate that the high

priest wore that had all of those exact same stones on them. Again, speaking of the relationship between both the old covenant and the new covenant coming together in Christ. It says in the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each of the gates was a single pearl. And in the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. Now, how many of us grew up? The only

thing that you knew about heaven? Was that the streets were made of gold, right? Like, I feel like for the most part growing up, that's what everybody talked about with heaven. All of this description and the thing we dumbed it down to is the streets are made of gold, right? Like what an amazing thing. And here's what I want to know. If they're pure gold, like glass, how slick are they? And if they're slick,

can we slide around on them all over the place? I remember being in high school and going with a friend of mine up to Sam's club up in Wichita. And the Sam's club has those sweet concrete floors that they have buffed out and they're shiny. And they're all made of gold. And they're made of gold. And there was a display of nothing but office chairs. And you know what we discovered? You can

race those office chairs on that slick, shiny floor. And then you can almost get kicked out of Sam's. And is that what heaven's going to be like? I hope so. I hope they're sweet wheelchair races, not because we need to be in wheelchairs, but because we get to race them, right? Anyway, goes on from there. After he describes this city to us, the last thing that he tells us

is what's not. There it says, and I saw verse 22, no temple in it for the Lord God, the almighty and the lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it for the glory of God has illumined it. And its lamp is the lamb. The nations will walk by its light. The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. And in the daytime, for there will

be no night there. Its gates will never be closed. Like, right? There's no need for a church building. There's no need for a temple there. Why? Because God's there. Why do people go to the temple to meet with God? Well, he's dwelling among the people. There's no need for a temple there because God's there. He's already among the people. And every day will be a worship service. Every day we can

fall down at the feet of God and worship and praise him. Listen, with reckless abandon, because we will not be held back by the things of this world any longer. Right? We're told in the book of first Corinthians chapter 13, that now we see through a glass dimly, but then we will see face to face. Then we will know even as also we are known because right now we are held back by the things of this world, but there we won't need that temple

because we'll be with him face to face. The second thing that's not there is he says, and there's no sun or moon there. It knows what it says in verse 23. And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it. Why? Because the glory of God has illumined it. The lamp is the lamb. Isn't that great? Jesus is the sunlight. Jesus is like, right? And just lights everything up. And you know what else is not there? There's

no nighttime there. There is no nighttime. Now, listen, I remember having toddlers and trying to put them to bed and thinking, gosh, I can't wait for the new heavens and the new earth when there's no nighttime, meaning I never have to put my toddler to bed again. It's going to be an amazing time. Now, for those of us that like to sleep, again, I liked what Amir Sirfati had to say. What about those of us that like to sleep and

take naps? He said, close the shades, right? I don't know what you're going to do. Like, I don't know if there's going to be any sleeping there. There's going to be no night there. I don't know, right? It's like a Jesus shade you can pull by. It's like, Jesus, I'm trying to take a nap, right? I don't know. But there's no nighttime there because it's all daytime. And notice what happens in this daytime. The nations will walk by the light of Jesus and

the kings of earth will bring their glory into it. Isn't that great? All the kings of the earth are going to be walking according to the light of Jesus, meaning they won't do anything that they're doing now. They'll only be doing the right things. And then what's the third thing that's not there? Nothing unclean. Nothing unclean, verse 27, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come

into it. Listen, once we get there, once we're in this new heaven and in this new earth, there will never again be sin. There will never again be anything that's tainted, be anything that's unclean, be anything that's impure. Everything will be perfect. The best things that you can imagine on this earth, are still tainted by sin. We're told that even nature groans because they want to see Jesus,

because they want to be set free from the sin that's held them now. But in this new heaven, in this new earth, in this new Jerusalem, there's no sin there. There's nothing unclean. As a matter of fact, the only people that will be there, notice what it says at the end of verse 27, are those whose names that are written in the Lamb's book of life. Hopefully that's everybody sitting in the room.

Hopefully that's everybody in this room right now. Hopefully that's everybody that goes to our church and all of our friends that love Jesus. All the people that love Jesus, they're all going to be there. I remember some of the best times I've had in my life are when I was in Bible college. Because even though we're still sinful people, we all pretty much had the same vision. We all

pretty much had the same goal. We were all pretty much pursuing the same things. We all called it Christian Disneyland. And I remember my teacher saying over and over again, if it's this good now, you can't imagine what it's going to be like. Because even still here, we're held back by sin. And then we won't be. It'll be only those that love Jesus. So I want to close with this. As we've been talking about this new heaven and this new

earth, I want to close with Colossians. Go over to the book of Colossians. I know I've made you do some Bible Olympics tonight. It's right after the book of Philippians. So Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians. And I want you to look at chapter three, verse one. Colossians chapter three, verse one says this. Therefore, if you've been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above where Christ is seated at

the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on the things that are on the earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. Brothers and sisters, we got to keep seeking those things that are above. And I think the whole reason why John was given this vision of this new heaven is because he was raised with Christ. He was raised with Christ. He was

this new heaven and this new earth is because he needed to be reminded to keep going. The people that he's going to be writing to needed to be reminded to keep going. The early church through the century needed to be reminded to keep going. And we as the church today need to be reminded to keep going. Let me tell you a quick story as an illustration. I remember my senior year of high

school. We were at a wrestling tournament down in Perry, Oklahoma. And at two day tournaments, you had to make weight twice. You had to make weight. Friday morning, you had to make weight Friday night. Making weight Friday morning was no problem. Friday night, that's a problem, right? Because you've been eating all day. And trust me, when you're a wrestler and you've been cutting weight, you start eating, okay? And so we're all in this

giant wrestling room getting ready to weigh in. You had to wait till a certain time to weigh in. And I checked my weight. I was good. And so I was like, oh, thank God I don't have to run. But there was this kid. He was a really good wrestler. He'd qualified for the semifinals the next day. And his entire team was waiting on him to make weight. And so he's running in circles trying to... Now, listen, if you're not a wrestler,

you don't understand what this is like. But you're worn out, okay? And he's just running in circles. And he's running in circles. He's trying to work off this weight. And you know what his teammates kept telling him? There's pizza when you're done. Right? We get to go to Pizza Hut when you're done. Come on, man. Keep going. Don't give up. There's pizza when you're

done. That's the best illustration I can think of to say what John's doing with us right here. There's pizza when you're done, right? There's heaven when we're done. I know it's hard now. I know that sometimes we get weary now. I know that sometimes we get worn down by this world. We get worn down by the temptations of the world. We get worn down by the pain and the grief of the world. We get worn down by the affliction of the world. We get worn

down by the battles of the world. But I want you to know there's heaven when you're done. Don't give up. Keep seeking those things which are above. Because listen, your life is hidden in God. Amen? Lord, we come to you and I thank you. I thank you for the promise that awaits us. I thank you for the life that we have waiting for us, for the hope that we have waiting for us.

And Lord, may we continue on. May we press on knowing that we have a heaven that's waiting for us. Lord, we praise you and we thank you for who you are. And Lord, I praise you for your amazing promises. In Jesus' name. Amen. Blessed.