"All Things New"

[0:00] I knew the question was coming, I just didn't know when. How much longer, Dad? This is over a decade ago.

[0:13] Jenny and I had packed our three oldest children into our van and we were driving from Kenosha to Cape Cod, Massachusetts. Three young kids, 16 plus hours in a car.

[0:25] I can't think of a better illustration than the Christian life than that. Well, I was anticipating the question. And so I thought, well, I can do a countdown thing where I get the question and I get to say, child, we have 16 hours left.

[0:43] Oh, child, we have 15 hours and 58 minutes left. Oh, child, let me answer. We have 15 hours, 53 minutes left. I was just anticipating maybe that's how I could answer.

[0:53] But then I said, no, I'm not going to answer that way. I, the visionary leader of our family, I will cast visions for my children. So I was thinking, well, we get around Indianapolis, my eldest daughter is going to ask the question, how much longer, Dad?

[1:10] And then I would say, Abby, just imagine the ice cream smuggler, that ice cream shop in Dennis, Massachusetts, with the array of ice cream flavors.

[1:21] Oh, sweetheart, I know you're now ready for the rest of the journey. Then somewhere in western Pennsylvania, my oldest son would ask, Dad, how much longer?

[1:31] And I would say, oh, Nathan, just imagine Mayflower Beach, that giant beach with all the sand, and we could play wiffle ball to our heart's content. And he would be fine for the rest of the journey.

[1:44] Then I imagine my youngest son, Mark, saying, Dad, how much longer? We're in eastern Pennsylvania, and I would be like, oh, son, Corporation Beach has the best tidal pools around.

[1:57] There are hermit crabs right now waiting for you to discover them. And he'd be good for the rest of the time. But I had a nuclear button. Just in case my wife was like, how much longer, honey?

[2:11] I would be able to say the trump card. Oh, dear bride, Aunt Linda is waiting for us.

[2:24] The greatest cook on the eastern seaboard. She has an aggressive affection. You feel her affection. And just imagine, sweetheart, Aunt Linda's face coming at you with those puckered lips.

[2:39] Doesn't it do your heart good? Well, it turns out we weren't even 15 minutes away from our house. Not even into Illinois.

[2:50] We just got on to 94, and one of my children says, how much longer, Dad? And then I realized right there, this journey is going to be harder than I thought. We're all on a hard journey, aren't we?

[3:03] Maybe you didn't realize when you signed up to follow Jesus just how hard following Jesus is. And maybe you've come this morning, and you're asking the question, how much longer?

[3:18] Maybe you're in a difficult marriage. How much longer? Maybe you're in a strained relationship. How much more? Maybe you are in a challenging season of parenting. How much more?

[3:32] How much longer? Maybe your body is not doing what it's supposed to do. You're in chronic pain. You're just managing your symptoms. You're just hoping for an accurate diagnosis so you can get a prescription that will bring you back to normal.

[3:45] You're just like, how much longer? And maybe if you're a Christian like me, you're just following the Lord, and you're seeing public opinion turning against the things of God, and you're starting to wonder, what are the consequences going to be?

[4:01] How much more? We're all looking for hope. We all want to be reassured, hey, there's something good coming.

[4:13] There's actually two kinds of hope. There is the lowercase h hope, which is a temporary hope. It's a temporary fix to life's difficult challenges.

[4:24] What do I need to get done this week in order to get through? I'm going to hope Friday. Everybody is working for the weekend. That's small h hope. But then there's the capital H hope.

[4:40] Ultimate hope. A hope that transcends time. It's a forward-looking faith fixed on life's solution.

[4:55] God's fulfillment of His ultimate promise. When God Himself dwells with us in His place, and we see Him face to face, that is ultimate capital H hope.

[5:12] When you have the eyes of your heart set on the face of Jesus, seeing Him one day. So if you've come in asking, how much longer?

[5:25] When are we going to get there? Revelation chapter 21 through 22.5. It's going to paint a picture for you of what's to come, so you can set your heart on a capital H hope that will never disappoint you.

[5:43] It will see you through to the end. So there's two moves this morning from this text. We're going to say two things. The preparation for the bride.

[5:54] That's 21.1 through 8. And then the presentation of the bride. And that's in 21.9 through 22.5. And the surprise of it all, it turns out it's all about God.

[6:10] So if you're asking how much longer, my prayer is that God would put capital H hope in your heart this morning to see you through for the rest of your life.

[6:21] So let's look at this preparation for the bride in 21.8. 21.8. We've reached the point in the book of Revelation where all of God's enemies have been defeated.

[6:33] Babylon, the beast's whore, the anti-bride, was devastated in Revelation 18. Her smoke was rising up. Revelation 19, Armageddon, the beast and the false prophet, they're seized, thrown into the lake of fire.

[6:49] At the end of Revelation 20, after the thousand-year reign of Jesus, the devil is grabbed by his scruff of his neck and thrown into the lake of fire too. The second half of Revelation 20, the great white throne judgment, Matt preached a great sermon on this last week.

[7:05] All unbelieving humanity is raised up, judged, and they too are thrown into the lake of fire. Only those written in the Lamb's book of life are able to stand on that day.

[7:17] They've got his name written on his forehead, on their forehead. And here we are in Revelation 21, and John is given this other vision, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea was no more.

[7:33] I don't believe John is seeing the absence of all oceans and bodies of water. This is more talking about the source of evil, because remember in Revelation 13, the beast came out of the sea.

[7:49] What we're seeing here is the total decursing of all of creation. What we're reading in Revelation 21, this new heaven and new earth, it's the fulfillment of Isaiah 65, 17 through 25.

[8:06] Brian is going to close the service by reading that. In that passage, God promises to recreate the heavens and the earth, and in 2 Peter 3, 8 through 13, we are given this preview of God consuming all of creation with this huge fire in which he purges all of creation of its sin and sin effect.

[8:37] And what's left in 2 Peter 3, 13, after this divine demolition, you have a new heaven and a new earth where only righteousness dwells.

[8:53] Completely decursed. Now, if you're listening right now, and you're like, okay, God's going to consume the earth in a great fire, and it's going to be destroyed, but I just got a new kitchen put in.

[9:09] What does that mean for my kitchen? I just got a new car. What does that mean for my car? It means it's going to get burned up. And you're like, what?

[9:23] You're kind of missing the point, because God's holy demolition of the old earth will usher in God's holy delight in the new creation.

[9:34] We've got better stuff coming. The question I want to ask right now is, why is God doing all this recreative work? He's preparing a place for his bride.

[9:52] In 21.2 we read, And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

[10:04] The new heavens and the earth are established, then comes down the new Jerusalem. And did you notice the new Jerusalem is described as a bride adorned for her husband.

[10:14] She looks great. Great. The new Jerusalem is the bride city of the Lamb.

[10:27] It's both a populated place as well as God's treasured bride. And remember, this new Jerusalem is in contrast to the old Babylon, the whore city of the beast.

[10:43] Babylon was the rebellious humanity organized in opposition to God that worshipped the beast. The new Jerusalem, the bride city of the Lamb, is redeemed humanity organized in submission to God and worshipping the Lamb.

[11:05] And what we see here is a new heaven, new earth, and this new bride city coming down. What we're witnessing here is the long-awaited coming together of bride and groom.

[11:21] This should put hope, capital H, hope, into your heart. My family, we live in an old house. It was built in 1929 and the story goes that Mr. Fiorini was a butcher in Kenosha and he built this house for his bride.

[11:40] He wanted his bride to come and live in a place of beauty and safety. But Mr. Fiorini didn't build this house so that his bride could live there by herself.

[11:54] He built that house so that his bride would dwell with him and he with her in a place of beauty and safety and that's what we're seeing in Revelation 21, 1 and 2.

[12:08] And that's what we see in 21, 3. There's this loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. The new heaven and earth, this place of beauty and safety where righteousness dwells, this is where God will dwell with his bride city, his people, his church.

[12:31] The Bible is all about God dwelling with his people. Starts back in Genesis in a garden, God dwelling with Adam and Eve and then it moves to God dwelling with his people in a fancy tent called a tabernacle and then from the tabernacle the tent becomes a temple.

[12:48] It's built out of incredibly expensive materials and God dwells in the most holy of holies in the temple among his people and that most holy of holies was this cube shaped room and it goes from the temple then to Jesus tabernacling among us, God dwelling in our midst, John 1.14.

[13:10] And then if that's not enough, when Jesus leaves, the Holy Spirit comes down and indwells his people, the church and we become the temple of God. We're a living temple of God and we live that out by faith.

[13:25] But here, what we're being told in Revelation 21 is there's coming a time where faith becomes sight and we will dwell with God himself.

[13:37] We will see him. We will be with him. God with us. It's the story of the Bible. Emmanuel.

[13:51] We read in 21.3 that this bride, this church will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. it's covenant language.

[14:03] God with us, present, faith turns to sight and he is there to comfort us. And one of my favorite pictures in the Bible, we read in 21.4, he will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

[14:22] In the new heaven and earth where righteousness dwells, God will be present to wipe away every tear from our eye. Has anybody seen the movie A League of Their Own with Tom Hanks? He's the manager.

[14:33] There's this one scene where one of his female baseball players is crying and Tom Hanks, the manager, looks at her and says, there's no crying in baseball. Our God will be with us to wipe away our tears in the new heaven and the earth and he's going to be saying essentially that there's no crying in the new Jerusalem.

[14:56] There's no crying in the new creation. There's no God will rid all of creation of sin and its effects. He's going to completely decurse creation.

[15:09] And so he says he's going to wipe away every tear and then in verse 4 we read the no mores. I heard some of you amening this when it was being read by the Schneebergers. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more.

[15:23] Amen. Neither shall there be mourning. Amen. Nor crying. Nor pain anymore for the former things, the old heaven, the old earth and all that is in them have passed away completely purged and decursed.

[15:39] Wednesday night I couldn't sleep. I'm lying in bed. I couldn't sleep. Usually I'm lying in bed thinking about a variety of other things but this time I'm not falling asleep because I'm excited about something.

[15:52] I'm trying to imagine all the no mores of the new creation. here's some of what I came up with. No more cemeteries. No more funeral homes.

[16:04] No more hearses. No more hospitals. No more pharmacies. Your resurrection body will not need medication. No more prisons.

[16:17] No more minefields. No more war zones. No more Ebola outbreaks. No more background checks. No more securing buildings to protect children.

[16:31] No more terrorist threats. No more tsunamis. No more earthquakes. No more wildflowers. Wild. No there'll be wild flowers. Not wild fires.

[16:44] No more droughts. No more animal attacks. No more cats. It's going to be glorious. don't send me emails.

[17:04] The new heaven and the new earth. God will completely rid all of creation of all sin and effects. And God's going to be saying there's no crying in the new creation.

[17:15] doesn't that kind of make you want to go there now? Doesn't that kind of make you want to be there?

[17:27] That is hope. Capital H hope. The longing, the looking forward to what God has promised to ultimately do.

[17:43] so if you're asking how much longer, there's no crying in the new creation. He's promised it.

[17:54] In 21.5, we hear one seated from the throne. From God himself. And I believe what God is doing here, what God is saying in verse 5 and verse 6, is he is explaining to John, he said to me, what John has just seen.

[18:19] The new heavens and the new earth and the bride coming down. He says, behold, I'm making all things new. What we just read in verse 4, 3, and 4, it's all future verb tenses.

[18:33] I will wipe the tears from their eyes. But what we're reading in verse 5, behold, present tense, I am making all things new. This thing that you're seeing, I've already begun.

[18:48] How, you say? 2 Corinthians 5, 17. I'm a new creation because of what Jesus has done.

[18:59] You're a new creation because of what Jesus has done. He's already started the work. He's already started the work. then he says, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.

[19:12] Do you know what he's saying? This is God speaking. He's like, hey, write it down. Bank on it. It's going to happen. I'm at work already.

[19:24] It's waiting. It's coming. It's coming. There's no crying in the new creation. And then in verse 6, he says, this is striking.

[19:37] And he said to me, it's done. It's as good as done. The vanquishing of all my enemies, it's as good as done. The great white throne judgment, good as done.

[19:50] New heavens, new earth, good as done. Bride coming down, good as done. It's good as done. How can someone say that? How can someone make that kind of promise?

[20:05] Look what he says about himself right after. It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I'm the A to Z. I'm the start and the finish.

[20:17] It's the way God is describing himself, his sovereign rule over all time. That's why he can say it's done and it hasn't been done yet. See, I'm reigning over all.

[20:29] Nothing will thwart my purposes. You can bank on this. My words are trustworthy and true. You can stand on it. You can drive through life no matter what you're going to face and you can count on it.

[20:44] There's no crying in the new creation and it's coming. God. He then goes on to offer this to all those who are thirsty.

[20:58] To the thirsty I'll give from the spring of the water of life without payment. It's a reference to salvation. We're going to actually get a look at this spring in just a few minutes. But what I want you to notice, it's without payment.

[21:11] This is free to those who want it because it's been paid for by the lamb. It's a way of describing our salvation. You want salvation?

[21:23] You want what only God can give? He can give it because it's been paid for. You don't have to pay for it. You receive it by faith. And then in verses 7 and 8, we have two ways to respond.

[21:36] Those who are conquerors, that's a familiar term because it was all over chapter 2 and 3 with the seven letters to the seven churches, to the one who conquers, to the one who conquers, to the one who conquers.

[21:48] And even there, there's the promise of the new earth, the new Jerusalem. So to the one who conquers, the one who is faithful to Jesus, this is their heritage. But verse 8, to those who compromise the lamb, they don't have that promise.

[22:07] They have a warning. And the warning to you this morning is, if you're not a follower of Jesus, your destiny is not the new heavens, it's the lake of fire.

[22:22] So you need to turn to Jesus. Turn away from your sin. Turn away from your compromise. In chapter 21, 1 through 8, we see God preparing a place for his bride to dwell with him in beauty, and safety.

[22:39] Completely decursed. No sin, no effective sin. There's no crying in the new creation. He's making all things new, including you.

[22:51] At that time, you will have no impulse to sin. God preparing for God. God is preparing for us. This should be putting some capital H hope into your heart.

[23:04] This, what God is preparing for us, bank on it. He himself has promised you this, if you're in Christ.

[23:17] Let's move from the preparation for the bride to the presentation of the bride. In 21, 9 through 22, 5. I mean, this is the moment we've all been waiting for in the book of Revelation.

[23:29] Up until this point, the church has been under assault by the enemies of the Lamb, but they've been cleared out. And there's a new heaven and a new earth. Now, finally, the church, in her glory, will be presented to the Lamb.

[23:43] Last Sunday, we, the Salvati's, sojourned to Iowa because we have a dear family friends, a family friends there, and their oldest daughter was getting married, and her name is Anna.

[23:59] And we were there, and we were watching the procession, and you've been to these weddings before. It starts with the grandparents being walked out, and you're like, oh, that's great, aren't they cute?

[24:12] And then the moms are walked down, and then the groom takes his place, and yeah, he's pretty cute. I mean, that's what my wife said. And then the wedding party comes down, and it's kind of like, oh, look it, they're matching.

[24:28] And then finally, you hear the all rise, and everybody stands up, and they look back, and there's Anna. She's beautiful. It was an outdoor wedding.

[24:39] And then, Iowa's son beaming on her gown. So she was brilliant and beautiful. Now, if at that moment, you stopped the service, and you went up to Anna, and you asked her, hey, Anna, why are you looking so great?

[24:59] Are you looking good for the wedding planner? She would say, no. Are you looking good for the minister who happens to be your dad? Not a chance. Are you looking good for the 150 people here to witness your vows?

[25:11] Nope. Are you looking good for the photographer? Kind of. Are you looking good for Blake, your groom? Absolutely.

[25:24] Anna would say, I want Blake to remember this moment for the rest of his life. Here in 21.9 through 22.5, the bride of Christ is being presented to Christ in her glory.

[25:46] It's a future description of us made new. And ultimately, it's for the one whose face we will see.

[25:59] So I'm going to walk you through a bunch of these descriptions. There are these details, glorious details, that you've got to see. It's a description of the bride, the church.

[26:10] And what you're going to see is you move from general to specific, from panorama to close up. So the first thing I want you to see is in 21.9, one of the angels who had the seven bowls, the final outpourings of God's wrath, says, Come, John, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

[26:29] Let me show you this babe. And what does he see? He sees a city coming down. Again, what we're designed to understand here, intended to understand is we're to hold simultaneously the idea that the church is a people in a place.

[26:50] It's a populated city and at the same time, this people is God's treasured bride. The New Jerusalem is the redeemed humanity through the blood of Jesus that's organized to submit to God and worship the Lamb.

[27:11] The second thing I want you to see is where the New Jerusalem is coming from. The New Jerusalem isn't walking down an aisle.

[27:22] The New Jerusalem is descending from heaven. Behold, look, come, I will show you the bride.

[27:36] And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and he showed me the holy city coming down out of heaven from God. Why from God? Why from heaven?

[27:50] God is presenting the bride to himself. Sounds kind of weird, right? Until you flip back to Ephesians chapter 5 where God commands, he tells husbands to love your wives as Christ loved the church.

[28:07] Verse 25, and then chapter 5 of Ephesians verse 26, that he might sanctify her, speaking of Jesus and his church, having cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word so that he might present the church to himself in splendor without spot or wrinkle or any such thing that she might be holy and blameless and without blemish.

[28:31] She's coming down from heaven because God has made her beautiful by his grace. He's going to present this bride city to the Lamb.

[28:44] It's a presentation. The next thing I want you to see is that this bride city has the glory of God. You see that in verse 11. Having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

[29:00] When we see the descriptions of this holy city in just a second, you're going to pick up on a translucence of the city. This glory is not her own.

[29:11] It's not our own. The brilliance of the new Jerusalem, of the bride city, is God's brilliance shining through us.

[29:22] Just as the moon reflects the brilliance of the sun, so we will radiate God who is with us, in us, this bride city is radiant with the glory of God.

[29:40] She's a radiant bride. The next thing I want you to see is in verses 12 through 14. First thing that John sees is it had a great high wall with 12 gates and at the 12 gates angels, verse 12.

[29:59] 12 is all over the place. What's up with 12? Well, it's like the number 7 that we've learned of. It carries a sense of completeness and fullness and perfection. Well, what's going on here?

[30:12] Without getting into too many details, what I want you to see is that the 12 gates had 12 names of the 12 tribes of Israel and then there are these 12 foundations and on those 12 foundations are the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the church.

[30:26] this city coming down represents all of God's people represented by the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 apostles of Jesus.

[30:39] It means all of God's people that he had purchased from all time by the blood of Jesus, it's all of them coming down together.

[30:53] Radiant. all Old Testament and New Testament saints and it's a picture of security. Establishment.

[31:07] The next thing I want you to see in verses 15 through 17 is that there's some measuring that goes on. In verse 15, the angel busts out a golden measuring rod of Israel.

[31:23] It's gold because of its task. It's like a gold shovel dignitaries use to break ground on a new building. The size of this city is extraordinary.

[31:43] This angel measures it in verse 16. We learn that it's four square and then in verse 16 we later learn that he measured the city with his rod 12,000 stadia.

[31:58] A stadia is the equivalent of about 1,400 miles. And my understanding of this text is that it's not a measure of the total circumference of the New Jerusalem just one side.

[32:13] And so what that means is just one side is about 1,400 miles. So in order to help you understand this, let's think about that in terms of the continental United States.

[32:26] I'm not saying the New Jerusalem is going to fall down into the middle of the United States because we are God's country. I'm not saying that. What I am saying is I want you to help you understand the scale of it based upon our country which you know.

[32:42] so imagine Green Bay, Wisconsin and you go from Green Bay to Helena, Montana and then from Helena, Montana you go down to El Paso, Texas and from El Paso, Texas you go to Baton Rouge, Louisiana and then from Baton Rouge back up to Green Bay.

[33:04] That perimeter is the perimeter roughly of the New Jerusalem. it is huge. It's massive.

[33:19] Plenty of space for God's redeemed. But in verse 16 we learn of something else. There's another dimension to it. It's shape.

[33:36] We read 12,000 stadia its length and width and height are equal. This starts blowing our categories because if the New Jerusalem is about 1400 miles high that means satellites are bumping into the top of it.

[33:53] The purpose of it is to get a shape in your mind. A massive shape. A massive cube in your mind. And why that's important is because it makes you think of the most holy of holies in the temple and the tabernacle which was a cube in which God dwelt among his people.

[34:15] So this new Jerusalem is the new most holy of holies. God dwelling with us. It's breathtakingly huge.

[34:30] It's awesome. in verses 18-21 we get a glimpse of the brilliant building material used in this bright city.

[34:46] Jasper which is a translucent jewel, pure gold which is again being described as somehow being transparent. We don't get it but we'll go with it. In verses 19-20 John spends some time describing the 12 different foundations with 12 different jewels inlaid in each one of them.

[35:10] The idea there is to make you think of the breastplate of the high priest back in Old Testament times. He had 12 stones on his breastplate that represented the people of God and his priestly duty.

[35:24] This bride city is a city of priests and when we talk about all this material it should remind you of the temple that was built in the Old Testament the first temple.

[35:42] Nothing but the best material was used for it because God would dwell there. This bride city is made of priceless materials because God's going to dwell there reflecting his glory.

[36:03] In 22 through 27 this new Jerusalem which is kind of like the old Jerusalem but it turns out it's missing something.

[36:16] I saw no temple in the city for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. We just learned that the whole city is the shape of the most holy of holies.

[36:29] This whole thing is God's temple dwelling place. He's there. Have you heard of sanctuary cities? This gives new meaning to a sanctuary city.

[36:44] It's the most holy of holies God dwelling in our midst. He is our dwelling place. no temple. The entire city is a kind it's God's dwelling place.

[37:01] And then in verse 23 apparently there's a whole new lighting system in the new Jerusalem. It runs by lamb light.

[37:14] The city has no need of sun or moon to shine in it for the glory of God gives it light and its lamp is the lamb. God's glory radiating from the land lights up the entirety of the translucent bride city.

[37:33] Just imagine the light shining through the jewels of its foundation. Absolutely brilliant and glorious.

[37:45] All sorts of different colors. Radiating from the glory of God. God dwelling in the midst. His lamb light shining through us.

[37:56] Radiating. It's about him. No more darkness. This is the ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 9.

[38:08] People living in darkness. Behold light is coming. Emmanuel. well. We learn in verse 24 by the light its light lamb light nations the nations will walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

[38:27] The last time we saw the nations gathering in the kingdom promise in Genesis that God will bless the nations through the offspring of Abraham Jesus. All the nations gathering together under the light of the lamb.

[38:47] Did you notice the angels? Way back talking about the gates verse 12 at the gates 12 angels and in verse 25 and its gates will never be shut by day.

[39:03] Do you remember what happened in Genesis chapter 3 verses 22 through 24? Adam and Eve sinned God kicks them out and he posts an angel at the gate of Eden and says nobody's coming back in.

[39:16] Now we have 12 angels at 12 gates with the gates fully open welcoming in the redeemed from the nations. I can't wait. Hey archangel Gabriel how you doing baby?

[39:30] walking in through that gate it's a picture of life gathering to the lamb in his city his people from all nations.

[39:44] this brings us to 22 1 through 5 gates are opened up it's the reverse of the curse it's the reverse of Eden being put out this bride city is the new Eden city let me help you see some things in Genesis chapter 2 10 we learn that there's a river flowing through Eden and here in Revelation 22 1 then the angel showed me the river of the water of life bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God and of the lamb there's a river running through it brightest crystal from the throne if you're thirsty for this spring of water it is available to you the source of the water is the throne of

[40:45] God his rule and reign is the source of life it's a complete reversal of the curse this new Jerusalem this bride city turns out it's got the ultimate river walk down the middle of the main street of gold this river flows and in verse two not only do we see a river of life we see a tree of life and it's back to Genesis 3 22 through 24 because they were forbidden Adam and Eve to come back into Eden to eat of the tree of life and live forever but now God is saying no all my gates are wide open the river of life is giving life to the tree of life and it's bearing the fruit of life so that you can live forever eat it bears the twelve fruit every month there's that number twelve again fullness perfection everything you need and this tree of life is actually straddling the river of life

[41:49] Adam and Eve were forbidden access now we are given full access forever it's see it and this tree has leaves that bring healing to the nations it's not a tree of life it's a peace tree verse three the throne of life the throne of God and the Lamb is in the middle of it all his reign people coming to him not being sent away coming to he's dwelling with his people in his place and his people are worshipping him 22 4 the bride city has been presented to her groom and now we go to the most close up scene they will see his face the new

[42:53] Jerusalem has come down we are seeing his face to be with him this is the groom of the bride the king of kings and lord of lords up close and personal up to this point if you saw the face of God you die not here no threat you'll see his face and live can you imagine a new heaven and new earth a new Jerusalem without him he lights up the place he makes it shine it seems like that little phrase and his name will be on their forehead seems kind of out of place it's like what is that doing there it's a reminder it's all by his grace the only reason why you will be standing on that day looking at his face the only reason will be because of him the lamb his name his gracious and holy character he shed his blood so that you can be there the bride has been presented her glory is a radiating glory of

[44:24] God it's all his grace we've done nothing to earn that and in verse five it's the greatest of all endings the guy gets the girl and live happily ever after in the light of his presence do I have an amen amen he has made us splendid in his sight maybe you've come in here this morning and you're asking the question how much longer my marriage stinks parenting is hard my body is falling apart how much longer well you need hope capital H hope and revelation 21 through 22 5 delivers it ultimate hope in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ you're going to see him face to face it's not just a creation that's been decursed it's not just streets of gold it's not precious jewels or big pearls it is the ultimate fulfillment of

[45:25] God's ultimate promise that he will be with us forever and you will see his face without any fear it's nothing without him God you're going to need some small hopes getting through no question about that but don't settle for small hopes there is this ultimate hope so we've seen the preparation for the bride we've seen the presentation for the bride turns out it's all about God so let me ask you this what do you do when one of your brothers or sisters is saying how much longer here's what you say brother sister I don't have all the answers but I can tell you this today you're one day closer to seeing him face to face let's pray

[46:27] God thank you so much for this passage God would you use it now to encourage your people to put hope in our hearts especially when things go sideways nothing goes sideways in the new heavens and new earth we long for that day in Jesus name amen