The Eternal State

Thank you for this opportunity in the middle of the week to be refueled in the scriptures that we might understand, Lord Jesus, the future in heaven with you And pray tonight that you would motivate us to live for the glory of our God through things we hear concerning our future and the ironclad assurance of heaven We pray in Jesus' name, Amen Tonight, we are almost finished with our series on the return of the King, looking at the eternal state

Next week, we'll conclude it by answering the question, what now? What do we do once we understand the sequence of events surrounding the return of Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords? But tonight, we're going to look at the eternal state We're going to look at heaven And heaven's always a great topic to discuss, although it's hard to explain. I mean, yes, the Bible does speak quite frequently about heaven, but Jesus would talk more about hell than he ever did heaven because he didn't want people to go to hell

And yet when you look at what the Bible says concerning heaven, sometimes it's very difficult to comprehend it. I mean, Paul said that he was caught up to the third heaven and they were, he heard inexpressible words He heard things that he could not express in modern language It went above and beyond anything he could comprehend in his natural realm Ezekiel, Ezekiel 1 tried to describe for us heaven, but if you read Ezekiel 1, it's pretty difficult to grasp and to put your hands around it Because it's something that's way beyond anything we can imagine on this earth

And yet the Bible does speak to us about heaven, the eternal state, where we will spend eternity with Jesus Christ, our Lord So I want to talk to you tonight about that And yet I want to begin with just two things One is you need to know that heaven truly is a place It really is a place The Bible speaks to us about that place And the very fact that there is a heaven and that we are to have our minds focused on things above and not things below helps us understand the importance of why studying the topic of heaven is crucial to us

In fact, Richard Baxter, the great Puritan preacher, said these words about heaven and the focus of heaven He says, A heavenly mind is a joyful mind This is the nearest and truest way to live, a life of comfort And without this you must needs be uncomfortable Can a man be at a fire and not be warm? Or in the sunshine and not have light? Can your heart be in heaven and not have comfort? On the other hand, what could make such frozen, uncomfortable Christians but living so far as they do from heaven? O Christian, get above Believe it, that region is warmer than this below

We need to focus our attention on things above We need to understand this place that God has designed for us And even though there is not a whole bunch in the Bible that explains to us heaven, there is enough to give us a glimpse of glory And that glimpse should motivate us to live this earth comfortably Because our focus is always into the future It's always above We are to be heavenly minded people Heaven is a place It is a particular place Paul said he was caught up into the third heaven Well, we know the first heaven is this atmosphere

We know the second heaven is the planetary region where the sun, the moon, the stars are We can't exist in that atmosphere And then there's the third heaven That's where Paul says he was caught up to So we know that there is a place that heaven is We know that because the Bible calls God the God of heaven So that's unique We know that in Revelation 4.1, the voice that John heard was, come up here So there's a place that John would go up to That would be heaven So it is a particular place When we pray, we pray our Father who art in heaven So we know that heaven is a particular place

We also know that heaven is a promised place We know that Jesus said to the thief on the cross, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. A promise given to this thief on the cross once he came to a point of repentance and understood who Jesus Christ was The Bible says that heaven not only is a particular place or a promised place, but heaven is specifically is a prepared place The Lord said to his disciples, I go and prepare a place for you And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself

Can you imagine how it must be that the Son of God would prepare a place for us in heaven? You know, I love to be able to prepare my home for my wife when she's gone She goes away with the kids and she's gone for the day or for a few days and she's going to come home. I love to be able to prepare the home for when she arrives, everything is set in order Everything is put in its proper place Everything is clean The laundry is done The floors are clean The dishes are all done Everything is set in its proper order So when she comes home, she has no work to do

She has nothing to do because it's all done Well Jesus prepares a place He prepares it in such a way that when we get there, it's unlike anything we can ever imagine this side of eternity It's a prepared place The Bible also says that heaven is a peaceful place Revelation 14, 13 says, Blessed are those who die in the Lord for they rest from their labors They rest from their labors Why? Because heaven truly is a peaceful place Heaven is a perfect place It's a place where, as Peter says, righteousness dwells It's perfect because the worship there is perfect There's no imperfect worship in heaven

It's all perfect It's a perfect place because there is perfect pleasure in heaven At thy right hand, the psalmist said in Psalm 16, 11, are pleasures for evermore It's a perfect place because 1 Corinthians 13 tells us that there will be perfect knowledge It's a perfect place because of the perfect comfort, Luke 16, 25, that's found only in heaven Also, there's perfect joy, Matthew 25, 23 All that because you're going to have a perfect body Heaven's a perfect place It is a particular place It's a promised place It's a prepared place Heaven is a permanent place It's not temporary

It's called eternal life It's forever It's permanent It's also a praising place because when you read Revelation 4 and you read Revelation 5, it's all about the praise given to God for what he has done Now, you and I, we don't get that We don't understand that. I mean, because the closest thing we get to praise is singing a few songs on Sunday morning We think that that's praise and worship In all reality, it's nothing compared to the way praise will be in heaven at the throne of our Father and to worship him in purity and in holiness It will be a praising place Heaven is a populated place

It's populated by those who have given their life to Christ and they have followed him in obedience Heaven is a personal place Christ said, where I am there, you shall be also You will be there, he says It's a personal place It is a precious place There's nothing more precious than heaven because everything that's dear to you is there Everything that's important to you is there If you're laying up treasures in heaven, they're there Those are precious to you We know that our Savior is there We know that our Father is there We know that our names are there We know that our inheritance is there

We know that our citizenship is there We know that our eternal reward is there We know that our master is there We know that everything that's important to us, everything that's eternal, is there And that's why it becomes a very precious place But heaven is a privileged place because not everybody goes, right? It's only for the privileged, not because of anything they've done, but because they have responded to the call of God in their lives They've been chosen to be a part of his great and glorious kingdom It's a privileged place Heaven is a place

But what makes the place is the person, the Lord Jesus Christ Do you know the Bible never tells you that Jesus is going to take you to heaven? But he does tell you that he's going to take you to be with him or to be in his Father's house Because the essence of the place is the person who occupies the place And the fullness of his glory, the manifestation of his presence, to be able to see him for who he is and what he's done, to see him perfectly The Lord God said to Moses, no man can see me and live, right? Well, when you get to heaven, you can see him because you'll have a perfect body

And therefore, the splendor, the majesty, the glory of God will be seen face to face And therefore, the presence of God is really what makes heaven as great as it is When he told the thief on the cross, today you shall be with me in paradise Paradise is paradise because of who's in paradise? The Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords That's so crucial Why? Why? Because, you know, people will always try to explain heaven, but most people fail to do so People write books about heaven, lots of books about heaven You can read them Some people say they even die and go to heaven

Don Piper's written a book about heaven The title of the book is simply 90 Minutes in Heaven. A true story of death and life He is a liar That's not true Now, I know this will be on the radio someday and people will hear it, but he is a false teacher Because in his book, he tells us in simply 15 pages of his book, that's all, 15 pages are devoted to heaven He tells us, very simply, that when he gets there, he never sees Jesus

Now, how can you go to heaven and not see Jesus? Unless, of course, you didn't go to heaven. 2 Corinthians 5 verse 8 says, He begins his book by saying, I know that heaven exists because I've been there He automatically denies the authority and inerrancy and inspiration of the scripture How do you know heaven exists? Because you've been there? Or because of what the Word of God says? We know it exists because of what God says in his Word, not because we've been there But his authority is based on his experience, not the inspiration of the Word of God

In a cursory glance at his book, we'll get you to realize that everything he perceives heaven to be, listen carefully, is all about him It's never about Jesus The whole book's about him Listen to what he says. I died In my next moment of awareness, I was standing in heaven as the crowd rushed toward me. I didn't see Jesus, but I did see the people I had known As they surged toward me, I knew instantly that all of them had died during my lifetime Their presence seemed absolutely natural They rushed toward me

It goes on and says, although no one said so, intuitively, I knew they were my celestial welcoming committee It was as if they had all gathered just outside heaven's gate waiting for me The personal pronouns he uses over and over again about him and everybody rushing to see him It's all about him Folks, when you get to heaven, it's not about you It's all about the Lord Jesus Christ Listen, you don't have to have a Phi Beta Kappa to realize this guy ate too much chili the day before he wrote the book It's that simple He says more and more people reached for me, calling me by name

People had come to welcome me Everyone continually embraced me, touched me, spoke to me It's all about him And as he goes on to talk about heaven, he says these words He says this, as I said before the gate Oh, by the way, he never entered the gate. I want to say he couldn't because narrow is the gate and few there be that find it. I'm not sure he's going to find it But he never entered the gate, he said, the pearly gates As I said before the gate, I didn't think of it But later I realized that I didn't hear such songs as the old rugged cross or the nail scarred hands

None of the hymns that fill the air, listen, were about Jesus's sacrifice or death Now, that is absolutely contrary to Revelation 4 and Revelation 5 Revelation's new song is about worthy is the lamb that was slain. I mean, this guy doesn't even know what the Bible says He writes a book about heaven and over 1.6 million people have purchased the book and read it And there are even churches who claim to be Bible believing churches who have him there Which is absolutely astounding to me He, in his book, simply believes that it's all about feelings, not about facts It's about him

It's not about the Lord Because the whole book focuses on self and not the Lord Jesus It emphasizes human emotion over God given truth And that's why the Bible says, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits Whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world Jeremiah 23 says, they speak a vision of their own heart Ezekiel chapter 13 says, woe to the foolish prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing Jeremiah 23 says, behold, I am against those who prophesy false dreams

So all these people who buy his book and all these churches who have him speak really defy what God says God's against them, but those churches are for him Meaning, they side against God and for the false prophet The Bible says in Colossians 2, verse number 8, beware lest anyone cheat you through the philosophy and empty deceit, according to the traditions of men, according to the principles of this world Folks, it is so important that you believe what God says There are so many charlatans out there

We did a study in the book of Jude, many, many weeks, talking about false teachers and how they infiltrate the church and apostatize the faith And as time goes on, closer to the return of the king, more and more men and women will prophesy falsely And what does the book of Jeremiah say? And all my people love it so So here's a guy who prophesies falsely and all the people in modern Christianity, oh, they love it so Even though it's not true They love the emotion They love the feeling because it's all focused about on them See, it's not focused on the truth of God's word It's focused on them

And people want to be affirmed They want to be recognized They want people to focus on them And heaven is about God It's all about the glory of God It's all about the presence of God Heaven is what it is because of who is there It's the king of kings and lord of lords Can you imagine dying, going to heaven and not see Jesus? The only place I know you go when you die and not see Jesus is not heaven It's hell Would you not agree with that? I mean, based on what the Bible says, then you must stick to what the truth of God is So I want to talk to you about heaven

Not because I died and went there or not because I know somebody who died and went there. I'm talking to you about heaven because I know what the Bible says concerning heaven And so, therefore, we want to look at the preparation for the eternal state in Revelation chapter 21 And once we look at that preparation, then we want to move to the presence of that eternal state And then we want to look at the possessors of that eternal state The paradise itself and then the promise that's given This is Revelation 21 and the first part of Revelation chapter 22

And this is the best set of chapters we have in the Bible that help us understand the eternal state We're going to begin with the preparation It says in Revelation 21 verses 1 and 2, these words, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there was no longer any sea And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband After the great white throne judgment of Revelation 20, and all the unsaved dead are cast into the lake of fire

Because the false prophet and the beast have already been cast there before the millennial reign of Christ Satan then is cast into the lake of fire after that great waterloo in Revelation 20 at the end of the millennium Then the great white throne judgment happens and all the unsaved dead are resurrected, brought before the throne of God The books are opened and the book of life is opened And those whose names were not found written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire Now you have Revelation 21 and you have the preparation of the new heaven and the new earth

And the Bible says very clearly that John, having seen what God did to the unsaved dead, is now going to see what God is going to do for the redeemed And the Bible speaks about what's going to happen In Revelation 21, based on Isaiah chapter 65, verse number 17 said, For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind Folks, listen When you get to heaven, you will not know anything about earth any longer Please understand that People say, well, you know, my loved one has died and I know they're looking down upon me No, no, they're not

Because you see, for them to look down upon you on earth would only cause them sadness, heartache, pain And there's none of that in heaven See? So why would they want to remember the sinful when they are now in the perfect? Right? And not to, you know, put a big blow to your ego, but when they get to heaven, they're not caring about you anymore And that sounds kind of bad, but it's all about the Lord Jesus See? We forget that Their sole focus is on the King of kings and Lord of lords And Isaiah says, the former things are remembered no more No more

Because everything in the past is tainted with sin Everything And they're in a place of perfection Isaiah 66, 22 says, There was many prophecies in the Old Testament Psalm 102, 25 to 27, same thing, about a new heaven and a new earth And the purpose is because there needs to be a place where righteousness dwells Because righteousness no longer dwells here Unrighteousness dwells here We live in a sin-cursed earth Okay? With sin-cursed people There needs to be a place where righteousness dwells

And that's what Peter says in 2 Peter 3, 13, We're looking for that place where only righteousness dwells That's the longing for the believer He wants to be free from a sinful environment He wants to be free from his own sin And he wants to live in a place where there is no longer any sin And that place is in the presence of Almighty God The Bible says in Job 15, these words, Referring to the old heavens They're not clean in sight So there has to be a new heaven and a new earth Isaiah 24, 5 says, And so the heavens are defiled The earth is defiled

And so when you come to 2 Peter 3, With a great noise And the elements shall melt with fervent heat The earth also And the works that are in it, They shall all be burned Listen Heaven and earth pass away The heavens, the present heavens as we know them, Are finite They are not infinite So important to understand We know that for several reasons One, the heavens and the earth pass away They go out of existence And if they pass away and God himself is omnipresent, He's everywhere That must mean they go out of existence from where he is So they are no longer around because he's omnipresent

We also know about a new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven Which we will look at in a moment So for there to be a new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven, The text in Revelation 21 says that it wasn't created It always existed It was always there Where was it? Outside the present heavens Outside the present universe There is this Jerusalem This new Jerusalem This holy city of God This paradise This place that's untouched by sin Untouched by evil And so this present heaven and this present earth, they fade away And God's going to create a new heaven and a new earth

Okay? The word there is kainos New, not in reference to time, which is naos But kainos refers to quality The quality of the heaven and the quality of the earth will be completely perfect Therefore, it will be unlike the present earth and the present heaven in which we exist It will be brand new And it says, it says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth and there was no more sea Why would there not be any more sea? Will there be water in heaven? Yeah According to Revelation 22, verse number one, there will be a water in which flow, a river which flows water of life But there will be no more sea

Why no more sea? Well, we know that the sea is a dividing factor on the present earth We know the sea in ancient times was foreboding and promoted much fear in the lives of people There'll be no more fear There'll be no more sea because there'll be no more division And remember, the sea gave up the dead, which was in it in Revelation 20, because there wasn't going to exist anymore And so therefore, there is no more sea But John says, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven Can you imagine? Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband

You know, the bride is her prettiest on her wedding day Is she not? I mean, now ladies, now I know you're pretty every day to your husband. I know that But on your wedding day, the beauty is sublime The beauty is supreme Never is a bride more beautiful than she is on her wedding day John sees this new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven Doesn't say it was created It says it's coming down It already existed And we know that it could have easily existed during the millennium Okay? We know that it probably existed during the rapture because there was a place that we went

There was a home, a mansion My father's house, there are many dwelling places, right? The Lord said, I go to prepare a place for you And so in that new Jerusalem, in that holy city of God, there was a place prepared for us So that new Jerusalem always existed because God prepared it for his people You know, he sees it coming down out of the heavens He sees it in all of its splendor, in all of its beauty Something that we can't even begin to imagine this side of eternity Because, you know, when God does it, he does it perfect He does it like none of us can ever dream of doing it

And the Lord does it just perfectly And this city coming down is the same city that Abraham would have looked to in Hebrews 11, verse number 10 The heavenly city was the hope of Abraham Hebrews 11, 16 It was the hope of Isaac and Jacob In Ezekiel 48, it was the hope of Israel and every Old Testament saint This city whose maker and architect was God himself This was their hope This was their anticipation This is what they looked for And it came down out of heaven And I want you to notice what verse number 3 says It says, Folks, listen Heaven is a manifestation of the presence of God

In all of his glory, in all of his splendor, God dwells among his people In the fullness of his glory, God dwells among his people John says in Revelation 21, verse number 22, And I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it John says, I saw no temple because the temple was that which held the symbol of the presence Well, now that the presence is among them, you no longer need a symbol, right? It would be like having a picture of your wife

And holding the picture of your wife and being satisfied with that when your wife is standing over there That would be kind of ridiculous, wouldn't it? Looking at the picture and saying, oh, how beautiful my wife is Oh, how lovely my wife is Would you rather have that or would you rather be in her presence over there? Well, see, there's no need for a temple because the Lord and the Lamb are the temple Okay? The symbol is no longer needed because the presence now has become a reality

In the full manifestation of God, in all of His glory and all of His splendor, now you will see Him for who He is And you'll be like Him because you'll see Him just exactly as He is The great manifestation of His presence And not only is there a manifestation of His presence, but there is an elimination of the past Look what it says And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes and there shall no longer be any death There shall 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

And He said, write, for these words are faithful and true And He said to me, it is done It's done Finally, it's all done Everything that God had planned for in eternity past has now been accomplished It's done There are no more tears There is no more crying Tears are referring to the silent sorrow Crying referring to the vocal sorrow All those things are passed away People say, well, He's going to wipe away your tears That means that when you get there, there must be tears that He has to wipe away Now, that's not what it means It means that when you get there, the tears have been wiped away

There are no tears There's no sadness in heaven It's all about joy It's the presence of the God who gives joy There are no tears in heaven There's no more death in heaven No more separation in heaven It's joy It's life It's glory It's God It's the beauty of all that He could prepare Now, look, we can see some beautiful things on this earth There's no doubt about that Whether it's in the ocean, whether it's in the mountains, you know, there are certain things on this earth that appeal to us in terms of their beauty And there's nothing wrong with that It's still a sin-cursed earth

And yet, in spite of its curse, there are some things on this earth that are beautiful to us, but there is nothing compared to the beauty of the new heaven and the beauty of the new earth And with the presence of God Himself among us, because He tabernacles among us, is absolutely incredible And you know what God says? Listen to what He says He says, He said to me, it's done. 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 the water of life without cost You know, even amidst this, the Lord God gives the invitation

An invitation to realize that you can come and drink of this water As you observe the beauty of what John is trying to describe to us, and in all reality, what John is describing for us can't be explained in our language We try to explain it as best we can, but we really can't put our hands around it But the Lord God gives an invitation. I'm the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end That's me And you know what? If you're thirsty, you come Which explains to us, point number three, the possessors Because there are only certain ones who possess this beautiful glory

And it says this, He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers, immoral persons, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars, their part will be in the lake that birtheth fire and brimstone, which is the second death He says, but to the overcomer, the overcomer That's how the book of Revelation describes the believer It's a great word, because the tribulational saints, they have to overcome They have to be victorious, right? And in Revelation 2 and 3, there is a promise given to the overcomer

Every church in Revelation 2 and 3, the seven churches that receive the letters, there's a promise given to the overcomer Who's the overcomer? 1 John 5, 5 He who believes that Jesus is the Son of God is the overcomer In fact, in Romans 8, it says that we are overwhelming conquerors, okay? The word for overcomer is nike In Romans 8, it's hupernike, overwhelming conquerors Not just victorious, but overwhelmingly victorious we are

Folks, I don't know if you understand that or not, but when the Bible speaks of us as Christians, it speaks of us as people who overcome adversity, who overcome the adversary Who overcome iniquity, who overcome difficulty And why do we overcome that? Because our Lord God reigns within us He rules our lives And one of the most beautiful descriptions of a Christian is that he is an overcomer He is a victorious warrior There are no losers in heaven None Who wants to be associated with a loser, right? You know? Be associated with a winner And there are no losers in heaven

Remember in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, to the overcomer I will give him the tree of life. I will give him the bread of life. I will give to him the crown of life. I will give him the opportunity to sit on my throne with me in heaven. I will give him my new name. I will write the name of my God and the name of the city of my God on him. I will give him a white stone with a name that nobody knows except the one who receives it. I will give him the hidden manna, which Christ is the bread of life, speaking specifically of the quality of life that's given to the one who receives that bread. I will give him the morning star, which according to Revelation 22 and 16 is Christ himself

He is the bright and morning star And so all through Revelation 2 and 3 you can do the study yourself Just look at the promises given to the overcomer The Bible says in Revelation 22, 21, excuse me, says he who overcomes shall inherit these things And I will be his God and he will be my son Folks, that's what happens when you get to heaven The possessors of heaven are the overcomers Now, he gives a grouping of those who are excluded from heaven Well, the cowardly Why the cowardly? They didn't overcome They lost, see? What do you mean they lost? Well, see, overcomers are winners

They're not cowards And the cowards are the ones who fall away and don't stand strong, see? They don't persevere to the end They can't persevere because the Spirit of God doesn't indwell them, enabling them to persevere The overcomer does because God's Spirit enables him to do so The cowardly, the unbelieving, right? They don't believe that Jesus is the Son of God The abominable murderers, immoral persons, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars These are people whose lives are marked by these habitual sins This is how they live their lives There's another list over in Revelation 22, verse number 15

Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers, the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying It doesn't mean that this is an inclusive list It means it's a representative list It's a list of those people who habitually sin and are incapable of overcoming any of those sins Why? Because the Spirit of God does not reside within them The overcomer does, though, see? And they are the possessors of heaven They are the ones who have entrance into the kingdom of God And then it says, it talks to us about the paradise, the city, the holy city of God

In Revelation 21 and verse number 9, all the way down to Revelation 22 too And I'm just going to read it to you It doesn't take much to exegete the passage, but I'll just point out a few things to you It says in verse number 9, And one of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke to me, saying, Come here, I shall show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God

Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal clear jasper Now, the first thing you need to know about this paradise of God, this holy city of God, is that it contains the glory of God And the glory of God is His nature, His attributes, His beauty, and the brilliance of His character Okay? So remember, there is no light in the New Jerusalem because the Lamb is the light He illumines the city God is light And you will notice that as you look at the city, it will be a cubed city It will have three entrances on each side of the cube

That city will be 1,500 miles high and 1,500 miles wide It's a cubed city, but it's a crystal city It's a diamond city It's a transparent city Everything is transparent You'll notice as we read through this that gold in the new city of Jerusalem is transparent You ever seen transparent gold? Of course not Gold is gold It's solid But in heaven, it's transparent And the emphasis is on the transparency of the city because there's nothing to hide. I mean, think about it You go to your house, you shut your doors, you hide from the world

You don't want the world to see in what's going on because you want to remain private There's nothing to keep private in heaven There is no sin There are no secrets And because of the transparency of all that's there, the glory of God just shines throughout the whole city, refracting light from place to place so that everything is seen God is always seen because the glory of the Lord shines through every stone, through every wall, through every gate, so that he is always the focus of those who are there That's so important Let me read it to you

It says, It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels And the names are written on them which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel God keeps his covenant with Israel There were three gates on the east, and three gates on the north, and three gates on the south, and three gates on the west And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb

You notice that everything's in twelves, right? There are twelve gates, twelve angels, twelve tribes, twelve foundation stones, twelve names, twelve apostles of the Lamb Why twelve? Because twelve is the number of completion It's the number of completion God has already said it's done, right? It's complete, it's over And twelve completes everything That's why there were twelve apostles It's the number of completion And so everything in heaven is grouped in twelves Why? Because it's done It's over And one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its walls

And the city is laid out as a square And its length is as great as its width And he measured the city with the rod 1,500 miles Its length and width and height are equal And he measured its wall, 72 yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements Why is there a wall around the city? The wall is just symbolic It's symbolic of the fact that nothing evil ever gets in It can't It can't because of the presence of Almighty God There's nothing to hide from There are no more wars There are no battles There are no enemies

It's symbolic of the presence of nothing but purity and holiness And nothing gets in that's not supposed to be there Well, what's not supposed to be there? Nothing Because everything is perfect Everything is clean and righteous It says in verse number 18, And the material of the wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold like clear glass In other words, it was transparent gold 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, sardinox

And the sixth, sardius And the seventh, chrysolite And the eighth, beryl And the ninth, topaz The tenth, chrysopris And the eleventh, jacenth And the twelfth, amethyst And the twelve gates were twelve pearls And one of the gates was a single pearl In the street, the city was pure gold like transparent glass Why are the gates pearl? Well, we know how a pearl is made Through the wounding of the animal Once the animal is wounded, the pearl develops Every time you go inside the city, you are always reminded of the wounds of the one who allowed you to be a part of that city

Without Calvary, there is no glory And because of Christ, heaven is yours That's why he's called the lamb 28 times in the book of Revelation. 28 times the Lord God has called the lamb of God because that is his apocalyptic name, right? That's how he will be remembered for all eternity The lamb slain before the foundation of the world He's the lamb of God He will always bear the scars, the nail scars in his hands to prove once again that you're there because of him You see, when you get to heaven, the overwhelming reminder will be there was one who allowed you entrance into his home

To his presence The king of kings and lord of lords It's that constant reminder that we praise him because worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive glory and honor and praise And that's what we will do And then it says, And I saw 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 the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the lamb And the nation shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it

And in the daytime, for there shall be no night there, its gates shall never be closed, and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations to it, and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the land's book of life And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the land

And on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, or for the joy of the nations Will you eat when you get to heaven? Yeah, you'll eat Will you have to eat? No Will you want to eat? Yes Because of the joy and the sufficiency of the tree that provides what God wants you to have In other words, you will eat freely of the tree for your enjoyment, because heaven is about the joy of the Lord Here's the promise, our last point

It says, And there shall no longer be any curse No more curse It's gone It's away Never to be seen again And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His bondservants shall serve Him, and they shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads And there shall no longer be any night, and they shall not have need of the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them, and they shall reign forever and ever You see, everything in heaven, although it's a place, is about the presence of God

You can't go there and not see Him. I mean, it's so obvious All you can do is read Revelation 21, Revelation 22 And the promise of God is this Look, no more curse No more curse But the glory and presence of God will permeate every aspect And what will you do? You will serve Him day and night Doing what? I have no idea. I have no idea You know, it doesn't make any difference, because you're going to want to serve Him You're going to want to do whatever He asks, whatever He says, because you can't thank Him enough

Eternity will never be long enough to praise Him and to glorify His name for what He has done Heaven is beyond comprehension That's why Paul says, Nothing Let me ask you a question Do you love the Lord? Do you love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, all your might, all your strength? Are you an overcomer? Because you believe that Jesus is the Son of God? Because what God has prepared for you, you just can't explain it this night of eternity It goes way beyond that to the beautiful glory of Almighty God. I trust that you know you're going to go to heaven when you die. I trust you do

That is the only thing that matters today When you die, will you go to heaven? Will you go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ forever? And once you know that, what do you do now? Having spent 20-some weeks, I'm not sure how many weeks it's been, looking at the series, The Return of the King, what do we do now? What is our responsibility now? Well, next week, we'll explain that to you with a series of principles that will help you understand Now that you know the King is coming, you know what's going to happen when he returns, what do you do next? And that will lead you until he comes again

Let's pray together Father, thank you for tonight, a chance to spend some time in the Word of the Lord Thank you, Father, for the joy and the glory of heaven. I pray, Father, that all of us will be motivated to keep our affections on things above, not on things below And that, Father, we would be set on serving you until you come again, as you most surely will If there be one here this evening who doesn't know you as Lord and Savior, may today, tonight, be the night they become an overcomer and believe that Jesus is the Son of God We pray in your name Amen.