The End of the Story

[0:00] I have a question for all of you.

[0:20] How many of you like to go to the back of the book and read the last chapter to know how it ends? You don't have to raise your hands. I'm not going to out you.

[0:33] But I know there are some of you. Usually, I prefer to let the story unfold, allowing the author and the storyteller to unfurl the movement of the drama.

[0:51] To see where, to feel the tension points as it unfolds. Looking forward, always, to the end. To see how it will resolve or not resolve, depending on how dystopian your novel is.

[1:08] But the one Bible that I like to read, or the one book that I like to read the end of, is the Bible, however.

[1:20] Because it answers all the questions like, where is this all going? And what will the end of the world be like? And where do I fit into all of that?

[1:32] When you look at the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, this was a book written, now 2,000 years ago, written to the church in Rome, suffering, persecution, and trial.

[1:46] Going through a hard time when Christianity was not accepted and where people believed false things about them. And where they suffered cruelly and terribly.

[1:57] They were asking the questions, whose kingdom will really reign? God's or Caesar's? Who really has the greater power? The gospel or Rome?

[2:10] God's or Caesar's? And what will become of us? Because it sure feels like we're losing and dying. Those may be feelings that connect with your life as well.

[2:27] You may be facing trials in your own life that make you feel like you're losing and dying and wondering. Is there a God who can help me? Is his power great enough to actually rescue me from my current circumstances?

[2:46] Some of you may be walking through trials like that right now. Some of them, some of you are not. You're in a good place. And yet to know these truths is to prepare you for inevitably the time that will come when you will walk through hard times.

[3:03] And hard trials. Personally, as I've thought through, as I've prepared this sermon, I've been encouraged to think through the last eight years of my own life.

[3:16] As I've walked through my late wife's, Brandy's diagnosis of cancer, treatment, her going home to be with the Lord a few years ago. There certainly have been times when I couldn't see whose power was greater.

[3:30] I couldn't see the goodness in the moment. There certainly are times when I thought, I don't know how I can make it through. And yet, it's the truths of the book of Revelation that kept me going.

[3:46] To know the end has carried me through to this point. And continues to carry me through today. And I hope that this will be true for you as well.

[3:58] So we're going to turn today to the book of Revelation. We're going to turn to chapter 21. That's page, I brought my bulletin this time so I remember. 977. Turn to page 977 in your pew Bible.

[4:11] And if you have your own Bible, that's great. If you didn't bring one, pick up that pew Bible today. Because we're going to be flipping around a little bit. We're going to read a passage. But we're going to be reading a few passages in the near vicinity of that as well.

[4:25] And I'd love to have you be able to read along with me. And you may be wondering, why are we doing this? Why are we talking about Revelation and the end of the Bible? Because we've been preaching for this fall on the book of Genesis and the book of beginnings.

[4:41] And how God began the world and his purposes in creating it. And what we want to do is to show you how the book of Genesis sets up this long storyline.

[4:56] And we're going to skip to the end and read in Revelation 21. About how God ties up some major themes that he's raised in the series this fall.

[5:09] We're going to learn about what's the end of creation. Where is this all going? We're going to learn about the reality of sin and judgment. And where is that going to end?

[5:20] And we're going to learn about the fate of humanity. And this is what we're going to see as we look at Revelation. Revelation as the capstone of our series on the book of Genesis.

[5:32] So that's where we're going. And that's what we're doing this morning. So let's go ahead and read together Revelation chapter 21 verses 1 through 8.

[5:45] Revelation chapter 21 verses 1 through 8.

[6:15] The dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God.

[6:26] He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore.

[6:37] For the former things have passed away. And he who is seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.

[6:52] And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

[7:04] The one who conquers will have this heritage. And I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable.

[7:16] As for the murderers, the sexually immoral. Sorcerers, idolaters and all liars. Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. Which is the second death.

[7:28] Will you pray with me? Lord, I praise you this morning for your word.

[7:42] Lord, for how you inspired writers throughout decades and centuries to reveal yourself.

[7:55] Lord, how these voices from different times and places testify about you. And what kind of God you are.

[8:06] Lord, I pray this morning that you would help us to see the beauty of you in all that you are. And Lord, the wonderful gift that it is to have the Bible to know you.

[8:19] God, I pray for your help this morning that you might give me clarity of thought and of speech. And Lord, for all of us that our hearts would be soft and receptive. That as your spirit, Lord, works in us today.

[8:32] That we would hear, Lord, and apply your word. Jesus, we ask these things in your name. Amen. Amen. Amen. So as we look at these eight verses as representative of a bit of there's actually about three chapters here where there's a lot going on.

[8:59] And we spared you a long reading of apocalyptic literature. Which has lots of really interesting and fascinating and sometimes distracting imagery. We're going to try to focus on these three grand themes of Genesis and how they work themselves out in Revelation.

[9:17] And the first thing that we see is what happens with creation. Creation will be healed. Remember what we saw in Genesis. That God began with a watery chaos.

[9:30] And he took this watery chaos and he brought it into a form. He separated out. Remember night and day. Land and sea.

[9:42] Sky and earth. He separated these things out to give form. And then he filled that form with life. Life in the sun and the moon and the sky.

[9:53] And life with plants and animals on the land and in the air and on the sea. And finally the pinnacle of life being humanity created in God's image.

[10:06] And yet then we see that this creation was cursed by the fall of man and the disobedience of Adam and Eve in the garden. And so we wonder what happens.

[10:19] Because we've known nothing less than this our whole lives. We have known nothing less than a cursed creation. Where work is hard. And where the world we live in is full of sickness and death.

[10:34] Of decay and disease. Of the second law of thermodynamics for heaven's sakes. That we tend towards chaos. Will it ever be good again?

[10:48] Is the question that we ask about creation. And Revelation steps in. And in Revelation 21.1 it says. This is the Apostle John receiving these visions from the Lord and writing them down.

[11:02] He says, What we see is that God rebuilds the forms anew.

[11:17] And the forms are different. Isn't it interesting? There is no sea. There is no watery chaos to be conquered anymore. In the eternal state there will be a world that will have this perfect form.

[11:32] That could never go back. And not only will there be no sea. As you see in verse 2. But also as we look further. If you want to look down chapter 21 verses 23 and following.

[11:45] It talks about the fact there will be no sun. And there will be no moon. And it says that there will be no more night. In chapter 22 verse 5.

[11:59] And part of what we need to see is that the normal rhythms of life. That God had created in the original form. Are not only going to be made new.

[12:10] They're going to be made new in a greater way. Because now instead of those things. Instead of a watery chaos or a sea. There will be a river of life.

[12:21] Flowing through the place where God's people will live. And instead of there being a sun and a moon in the sky. There will be God himself. And he will be the light.

[12:33] That will light them in their lives. And this is the eternal state that we see. That God is renewing and making even greater these forms.

[12:49] So there will be no more days. But eternity. But these aren't just forms for their own sake.

[13:01] But they're forms for the flourishing of life. And so you see in verse 6 of the passage we read in 21.6. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.

[13:17] The invitation for all to come and to drink from God who is the source of all life. And who in this new creation has created a river that will never stop flowing.

[13:28] And a river that will always have life abundantly there. And as you look ahead. Look with me at the beginning of chapter 22 really quickly.

[13:38] Verses 1 and 2. There's a river of the water of life bright as crystal flowing from the throne of God. And the lamb.

[13:50] And through the middle of the... It's flowing through the middle of the street of the city. And also on either side of the river. The tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit yielding each...

[14:02] Yielding its fruit each month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Do you remember the tree of life that God had to guard, block off from sinful humanity?

[14:17] Because of their rebellion against him? The tree of life that they might have eaten in the garden and enjoyed life forever but didn't? Because of their rebellion? In the new heavens and the new earth.

[14:30] God creates a place where the tree of life lines the river of life. And it bears fruit in every season.

[14:41] This is where the apocalyptic imagery... We need to be a little careful to not overdo it. Because I just said there are no seasons. And now there are seasons. Because there are 12 months, right? Well, let's go with it.

[14:53] The apocalyptic literature, it's images. So what's the image trying to say? There will always be abundant fruit. There will always be a fruit that will feed the people who are there forever.

[15:05] And it will be a life-giving fruit. What had been barred off because of sin now is available for all who are in the people of God.

[15:19] And not only do we have life, but we see... Go back to chapter 21, verse 7. The second half of this.

[15:30] The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son. And sonship here... Yes, it's a gendered term, but it has a positional force to it.

[15:45] You will be the precious, honored, firstborn in my family. That would have been understood in a traditional context. And we need to see that we're gathering it up.

[15:58] And we're saying that in God's son, Jesus, all of us, men and women, become his precious children. His precious sons and daughters. And his name will be written on our foreheads.

[16:12] That's what chapter 22, verse 4 tells us. That we will actually have God's name. He will... Again, imagery, right?

[16:23] He's not branding us. Imagery. That we... He will say, you are mine and I am yours forever. And we will finally have a family that we will not lose.

[16:35] And we will finally have a place to belong that we never had. We will be restored fully in the image of God, male and female, to be his people forever.

[16:50] This new creation is characterized by a remaking where life flourishes eternally, without failure, without end, and with greater glory.

[17:06] So what are we to make of this? How do we apply this to our life today? There are so many applications to these principles. But, you know, one of the ones that struck me was, sometimes I think we're afraid that heaven will be boring.

[17:22] That harps and clouds and people wearing long white robes just looks really bland and really vanilla. But what I want you to see is that what God is doing in recreating, making new the forms of his creation and the life-giving impulse is that we are going to experience life like we've never done it before.

[17:48] Think even of just the way we experience creation. Have you been in Teton National Park? Have you been in Teton National Park?

[18:00] And the warmth of the rays of the sun catch the tips of the snow-capped peaks in the morning? It's thrilling.

[18:10] Have you been in Teton National Park? Have you been in a place where you've been able to see, whether it's Florida or California or Hawaii or some other part of the world, where you've been able to watch the sun set over the ocean, and the sky light up with a brilliant chromatic hues, to be captivated by it?

[18:39] And maybe even closer to Earth, have you just walked Hamanasset Beach and looked out at the greatness of the ocean? Or hiked the hills in Chatsworth Hollow in the spring as the snow melt fills the streams?

[18:55] These are the little tastes of our creation now that thrill our hearts. Friends, we will only have this unending and with greater glory in heaven.

[19:12] The Grand Canyon is not boring, nor will heaven be boring for us. We've only tasted what is in store for us, only sensed the greater beauty that awaits.

[19:25] And it's not only us. Not just the natural world, but human creation. Have you ever thought of the interesting thing? God began his creation in a garden.

[19:37] But at the end, there's a city. And I think that part of that is to recognize that what God is doing is he's bringing his people together.

[19:48] It is from God for sure, but it is, there's a humanity. There's a beauty in what God is doing through human beings. In our capacity to be creative, to make beautiful things, and to have culture, and to have music, and to have all the different ways in which we taste eternity, even now in this fallen world.

[20:12] And so what we will experience, and the scripture isn't really detailed on this, so I'm going out a little bit on a limb here, but I think it's there that God is going to bring us into a place where we're going to, all the things that we taste now, we will get an overwhelming abundance of, and it will never grow old, and we will never grow tired of it, and its beauty will be satisfying, because it will be seen to be reflecting God in all of his beauty and glory, in all that we do.

[20:48] And all that reflects God in part now, we will see in full then. And so we're reminded of the words in 1 Corinthians 2, what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, nor has the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him.

[21:09] Friends, the renewal of creation is going to be awesome, and we ought to be excited about it, and look forward to it. But it's not just that. It's not just a utopia to look forward to, because it also, Revelation also helps us understand what happens to sin, and judgment, and the fall.

[21:31] What we see is that judgment is complete, and sin is eradicated. Remember what we saw in Genesis 3, and following all the way through.

[21:45] Genesis 3 was the beginning. Sin entered the world through the disobedience of Adam and Eve. It entered the world, and it corrupted and broke everything. It broke God's relationship to man.

[21:57] It broke humanity's relationship to one another, male and female. It broke our relationship to creation, and all those ways. And so the stain and the curse of sin went everywhere.

[22:13] And when we saw from that, remember, with Cain and Abel, and then with Lamech, and then every purpose of man's heart was always only evil. Always.

[22:24] I think I added one in there, but that's the idea, right? In chapter 6, it got so bad that God judged the world with a flood that destroyed everybody so that he might remake humanity in hopes of starting over.

[22:38] And yet, three chapters later, they're building the Tower of Babel and thinking, that's a great idea. Why don't we exalt ourselves up to God in rebellion against him?

[22:51] And so we have this problem. Sin has persisted. And the stain of sin seems to be one that you can't get out. What will God do with that?

[23:04] Well, we see a couple of very hopeful things here. First, is that in chapter 21, verse 4, these beautiful words, we see that the curse and the stain of sin and the result of sin is reversed.

[23:21] Look with me at it. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain of any more, nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away.

[23:40] Friends, the older I get, the worse death seems. And yet, the older I get, the harder life seems. It's a really terrible thing to put those things together.

[23:57] Because you realize that sin and death is not the way it was supposed to be. Humanity was not made for this. And yet, they are such a constant presence in our lives.

[24:08] Some of you are 22 and really have tasted little of this. Praise God for that. Enjoy it. And be prepared for the fact that that will end.

[24:21] I wish I could tell you something better. I can't. Sorry. Sorry. Begin to put these truths into, and these hopes into your heart now.

[24:34] for when the reality of sin and the reality of death hits you, you will be prepared for them.

[24:47] The curse is reversed. There will be no more sickness. There will be no more disease. There will be no agonizing death.

[24:59] There will be no tragic accidents. There will be no more death. And there will be no more mourning. There will be no more weeping and crying.

[25:13] There will be no more hurt or pain. Because all of those things that are so much a part of our lives today are the fruit of sin.

[25:25] And when God makes the world new, those things will have passed away. in chapters 22 verse 3 it says, no longer will there be anything accursed.

[25:43] So all the ways that the fallenness has worked its way out into our world with broken societal systems and broken relationships and broken bodies and broken ecology and all the broken things of the world, no longer will they be there.

[26:00] and even more than that, even in the spiritual realm, the liar and the deceiver who wormed his way into the hearts of Adam and Eve in the garden, the great serpent who if you go back and you look in chapter 12 is identified as Satan very clearly there.

[26:22] We see in the book of Revelation, I just didn't have time to give you this whole storyline, but we see in the book of Revelation that this enemy will be defeated. In chapter 20 verse 10, Satan is finally defeated.

[26:36] He is pictured as a dragon and he is thrown into a lake of fire which is a picture of eternal judgment where there is no escape. And not only is Satan thrown in there, but in chapter 20 verse 14, death and hell itself are also thrown into that lake of fire.

[27:01] What we know from this is that the enemies, the spiritual enemies of God's people who have sought to attack from the outside to turn God's people away, they are judged, they are condemned, and they are defeated.

[27:21] And they will no longer be a part of our world. God will remove the things that cause us harm. Now one of the sobering things about this, you probably noticed it because it's striking, verse 8, and this is repeated again later in chapter 22, verse, I didn't write this down, verse 15, twice in these two chapters with this grand vision, it says, but not all will be there because those who reject God, those who choose their sin and refuse to turn towards God, those who continue and make their life characterized by rebellion against God, they will not be in this place.

[28:27] They will not enjoy this new heaven and new earth and new Jerusalem. They will not drink from the river of life, nor taste the fruit from the tree of life.

[28:42] There is a judgment that is coming on all the earth, and it will be final. this is why the lake of fire and sulfur and the second death, this apocalyptic imagery is pointing ahead to this reality, that one day when God redeems the world, it will involve this judgment.

[29:06] It will involve ending sin, and for those who have made sin their marker, the thing that they embrace, they will be caught up in this judgment, and they will suffer that judgment, and it will be terrible.

[29:34] So we need to know that evil will not continue, and this is a good thing, friends. Though it is a sobering thing, it is a good thing, and many of you sitting here this morning know this.

[29:49] You know it's good when you watch your family members suffer from chronic pain, or addiction, or tragic accidents, when you watch life unravel in those you love, and you want the evil, and the sin, and the pain to end.

[30:07] some of you have endured injustice tragically in your own lives. You have been abused, and there's never been a recompense.

[30:22] There's never been a reckoning. Some of you look out in the world, and you look at the great suffering. You look at the persecution of the powerless, and the oppressed, and those that society counts is not worth it.

[30:40] And your heart cries out, how could this be? God, why won't you end this? And part of what Revelation tells us is that he will, and that he does.

[30:54] He will not allow the guilty to go unpunished, and he will end sin by justly judging all.

[31:06] the book of Revelation was written, it was written to people who were wondering these things too. As the corrupt nation of Rome got more flagrant in some of its corruption, and the church wondered, God, how long, how long will this last, how long will we suffer, the righteous, those who seek you and want to know you, while the world enjoys the pleasures of its sin.

[31:37] And Revelation reminds us, God will win. God will win in the end, and he will end the evil, and he will end the sin, and he will end all of the things that we rightly hate in this world because they are evil.

[31:56] And in his judgment, he will make it right. now we have to stop and think, how will he do this? How will he do this?

[32:08] Many of you know this story, but just, it's only hinted at here, it's not explained in Revelation 21 and 22, except that with God there is this one who is called the Lamb.

[32:22] And you go back to Revelation chapter 5, and you see people worshiping this Lamb, worthy is the Lamb who was slain, for by your blood you ransomed people for God.

[32:36] We know that the Lamb is Jesus, and that his death is his death on the cross, and we know that this Lamb is God come to us.

[32:48] So Hebrews 2, 14 says this about him, therefore since the children, that is us, children of humanity, share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook the same things so that through death, that is through his death, he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is Satan, that is the devil, and to deliver all those who through the fear of death were subject to a lifelong slavery.

[33:16] Jesus entered into the curse of humanity and the judgment of God upon the evil that our sin wreaks in this world. He entered in and took that for us so that all who are in him might be redeemed and ransomed out of this broken fallen world and into this ark, this savior, this, the promised one, so that all who are in Christ, as Daniel said earlier, there is no condemnation, but instead there is life.

[33:59] And this is the great divide, and on the last day, this will be the great and tragic divide. For those who are in Christ, they will go into eternity with God and enjoy life with God forever and all this beauty.

[34:13] but for those who are outside of Christ, it will be a terrible day, for the hope of redemption will finally extinguish and be no more.

[34:28] Which is why the Bible encourages us, today, if you hear his voice, turn to him. Today, if you have not put your faith in Christ, turn to him today while you still can, turn to him and find that he is the savior that you've always wanted, that he is the one who can deal with your sin.

[34:53] Give your life to him and let him free you. For as Revelations 1.18 says, he was given the keys of death in Haiti under his control so that he may defeat his enemies and give freedom to those who are in him.

[35:13] So, friends, when you face your struggle, when you struggle to see the pain and the evil in the world, know that God has triumphed over it.

[35:26] Look to the cross and to the empty tomb. You may not understand why your particular shape of evil has come into your life. You may not understand why you've had to suffer these certain things, but know that they will not have the last word in your life.

[35:42] And when you look to the cross and when you look to the empty tomb, there is hope. The victory is future, but it is certain for God's people.

[35:58] Which leads us into the last question, what about the fate of humanity? As we've seen in Genesis 1 through 12, starting in verse 3, humanity has been unerringly lurching towards sin and deserving of judgment.

[36:14] Though there have been multiple times or opportunities to turn back to God, only a few have done so. And invariably, all of humanity has moved away. So what is going to happen?

[36:26] At the end of chapter 11, remember the Tower of Babel? God has scattered the people and given them different languages to confuse them so they can't unite in their sin against God and in rebellion.

[36:41] So now the people, humanity, are scattered, confused, at odds with God and with one another. What will God do here? Well, what we will see is that God's people will be gathered again.

[36:58] Look with me in Revelation 21, verses 2 and 3. I saw the holy city in New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

[37:11] And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place, which is the same word as tabernacle in case you want to know. The dwelling place of God is with humanity.

[37:25] And he will dwell with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. again, God is creating a form for humanity to flourish and it is a city, the holy city, Jerusalem, remade new and not built up from the bottom to try to reach God but coming down from heaven.

[37:47] God provides for us the city that we longed for but couldn't make on our own. And in this city, God restores the intimacy of humanity in the garden where they walked with God in the cool of the shade.

[38:03] And where the great gift of marriage, the union of male and female in this picture of intimacy is now to be seen to be this, the fulfillment of that is the great intimacy, the union of God and his people forever.

[38:21] And we will be known fully and we will be loved completely and we will love God and it will bring us great joy.

[38:34] The garden city of this new Jerusalem will be the place where we as humanity as God's people, those in Christ, will enjoy an intimacy with God greater than we can imagine.

[38:50] And it's striking in verse 22 of chapter 21 it says, there is no more temple, right? For the Jews in the Old Testament, the temple was the one place where they could go and say God was here.

[39:05] And in the new place, New Jerusalem, there will be no temple because they don't have to go to a building to find God because God himself will be among them. The greater glory of this city garden temple.

[39:23] Draw all those lines together throughout all of scripture to say this is what it's heading for. This incredible place where God's people will be gathered to be with God.

[39:36] And it will have this incredible diversity. One of the remarkable things about what God did at the Tower of Babel is as he scattered people, he created diversity. He created diversity of nations and tribes and tongues.

[39:50] tongues. And then he let them grow into the richness. Look around this room, look around this city, look around the world that we live in.

[40:02] God has created a humanity, even in its fallenness, it has this incredible richness and diversity. And what God is doing at the end of days is gathering those people back together.

[40:15] This is what Revelation chapter 7 looks to. And then I saw people from every tribe and tongue and nation gathered around the throne, worshiping God forever.

[40:32] And the glory of Adam and Eve, intimate with God in the garden in the beginning, is now multiplied and magnified by us who will get to gather with him.

[40:48] in all the different backgrounds that we have, all the different languages, all the richness of the culture that we bring, and we bring them and we lay them at the feet of our king and our God at his throne and we honor and worship him.

[41:07] And we will see him face to face. Remember Moses up on the mountain? He couldn't see God face to face.

[41:17] And live because of his sin. But when sin is gone, we can see God face to face. And what joy that will be. Maybe you know what it's like to be far away from a loved one for a while.

[41:34] And yeah, it's nice you can now WhatsApp them or FaceTime them. but to actually see them face to face. What joy it is to be in the presence of the one that you love.

[41:48] The intimacy, the union, the connection that we have with those. This is what we get with God.

[41:59] And when you're reunited with that loved one, at least for a while, you think, this is the best ever. And then in our fallenness, we get bored and we go on with other stuff.

[42:11] But in heaven, we won't get bored because we will be face to face with the infinite God. And we will worship him. And we will bask in his glory and we will enjoy his creation.

[42:24] And we will live this rich life forever. So God will gather his people and he will dwell with them and they will be his people and he will be their God.

[42:42] When we feel like we're losing and when we feel like we're dying, this is a great promise. Because even if we die in this life and in this world, we know that that is where we are going in Christ.

[43:00] That God will gather his people together. And what a glorious day that will be. Almost broke out in a song there.

[43:11] When we all get to heaven, the day of rejoicing it will be. When we all see Jesus, we'll dance and shout the victory. Sing and shout?

[43:22] I don't know. It's close enough. So friends, how do we finish this? How do we wrap up this sermon?

[43:32] How do we live now? First, we need to cling to Jesus because all these hopes and all these promises are tied to being in him.

[43:45] And with great joy, we know that he will cling to us. But he calls us over and over again. Turn to him. Choose this day whom you will serve.

[43:55] believe in me. Follow me. Pick up your cross. Cling to Jesus. Hold on to him through the hardest things of life.

[44:08] When you feel like it's not worth living, when you feel like all you're doing is losing and dying, turn to him. You will only know him in part in this life, but seek to know him more and more.

[44:24] read his word so that you might know him more. But also gather as his people. Because recognize, friends, that this is the down payment of heaven right here.

[44:37] What we're doing right now, this is why people have said this is the most important thing that happens in all of the earth. Not what happens in Washington, D.C. or what happens in New York City or in Beijing or in London or wherever.

[44:51] forever. But this, the gathering of God's people is the most important thing because this is the down payment of what will be eternal. When we gather together, as imperfect as it is, and it is really imperfect, you guys may feel that, it is not, but this is the place where we get to taste the gathering of God's people.

[45:18] as we look around, recognize that these will be the people that you will worship God with for all eternity. And you will look at one another and say brother and sister and know that in a much deeper way than you do right now.

[45:39] So value it, treasure it, anticipate it, risk investing in it. It's worthwhile.

[45:51] And hold on to hope, friends. In this world you will have tribulation, but I have overcome the world, said Jesus. There is a greater glory awaiting those who are in Christ.

[46:04] The one who came and said, behold, I am making all things new. Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this word.

[46:17] Lord, thank you for the vision that you have given John, a glimpse even, for there are no words to describe the fullness of the beauty and the richness and the glory that we will have with you in eternity.

[46:37] Lord, I pray this morning that you would wean our hearts from our hope being in this life only, but Lord, that because you are a risen savior, that we would set our hope on heaven, set our hope on these eternal realities that are yet to come.

[46:59] And Lord, that by doing that you might give us hope to persevere in the present, to cling to you and to wait for you and trust ourselves to you. Lord, thank you for this.

[47:11] thank you that you are the overcoming one, that you are the conquering king, that you will be, Lord, our God, and we will be your people.

[47:23] We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.