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[0:00] Through to the end of the chapter. After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.

[0:22] So on down through there to the end of the chapter. We often ask the question, will Christians recognize one another in heaven?

[0:34] The answer to that question is, and I think surely the answer is yes. I want to ask another question this evening. Will all of us gathered here in this building tonight meet one another in heaven?

[0:51] Will it be true of everyone here that heaven will be our final dwelling place? That we will enjoy life together in heaven, even as we come together here as a congregation on earth?

[1:08] We've been looking at certain things to do with the tribulation that God's people go through, different varieties of tribulation in this life. We've looked at things such as suffering in general.

[1:20] We've seen stress. We've seen failure, fear of failure, persecution. We've looked at grief last Sunday evening. And tonight I want to round off that study, a very brief study.

[1:32] There are many other aspects of suffering, the tribulation that we might look at and that come from Scripture, but we're leaving it at that for the moment at least. So our final study is from this chapter, from this passage, and we can call it Tribulation Ended Forever.

[1:50] Of course, that's the emphasis you have as the answer is given by one of the elders there in this scene in heaven. He said, these are they, the ones coming out of the great tribulation.

[2:03] They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Now, of course, we need to take care in looking at the book of Revelation and in seeking to understand the features of this book of Revelation.

[2:17] It's very symbolic. It has a lot of symbolism throughout it. There are representations of things that we know of are true spiritually and true of heaven as well.

[2:30] So when we come to interpret it and come to preach from it or read it and understand it for ourselves, we understand that there are such things that we see as imagery or symbolism that you don't take in the literal sense in which you find it.

[2:44] For example, you find there at the middle of the chapter here these 144,000 that are sealed. And then it mentions 12,000 from the various tribes coming in total to be 12,000 times 12,000, 144,000.

[3:01] And of course, a lot of people, a lot of different interpreters of the scriptures have taken that really and made all sorts of weird and wonderful conclusions from it.

[3:12] Now, it's not saying to us that there will only be 144,000 people in heaven. You're not to take that literally. Literally, this is really an emphasis where the symbolism there is an emphasis on completeness.

[3:27] Well, just as that describes the completeness of the tribes of Israel in the Old Testament times, where you find a completeness there of God's covenant people, so there is a completeness to the occupancy of heaven.

[3:41] Not one of those for whom Christ died will be missing from heaven. Then there's a completeness in the sense in which that is described in the way in which it's symbolically represented in the likes of that passage there.

[3:57] And for all its symbolism and for all the difficulties that some of that symbolism presents to us, the book of Revelation nevertheless brings us face to face with facts.

[4:08] We have not to interpret the book of Revelation as if it wasn't factually correct, as if the things that you read about throughout the book of Revelation cannot be taken in some cases to simply express things which are factually true.

[4:23] The fact that you're not saying, we're not saying that only 144,000 will occupy heaven, it doesn't mean there's nothing factually correct about that. Because as we said, it's factually correct to say that all for whom Jesus died will be found with him in heaven.

[4:41] All who have come to put their trust in him will actually be found together, saved, glorified in heaven with Christ. And the facts of Revelation are such that in the great warfare that it speaks about, the war between Christ and his enemies, between Christ and the devil and those who support the devil, because that's really the crux, if you like, of the teaching of Revelation.

[5:07] That's really something that's factually correct. There's a cosmic war presently taking place between Jesus and the forces of darkness. We can't see them with our eyes, but we have them described in the Scriptures.

[5:21] It's factually correct. These are facts. This is something you have to believe. This is something Christians have always believed. It's not just something like a fairy story. It's not something that's mythical, so that presents something to you by way of myth.

[5:35] They are facts that present us with very dramatic engagement and conflict that will go on until Christ returns. And the outcome of that is also described in the Scripture, where the Lamb and his people will prevail, where the victory will be demonstrably with Christ, although it's already with him in principle.

[5:59] So here we have some of those great facts, a description of the state of heaven. Now, this is in anticipation of the final chapters of the Bible, where you find here this state of heaven described, and then it moves again to describing some of the history that will take place before the end of the world.

[6:20] But this gives us a glimpse into heaven's conditions, heaven's occupancy, heaven's something of what it's like. And as we'll see, it brings to an emphasis to us that this is they who have come out of the great tribulation.

[6:36] We're not going to look into that in some detail. That's also something that's been interpreted different ways. But the best way in Reformed thinking, as generally I think looked at it in this way, that the tribulation there does not mean a specific slice of history, or of the time from Christ's first coming till he comes again, that this great tribulation really is a description of the sum total of tribulation that God's church goes through from the time that Christ left his world until he returns.

[7:12] Because, you see, this is saying, these are they who are coming out of the great tribulation. They are the ones coming out of it. He's not saying these are the ones who will come out of it.

[7:23] He's not saying these are the ones who've come, who came out of it. It's a constant coming out. It's a constant coming from the great tribulation, from the conditions of this world, which for many Christians are a great tribulation more than it is for ourselves.

[7:39] But for every Christian, there is some element of tribulation from which we are taken when we come to be taken to heaven. And especially the final state of heaven after the resurrection.

[7:53] So that's how we're taking the reference here to the great tribulation. And therefore we're taking it as the tribulation ended forever when God's people finally come together in God's presence in glory.

[8:08] The way I want to take the passage of the chapter is to take two of the linking words, because very often you'll find that the little words in a passage are so important to the understanding, or at least to the flow of the argument that's set out in the passage.

[8:24] And the two words that I want to take are the word therefore in verse 15, because that obviously takes everything that's gone before that, and it's saying, therefore, they are before the throne of God.

[8:39] Especially when you've got a reference to having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore, they are before the throne of God. There's a therefore that explains to us, or makes a connection with washing our robes and making them white in the blood of the Lamb.

[8:58] Therefore, they are before the throne of God. In other words, they therefore describes qualification for heaven. A qualification that comprises this washing, this sanctification, this purity that is described.

[9:17] And that's also accompanied there by victory. They have palm branches in their hands. If you go back to the earlier part of the chapter, clothed in white robes with palm branches in their hands.

[9:30] And then, from verse 15, there's a description there of how they've, verse 14 rather, how they've come to have these white robes. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

[9:42] So the therefore there really gives us insight into the qualification for life in heaven. And that qualification involves both purity and victory.

[9:55] Second word that is a linked word there is the word for in verse 17. And just as the word therefore links with the qualification for life in heaven, so the word for is a link to the quality of life in heaven.

[10:12] For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and He will guide them to springs of living water. In other words, they say, they shall hunger no more, they shall neither thirst anymore, there'll be nothing of that, tribulation or difficulty they faced in this life.

[10:28] Why? For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd and He will guide them and wipe away, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. In other words, that's the quality of life in heaven following on from the qualification for life in heaven.

[10:45] So let's look at that qualification. There are two aspects to it, purity and also victory. We share in the victory of Christ as we come to trust in Him and we'll see that that's represented by what's mentioned in verse 9, the palm branches in their hands.

[11:01] But first of all, there's purity. These are they who have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. In other words, the effect or the application of the death of Christ, the death that Jesus died, is what brings them purity of life, what bestows purity of life for them.

[11:22] And we know that as Paul wrote elsewhere, that without holiness, it is impossible for anyone to see the Lord cannot come to see Christ, to see God to be in heaven without the purity that God requires.

[11:42] And God has made provision for that purity in the death of Christ. Now that presupposes, doesn't it? When you come to a verse like that and you read it, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, it presupposes something.

[11:56] You think of something that went before that. And the something that went before that was the pollution of the garments, the defilement of the garments, the filth of the garments. And that's reminding us we don't come into this world in a neutral state or in a pure state.

[12:11] We come into this world in a filthy state. We come into this world spiritually filthy, spiritually defiled. We come into this world guilty in God's presence and have the defilement of sin as part of our very being.

[12:25] And it's from that that we need to be cleansed. We need to be saved from that. We need to actually have our lives dealt with by God in such a way that He brings us from that state of pollution and defilement into a state of cleanness, into a state of purity.

[12:42] Remember how Paul, writing to the Corinthians, said something very similar. And Paul, of course, is dealing there with the kind of impurities that were found in the church in Corinth as they were surrounded by even greater impurity as well in the city of Corinth.

[12:58] And he's dealing there with the kinds of things that were actually aspects of the character of these now Corinthian Christians in Corinth. Here he says in chapter 5, 1 Corinthians, do you know he says that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God be not deceived?

[13:18] Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

[13:33] And such were some of you. But you are washed, you are sanctified, you are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.

[13:48] So in the middle of that context of Corinthians in these chapters where he's dealing with sexual immorality and other forms of deviant behavior on the part of human beings, this is what he says to these Christians.

[14:01] He says, such were some of you, but you were washed. Now it's important, just in passing really, but it is important when we're trying to argue against these kind of lifestyles that characterize some of what you actually know of in modern society.

[14:18] You mustn't actually just extract one of those lifestyles and focus on that entirely, even if it's at the fore in the news or whatever at this particular time.

[14:31] In other words, while he mentions the likes, for example, of homosexuality, you mustn't extract that and say, this is the greatest sin to the neglect of referring to the others as well.

[14:43] He's putting them into a series or into a list and Paul is saying, the list, you take each of them in its own importance. You don't just extract one of them and say, well, this is really what I need to focus on.

[14:56] I don't need to bother about adultery or drunkenness or revilers or swindlers or idolaters or any of those things. He's saying, none of these will inherit the kingdom of God.

[15:11] We need to be washed to be saved from whatever kind of deviancy exists in our lives and to some degree or other, it's through of every one of us that our life is twisted and deviated from the standard, from the norm that God requires of us.

[15:27] But he says, you are washed, you are sanctified, you are taken by the Lord and made clean. And this is what the passage of Revelation is saying.

[15:39] Now the emphasis in 1 Corinthians 6 there is on God doing this. God washed you, God took you, the grace of God changed your lives and that's so important. We don't wash ourselves and make ourselves clean, so as to gain the favor of God.

[15:53] It's not our own efforts in trying to tidy up our life and clean up our life that then brings us favor and acceptance with God. The whole thing at the very bottom of it, at the very root of it, is God's work, it's grace, it's grace at work as God by His Holy Spirit applies the death of Christ and the benefits of that death.

[16:12] But you see, here in Revelation, what it is, is while that is the case, we have a responsibility to see that we are clean, that we have been washed.

[16:24] Because the Bible addresses our responsibility, doesn't it, so often. When we think of our pollutedness as we are in our natural state, as we think of how we need to be cleaned from our sin, from our defilement, God is saying, you have to clean yourself up.

[16:43] And how do you clean yourself up? Well, you don't try it yourself. You go to Jesus for that. Because He's the only one who can do it, as the 1 Corinthians passage says. But nevertheless, when you go to Christ with a concern that your life be clean, that your life be cleansed of the defilement of sin, you are, in a sense, attending to the need to be cleaned.

[17:03] You are attending to the fact that you need to clean up your life. And although you're saying, it's God that has to do this for me, I have to go to Him, I have to ask Him, I have to plead with Him, I have to confess my sins, I have to seek His forgiveness and His cleansing.

[17:18] All of that comes together. There's God's side, foundational, there's our side, our responsibility, that the gospel so often addresses. So they have washed their robes.

[17:32] That's why they're clothed in white robes and made them clean, made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Spiritually, what garments am I wearing tonight?

[17:46] How does God view me in my life, in my lifestyle, in the way that I live? Have I come to have my life cleaned by the blood of Christ?

[18:02] Is it white? Am I being sanctified? Is the Holy Spirit at work in my life? That's so important, isn't it, when you think of all that's facing us in terms of meeting God and His judgment.

[18:18] Because this is one of the qualifications, they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Because you come across some people and you ask them a question, would you like to be in heaven?

[18:29] Yes, of course I'd like to be in heaven. Do you think you will be in heaven? Well, I hope so. Well, that's not enough, is it, really, just to hope so? Because that can be no more than just a fond wish or a kind of faint hope that somehow things will work out together and work out properly in the end.

[18:47] And you'll find some other people saying, well, I think God will look after that and I don't need to worry about that. I'm sure God will save me or if I'm part of God's covenant arrangement then He's going to save me anyway.

[18:59] No, you've got to wash your robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb. You need the blood of Christ to actually cover you in God's sight with these white robes. You need His death and all that it provides to wash you from your sins.

[19:15] You need the Holy Spirit to take the death of Christ and make it powerful and effective in your life. That's foundational as a qualification for heaven.

[19:27] That's why I said at the beginning, as we meet together here, as we ask the question, will we all meet together, all of us who are met together here tonight, will we all meet together in heaven?

[19:39] Not unless each of us has washed our robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. But there's also palm branches in their hands.

[19:51] Now, this goes back to the Old Testament to Leviticus 23 where you find a description there of the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths where the people of Israel were ordered by God to take palm branches to make shelters or booths for themselves during a whole week of celebration after the harvest had actually been taken in successfully.

[20:13] There was a great time of rejoicing, understandably, because there's a lot of anxiety over whether the harvest would be successful or not in those days. And when God had said to them, this is what you will do when the harvest is in, this harvest is in safely, so he says, rejoice, it will be a time of great rejoicing for you as they lived in these booths for their week, for that week.

[20:39] Well, he's saying here that they are not in booths anymore, they are actually before the throne of God and before the Lamb. The word that's there as well as the word, the word that's used for temple here later on in the passage in verse 15, they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple.

[21:02] The word temple there is the New Testament equivalent of the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament. In other words, I see, Holy of Holies was, you remember where the ark was, where the cloud above the mercy seat was seen only by the high priest once a year as he went in with the blood of atonement.

[21:22] Now he's telling us, here is Revelation telling us, that those who are in heaven are really in the fulfillment of how atoning blood provided an entrance into the very presence of God because you see he's saying here in verse 15, they serve him day and night in his temple that were in the Holy of Holies of heaven and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

[21:48] It's no longer symbolism of palm branches signifying the presence of God and celebration in his presence that the harvest is in.

[21:59] This is the great harvest of redemption that's being participated in by the occupants of heaven and instead of palm branches covering them, they have the presence of God as their ultimate security.

[22:12] He will shelter them with his presence. And in verse, previously in verse 9, they are clothed in white robes and palm branches in their hands.

[22:27] The palm branches a sign again of victory, a sign that they have come to prevail through the blood of Christ. They've come now to be before the throne of God there in his presence.

[22:39] That is the ultimate security, isn't it? To know God's own presence as the canopy that shelters us, that secures us, that makes us forever secure.

[22:52] And that is what we anticipate as we think of the victory that we have in Christ, the participation we have in the harvest of righteousness that he has himself accomplished for us.

[23:07] That's one of the qualifications for heaven. Your trust in Christ brings you to participate in the victory of Christ, the victory over sin and over death that brings you ultimately to occupy heaven itself.

[23:23] Now, remember, we're looking at the end of a series of studies on tribulation. It began by Paul's words that through tribulation we must enter into the kingdom of God through tribulation, through many tribulations.

[23:41] We've seen some of those on the way. And here now is God saying, well, here is the end of tribulation. Here's tribulation past. No longer tribulation. It's at an end.

[23:52] It's over forever. It's ended. And that's for our present comfort. This is no wishful thinking on the part of John in Revelations.

[24:05] It's God revealing this to him so that he would convey this to the church that was on earth during his own time and that we, as people of God, would actually see this and read this and understand this while we are going through tribulation.

[24:19] This is for our present sufferings, for our present problems, for our present challenges. Here's God saying to us, yes, weeping, in the words of the psalmist, may endure for a night and the night may be very long and your whole life may be full of weeping and may be full of darkness and might be even more so than anybody else's, either in your own estimation or in reality.

[24:42] But God is saying, look at heaven. Look at what's waiting for you. Look at what you're anticipating in faith and in hope.

[24:55] There's no pie in the sky. It's no invention of religious people just to provide a crutch for them so that somehow they will feel a bit better as they're going through their sufferings.

[25:05] This is reality. This is God's reality. This is heaven's reality. This is fact. This is true.

[25:18] And if it weren't true, we could take no comfort from it. If it's just a fairy story. It's of no use to us in this life in meeting with all the tribulations and the difficulties and the challenges and the persecution and the strife and the dissension and everything that's a challenge to you in the way of faith.

[25:37] If this isn't really true, there's no use actually coming to such a passage and trying to feed it into your present experience. It just won't fit. It's of no use. It's of no value. But if as it is, it's God's reality, it's heaven as it really is, it's a description here of some of the qualifications, but also some of us will see of the quality of life in heaven.

[25:59] Then feed that into your present circumstances and say, well, I know that this life will have difficulty, but how isn't it going to be made up for and more than made up for by what's waiting for me in heaven?

[26:13] You see, this is part of God's own method of bringing us assurance and bringing us as much comfort as we can bear in this life.

[26:24] This is God's own word. He has put it together. He has actually seen the arrangement of the topics in this word of God and the books in this word of God and the passages in this book of Revelation itself.

[26:38] Why? Because it's addressing a church in John's day that was really suffering for what they believed. And He was saying to them, look up. Look beyond the horizon of your suffering.

[26:51] Even if it goes on for the rest of your life, look what's beyond it. Look at the glow on the horizon. Look at this wonderful heaven that awaits you.

[27:05] What is there more to encourage us than to realize something of what heaven is and of what the qualifications are that God has given us in Christ as we come to trust in Him.

[27:18] So therefore, the qualification for life in heaven, but more briefly, for the quality of life in heaven. You see the argument again as we said, they shall hunger no more, they shall not thirst anymore, the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat.

[27:34] And that's just another way of saying there will be no more pain, there will be no more tribulation, no more suffering. Why? For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and you will guide them to springs of living water.

[27:47] Well, that's what he says that they have come out of the great tribulation. They have left tribulation behind. And what he's going on to say is that the experiences of heaven or the experience of heaven is an experience as we cannot possibly have in this life to this extent of God's fatherly care and of Christ's pastoral compassion and provision for us.

[28:17] There is, first of all, an abundance of life. They are actively serving in verses 10 to 12. They're crying out, salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and they are all engaged in this worship, this blessing of God, blessing, and it goes on and on without interruption.

[28:40] Heaven is not a place of just lying around doing nothing. It's not a holiday. It's not a poolside holiday where you just put your feet up. There's nothing to do. It's a constant worship and adoration of God.

[28:57] And what a wonderful thought that nothing will interrupt that. Nothing will ever come in between you and the God you're worshipping.

[29:09] Nothing will come to disturb your worship. There will be no fears that somehow or other it's going to be very short-lived. Everything about it is about quality, and quality means that there's no interruption.

[29:24] It's a constant service without tiring, without interruption, without distractions. But then he says, for the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd.

[29:39] It's important, isn't it, that the same person who died for these people will be the person they meet with in heaven to be their pastor forevermore.

[29:51] The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne. Why is he saying the Lamb? Because it's still going back to what he has done in his death as the Lamb of God who in his own obedience sacrificed himself without blemish to God in order to redeem his people from their blemished life, from their sin.

[30:11] He is the Lamb. That's who he is. That's who he continues to be. He's not a different person. He's now in glory, but he's still regarded by the people there as the Lamb.

[30:21] The Lamb as if it were newly slain. They are aware of him and his death as they worship him in heaven. And as they do so, he lovingly shepherds them.

[30:34] I think it's a wonderful combination here that in the midst of the throne, and remember, the midst of the throne is where God rules.

[30:46] And the Lamb is in the midst of the throne. He's not a deputy. He's not of secondary importance. He's not an agent of God the Father taking up somewhat of a lesser place.

[31:02] He's in the midst of the throne. He governs the universe. He has everything in his own hand. His is the hand, as you go back earlier in Revelation in chapter 5, who takes the scroll and who opens the scroll.

[31:16] In other words, the unfolding of history is in the hands of the Lamb. He came forward to take this book, symbolizing that he has complete control and authority over what happens in the history of the world.

[31:30] He is the ruler of the universe. He is the king par excellence. Atonement is nevertheless at the heart of the throne.

[31:42] He is the Lamb in the midst of the throne. His own death is constantly being presented there as the security of his people. As 1 John puts it in chapter 2, as John wrote to those then that he was writing to, I'm writing these things to you, my dear children, so that you sin not.

[32:01] But if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And he is the propitiation for our sins.

[32:13] And not for our sins only, but for the sins of the whole world, for every type of person that will come to be saved. What is he saying in that passage? He's saying, we have an advocate with somebody who presents a case on our behalf and in our favor, constantly doing that in the presence of God.

[32:31] That's the Lamb in the midst of the throne. He's our advocate. But he's also the propitiation. There's a reference and an emphasis to the kind of death he died.

[32:45] The death that dealt with the wrath of God. That's what the word propitiation is about. And in heaven, there's a wonderful thing there that's going on all the time without interruption.

[32:57] As his people worship him without interruption, without anything taking to do with that, to spoil their bliss. So the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne is constantly presenting himself as the propitiation, as the blood that guarantees their eternal security.

[33:18] The Lamb, but he's in the midst of the throne. The midst of the throne, but he is nevertheless the Lamb. But you do notice, he will be their shepherd.

[33:33] He is the king and he's our advocate. He's this great person, this indescribably great person shouted out to the world, the king of glory is a pastor.

[33:49] He's going to pastor his people through all eternity. That's what it's saying. He is going to be their shepherd. He will be their shepherd from the midst of the throne.

[34:01] He is going to pastor them. He's going to deal with them in a way that will guarantee that they are looked after as no one else can. And as no other people can be.

[34:14] The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd. He will be their shepherd. We talk about quality of life. Quality of life is important in this life.

[34:24] That's why we value those who attend to our needs when we become ill, when we need things done for us and to us. But when you talk about quality of life, ultimately, you're talking about heaven, about Christ, the supreme pastor, who gives such a quality of life to his people that from the throne he will be their shepherd.

[34:53] This is no detached king closed off in a throne room that nobody has access to.

[35:04] This is the loving shepherd. The good shepherd who gave his life for his people and who is now giving life to his people. As he shepherds them from the throne of heaven.

[35:19] Doesn't that make you want to be in heaven? Doesn't that lift your spirits as you find yourself sometimes cast down, disconsolate, wondering why certain things are as they are in your life?

[35:37] this is the shepherd inviting us tonight just to look through this chink in the curtain that separates us from eternity and to peer in behind that curtain and look at him.

[35:55] Who is he? He's the king. He's the king shepherd. He's the advocate. He's everything we need. He shall lead them, guide them to springs of living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes just to finish with that.

[36:12] He will guide them to springs of living water. It's as if it's the imagery of course of the shepherd taking the sheep from one source of watering to the other when one source of watering actually starts to either get somewhat muddied by their feet or else goes down and so there's not much water left.

[36:33] He will lead them on to new pastures with new water. Water is vital. It's the source of life. We can't live without it. And of course when you spiritualize that and symbolize it heaven is a constant source of ongoing life.

[36:50] That's how the book of the Revelation ends isn't it? That he saw this river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

[37:03] Constant supply of eternal unpolluted life. That's what heaven is. It's so indescribably great that not even John could get beyond human imagery just to try and describe it for us and for himself.

[37:21] We need words that we understand in a common sense in order to try and make something of what we understand of heaven. But even the little we do understand how brilliant is it?

[37:35] How encouraging is it? How attractive is it? How much does it pull us towards its perfect quality of life?

[37:46] ever fresh ever ongoing springs of life living water and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

[37:59] See they have come out of the great tribulation and as soon as they come out of the great tribulation they meet with God himself as they have never met with him before in the reality of heaven through Christ.

[38:13] you know what it's like when as a youngster you fell fell off your bike or fell by the roadside scraped your knees some other part of your face whatever you started crying and you went home and mummy or daddy usually mummy I suppose came and actually cast her arms around you and took your injury but the thing that she really was concerned to do was just to wipe the tears off your face and say it'll be alright I'll see to it you see that's what the picture is there of God as if he is indeed physically although that's not what it means but there's a physical presentation of it to us in the way that we understand normally in this life a parent wiping the tears of a child's face to assure them everything's now alright well

[39:20] God is saying as soon as you enter heaven this is now where your tears are ended you don't have any more worries any more anxieties death shall be no more tribulation shall be no more it's all behind you that doesn't make this life easy and are some people that have life challenges more difficult than others have but let me just go back to the question with which we began are we going to be together in heaven do you have the qualifications through faith in Christ to wash your robes and make them white are you under a process of sanctification by God do you already have your hands on the victory through faith in

[40:21] Christ when he is yours victory is yours are you looking forward to quality of life a life like no other a life with Jesus a life with God your father a life of unending refreshment of indescribable brilliant life let's pray Lord our God we thank you that while our mere words cannot describe the reality of heaven and all that you have provided for your people we give thanks that nevertheless you assure us of the truth of those things that we have been looking at we pray that you would persuade us oh Lord that whatever we meet within this life you will far exceed in the weight of glory grant that whatever sufferings we need to endure for you we may do so looking upwards to the hills from whence our strength comes to the

[41:29] God of life to the God of heaven to the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne and continue we pray to encourage us to serve you and to live for you while we have breath we pray this for Jesus sake Amen let's conclude now our service this evening from Psalm 23 the well known Psalms of words of Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd I not want he makes me down to lying in pastures green he leadeth me the quiet waters by and of course we end in heaven and God's house forevermore my dwelling place shall be sing into the tune Amazing Grace the Lord's my shepherd Lord the Lord's my shepherd on the home he makes me down to lie

[42:39] Impaljuring even me The quiet waters high My exonica restore again And me to walk the free Within the path of righteousness In part is only safe Ye though I walk in death's dark veil

[43:50] Yet will I fear anew For thou art with me on thy road Unstaffly come for still My table love has perished In presence of my foes My head the dust with all my noise

[44:51] And my cup overflows Goodness and mercy of my life Shall surely follow me And in God's hand Forevermore My dwelling place shall be I'll go to the door to my right this evening.

[45:44] And now may grace and mercy and peace From God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit Be your portion now and evermore. Amen. Amen.

[45:55]  Amen. Amen.