All right, let's look at Chapter 21. Okay, just a quick announcement. Next Wednesday we do not have Bible study here because it's Thanksgiving week. And so next week we have a break and then the week after that we'll be finishing up Chapter 22. And then after that, December 6th will be our last session where we're going to be reviewing.

So we're going to be reviewing the 22 chapters that we went over. So it's going to be a little bit longer review. But our last day of Bible study for Revelation is going to be December 6th. And part of the reason why we're finishing a little bit earlier is because our home Bible study meets a week after.

So if we don't finish on the 6th, they will end up having Bible study during the Christmas that the week that they should be getting break. So either way, it works out because we have only one more chapter to go after today. So we have this chapter and then Thanksgiving break and then the week after that, Chapter 22.

Okay, so let me pray first and then we'll jump right in. Heavenly Father, we thank you for the blessing that we have. We thank you for our families. We thank you for our jobs. We thank you, Lord, that even in where we live, that we have the freedom to be able to meet with you, to study to our heart's content, to fellowship, to build your church and all the opportunities that we can imagine.

You've allowed us to be able to be in a position where we can access all of these things. Help us not to take any of these things for granted, especially your word, that we would study it, meditate on it, and apply the things that, Lord God, that we are studying.

So we ask you would guide us and lead us. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. All right, so for the next two weeks, as we look at Chapter 21 and 22, we're looking at the new heaven and new earth and new Jerusalem. Basically it's a topic of heaven. It is the most clearest and the heaviest concentration on the teaching of heaven in any other parts of the Bible.

So obviously this is an important doctrine, an important part of everything that God has been doing, kind of culminated up to this point to get us to heaven. But I think the doctrine of heaven probably is just as misunderstood as doctrine of hell. Because so much of how people imagine heaven is from the secular community, it's from the movies that you watch or from books that you've read or just generally from the culture.

And so a lot of Christians don't know the distinction between what came from the Bible and what came from the secular world. And so I think it's important for us to understand what it's saying in Chapter 21 and 22. And there are obviously bits and pieces that are taught in other passages, but the heaviest concentration, the clearest teaching of heaven is in these two chapters.

So hopefully as we're studying it, that you can decipher, maybe you had certain thoughts of what you were to expect when you get to heaven and compare that to what you were reading in Chapter 21 and 22. Was that biblical or was that you get that from somewhere else?

So again, I run into people all the time, whenever we talk about heaven, they think, "Yeah, when I get to heaven, it's going to be like this." It's like, well, that's more of our imagination than actual teaching. Okay? All right. So let's begin. So new heaven and new earth.

So verse one begins by saying, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more." So whatever was here before this period, he says that the new heaven and new earth is going to come.

And this is the final destination of redemptive history, new heaven and new earth. So obviously everything that we've been studying up to this point is to lead us and get us to this point, right? So ever since the fall of mankind, everything that God has been doing is to bring us to this end.

So when the scripture says he's the alpha and the omega, right? This is the part of the omega. This is the final destination. Jesus himself said, now the significance of this, Jesus himself said that he was departing from his disciples to go prepare a place for his disciples, right?

So John 14, two to three says, "In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may also be." So what we're studying today is a new heaven and new earth is where Jesus is preparing a place for us, right?

And again, in Isaiah 65, 17, it's prophesied, "For behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind." So this is not unique to revelation. God has been prophesying this from old. Isaiah 62, 22, "For as the new heavens and the new earth that I may shake remain before me," says the Lord, "so shall your offspring and your name remain." I think a final, I think I have one more, yeah, sorry.

In 2 Peter 3, 13, "But according to his promise, we are waiting for a new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells." So again, new heaven and new earth has that language and that description has been implanted in scripture all over. And so chapter 21 and 22 is a specific teaching concerning that doctrine.

And heaven is described as a physical place, right? It is not a state of mind. Make that clear. The scripture does not describe heaven as some place after you die and then your spirit just kind of wanders off and then you're kind of in this eternal state of mind.

That's not how heaven is described in scripture. Scripture describes heaven as a physical place. So when the new heaven, the old earth and old heaven passes away, the new heaven and new earth comes and replaces it. So again, let me get to that. So the physical place, part of the reason why we say it's physical, Enoch and Elijah, if you remember, these two people don't die and they actually get raptured and in their physical state they get up to heaven, stated in Genesis and 2 Kings.

Jesus himself in Acts 1-9, after his resurrection, did he have a physical body? Yeah, he had a physical body, right? He had a physical body but it wasn't a normal body, it was a glorified body after the resurrection. Nevertheless, it was physical. It was not physical like the way you and I have it, but it is physical in the sense that there was something concrete, right?

And so in his glorified body, he went up and he ascended and then he promised that as he ascended, he will also come. So when he comes, he's going to come in that glorified body where he was able to sit and have a meal with the disciples, have conversation.

It wasn't just some mystical spirit that resurrected. And so not only did Jesus resurrect and physically go to heaven, the scripture says that we will also be resurrected in the same way Jesus was resurrected and in that resurrected body we are going to be in heaven, right? So the new heaven and new earth, as heaven is described, this is not, again, not simply a state of mind, but the reality is physical.

Romans 8, 19-22, this is a passage that we looked at a while back, but it says, "For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willing, but because of him who subjected it in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now." So this is a description of what happened to creation itself because of the fall, right? Remember, he says after they fall in Genesis chapter 3, God describes the fall of creation where he's going to work and toil and instead of bearing fruit, what's going to come out of the ground?

Thorns and thistles, right? And so he describes a fallen state as working hard and not being able to bear fruit, okay? And so not only did mankind fall, but all of creation was subjected to futility. And so when Christ comes, he said he's bringing a new heaven and new earth.

So basically he's recreating, restoring what God intended. Hebrews 12, 26-27, "At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens." This phrase, "yet once more," indicates the removal of things that are shaken, that is things that have been made in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.

Again, he's talking about restoring what was lost and the new heaven and new earth is going to come and replace it. The earth and heaven will not be completely done away with, but will be restored and renewed. So the language is not that he's going to take the old earth and completely destroy it and then something completely new is going to come.

The language that is used here, the Greek word "kainos" for new, is not referring to new as in chronological, but in qualitative sense, meaning that the earth, the creation that was subjected to futility is going to be renewed. So he's not replacing it, he's renewing it, and that's the language that he's using here.

So heaven is a physical place that once the millennial kingdom is done away with, the white throne judgment takes place, and then the final state of mankind is God's going to bring a new heaven and new earth, and so it's going to be a physical place here, right? But it's obviously going to be a different state, but it's going to be physical.

So the heaven that he is talking about, and I wanted to explain this and I'll talk a little bit more about this later, the heaven that he is talking about here is not talking about heaven where God is sitting on his throne. He's not saying that that heaven is going to be passing away and a new heaven is going to restore that.

The heaven he's talking about when he says heaven and earth, the Bible often describes heaven as material and immaterial, or the earth and the sky. Does that make sense? So he's not talking about heaven as in where God sits, what you and I think. So the Bible oftentimes uses the language of heaven and earth, meaning all of creation.

Does that make sense? Okay, you're looking at me like you have no idea what I'm talking about. When the Bible describes, in this particular passage, in context, he's not saying heaven where God is sitting on the throne, all the vision that John had of God sitting on the throne and being worshipped and the creatures flying around and worshipping him, holy, holy, holy.

He's not talking about that heaven. That heaven is not corrupted. It did not face decay because of the fall of men. He's not talking about that heaven. When he says heaven and earth, he's talking about all of creation, the earth and the sky. Does that make sense? Okay. So just wanted to clarify that he's not talking about heaven that we know of where God sits on his throne is being renewed.

He's talking about all of creation is going to be renewed. He says that the sea will be no more. So obviously, the earth that you and I know is going to look very different, right? The two thirds of the earth is covered by water. So if you don't have the sea, that means the earth is going to be a lot more land than sea.

Because there's no water, there's not going to be any need for separation by land with people. There's no need for water to sustain life. And as it says in verse six, that God will be the source of the water that we need. Verse six it says, "And he said to me, 'It is done.

I am the Alpha and Omega, and beginning and the end, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of water of life without payment.'" In other words, there's no need for external water because God himself is going to provide that. So the description is a new heaven and new earth, right?

And then starting from verse, what verse is it? Verse nine, he describes a new Jerusalem. Is the new Jerusalem separate from new heaven and new earth? What do you think? There's different theories to this. John MacArthur actually calls the new Jerusalem the capital of heaven. That doesn't mean it's right.

Don't say, "Oh, okay, that's what it is." That's one of the theories because he describes a new heaven and new earth and then he's talking about new Jerusalem. I don't think it's separate. I think new Jerusalem is another way of referring to new heaven and new earth. He's talking about heaven.

And if you look at it, the reason why he calls it Jerusalem is because that's the name of heaven, the new Jerusalem. So we're going to approach it this evening not as two separate things, but again, the new Jerusalem is a description of heaven. There are three separate times that Jerusalem as a city is mentioned in the Bible.

The first is the city of David, which is what we call it now, the physical city of Jerusalem, city of David is referred to as the city of Jerusalem. The second time the city of Jerusalem is mentioned is at the millennial kingdom where Christ comes and the messianic rule is going to take place during the thousand-year reign of Christ.

And at that time, the base would be the new Jerusalem. And then the third time is here, where he's referring to the eternal and final state, which is heaven. So new Jerusalem is just another word to describe heaven. So Jerusalem is described as a bride prepared for the bridegroom.

And then in verse nine, it says, "Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying, 'Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.'" So again, in the New Testament, the church is called the bride, but in the final state, it says that the city of Jerusalem is going to be his bride and then ultimately his wife, meaning that there's going to be intimate connection with God and the city.

This is his dwelling. This is his house. The new Jerusalem is measured in, I think it's verse nine through 21, takes a long list of the different heights and the walls and various things. If you take the measurement literally, it describes a cube. And this is a gigantic cube.

It would be maybe a one-fourth size of the earth, but cubed. And all the space inside would be occupied. Again, if we take it literally, that's what it's describing. It would be about 1,400 miles, and every measurement is the same. So again, 1,400 wide, 1,400 high, 1,400 deep. So it's describing a cube.

Now if this is a physical kingdom and he actually has the measurements as 1,400, is it 1,400? 14,000. Now 1,400. No, it's 1,400. It's got to be more than 1,400. How many miles is it from here to China? Anybody know? Is it 5,000? 7,000. 7,000. Okay, so then that measurement is right then.

Okay. So 1,400 cubed, right? And so if it's a physical kingdom, literally, could people fit, right? If you consider how many people... Guy actually did a study on this, and there's always people who will go this extra step to make sure, right? So this guy named Robert Rouse, and he wrote an article called "The Immensity of the New Jerusalem," and based upon the measurement, this is what he says.

One estimate of the total number of humans that have ever lived on the planet up to this point is figured around 106.5 billion people, right? So for the sake of argument, if we assume each and every one gets a place in the city that leaves enough room for everyone to have a house that's about 1,500 feet on each side or 2.25 million square feet on each level and around 150 stories tall.

In other words, it seems there will be more than enough room for everyone. So this is based upon 106.5 billion people up to this point, but we know that that's the total number of people who've existed. We're not talking about Christians, right? The number of Christians is far less than that, but based upon these numbers.

So this is just to tickle your brain. Somebody actually argued about the Noah's Ark. It's like, "Oh, every single animal fit in?" Somebody actually did a study on that too. They're looking at the measurement of the Noah's Ark and they found out that about, what are they, 96% of all species that we know of are under the size of a cat.

And so we think of like, "How can these elephants and these whales fit in?" And he said, "Only a very small percentage are actually that big. Most of the animals are small. So when you consider and put them all together," they said, "they could easily fit in the ark." Again, that's, you know, there's people who are that precise.

These are engineers that's like, "It could be possible," or architect, and they've actually done some of those studies. So you can Google that kind of stuff. But just, you know, out of curiosity, if it is a physical kingdom and it's described as 1,400 miles square, it is physically possible to fit all Christians in there that has ever lived.

If you notice the description of their measurements, if you get to, I think it's verse 13. I think it's verse 13. Verse 13 describes on the east there are three gates, on the north there's three gates, in the south there's three gates, in the west there's three gates. And he describes how in each of these gates there's three.

This is the picture of the tabernacle in the Old Testament. And so in the Old Testament description of the tabernacle, he commands the 12 tribes to all sit on three, three on each side. And then inside, like this area, these are all the Levitical tribes, right? And so this is how God commanded them to make sure when they camp and then when they take off, they all have to take off in order, and then when they encamp, they have to come back in this order.

So they weren't just randomly camping around the tabernacle. God told them specifically to sit and to camp around this way when they were camped. And so if you look at the description of the New Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem sounds a lot like the way that the tabernacle and the Israelites were connected, okay?

With the three gates on each side and the angels and sitting on each one of them. So again, all of these things that we see in the Old Testament is reflected in the New Testament or in the end times. I'm going to go over how the Bible describes this New Jerusalem.

He says it's going to be made new. God's redemptive plan is going to be finished. Again, in 1 Corinthians 15, 24, it says, "Then comes the end when he delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For God has put all things subjection under his feet, but when it says all things are put in subjection, it is plain that he is expected who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to him who put all things in subjection under him that God may be all in all." So if you notice how many times he says all things, all subjection, all of it, over and over again, meaning that it's going to be complete, right?

That everything that rebelled against God is going to be judged and it's going to be terminated. It's going to experience the second death in the lake of fire as it was described in chapter 20. So only that which is pure, everything that is put under his subjection, right, that was in rebellion, once that happens, he says eternity is going to come.

So he mentions over and over again, all, everything. There's not going to be anything that enters into Jerusalem that has any taint of any kind of rebellion. All that is going to be weeded out and judged before that happens. The reason why heaven is heaven is because it is the place where God dwells, right?

So this is why we're talking about how the new heaven and new earth is going to be renewed and then this Jerusalem, the throne of God is going to be where Jerusalem is, where heaven is. This is where he's going to make his dwelling permanently, right? God will be there, it says, forever and ever.

It will be permanent. And what makes heaven unique is not because of the creation, it's not because of the beauty, there's not going to be any weeds. I hope there's no rats there. I'm assuming there's no rats there, okay? And everything that was created because of the fall is going to be destroyed, right?

But that's not why heaven is attractive. Heaven is attractive because that's where God's glory is. If we fell short of the glory of God and you and I are experiencing basically living away from God because we're away from his glory, the whole purpose of redemption is to bring us back into his glory.

And so heaven is a place where we're going to be experiencing his glory in his fullness for eternity, right? So you can imagine saying like, when I get to heaven, I wish I was a little bit taller or skinnier or I could dunk and I'm going to have a mansion and you can say all this stuff and I'm going to eat Korean barbecue and never gain weight and you can imagine all of these things that you wish you could have, right?

But that's just imagination. What is described is the ecstasy and the joy and all that comes along is because we're going to be in the presence of his glory for eternity. And that's how the Bible describes it as a place, a city where he's going to be shining. The scripture tells us, and again, this is not in Revelation, but the scripture tells us that our God dwells in unapproachable light.

And the reason why is because of our sins. First Timothy 6, 16, "Who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see." And Exodus 33, 20, "God himself said, but he said, 'You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.'" But in heaven, we're going to be in his presence.

We're going to be in this light for eternity. This is all a description of fallen man, that we are not able to approach him because of our sins. So now we have been clad, well, we can have this relationship, but we are not in our final state. So that's how Jerusalem is described.

Presently, even the glimpse that we do have of him is dim. First Corinthians 13, 12, "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known." So this is all a description of heaven.

Everything that you and I imagine about God is from a distance, dimly. So we're kind of making an outline of him. If you see God, you're able to tell. But even now, even as we study the Bible, there's a lot of wrestling, like, "What does this mean? Does God really want this or not?" Part of it is because we are watching him and hearing him from a distance.

But when we get to heaven, there will be no debate as to God's desires, his will, his character, his nature. You don't have to ask anybody, "What does God being holy mean? What is God's love like?" You don't have to ask anybody because you're going to physically experience that firsthand.

You don't need anybody to give sermons. Sermons are going to be done in heaven, right? Because you don't need to hear sermons because you're going to hear from God directly. And ultimately, we will not only hear from him, not only know him, he said, we will actually become like him in 1 John 3.

"Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him because we shall see him as he is." So what is the cause of our transformation according to this passage? Seeing him, right? We shall become like him because we will see him.

So part of the reason why we aren't changing is because we're not seeing him. We only see a glimpse of his glory, so we get the taste of sanctification. But when we get to heaven, because we will see him as he is, we will be transformed. So being in the presence, full presence of his glory is going to transform us, right?

And that's going to happen in the New Jerusalem that's described here. So all the things about sanctification and I wish I could be this, I wish I could be that, you know, like in Philippians 160 says, "He who began a good work will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ," right?

And basically it's saying that your struggle of sanctification is going to happen, you're never going to find completion until the day of Christ. Well, this is the day of Christ. When he comes, all that struggle, all that struggle against sin, all of that is going to be made complete when we see him face to face.

We're going to be transformed. It's not going to require work. It's not going to require accountability, right? You don't need small groups, you don't need pastors, you don't need elders, right? Seeing his glory face to face is going to cause you to be transformed. He says, "All tears will be wiped away." The people who are thirsty will be able to drink without pay.

The thirst here is not just talking about water, right? Jesus talked about that, remember, in John 4, 13 to 14? He said, "The water that you drink is going to cause you to be thirsty again, but the water I give you, if you drink of it, you'll never thirst again." Jesus was not talking about physical thirst.

He's talking about this thirst that's created from being away from God, right? Because we're separated. So every single one of us, there is a hungering for longing for meaning, longing for companionship, longing to be valued, to be loved. At the core of who we are, longing to live, at the core of who we are, every single one of us, there is a longing that's driving your life, isn't there?

Longing to be a better husband, longing to live in safety, longing to be loved, longing to have friendship, whatever that longing is, that longing was created because of the fall. And God uses that longing to bring people to himself, right? He says, "In heaven, that thirsting, that hungering is going to be satisfied by God himself." That he's not going to say, "Hey, come and ask me whatever you want." Say, "You know, I really wanted to have a good family," or whatever it is, and say, "God's going to provide all of that." He said, "No, all the longing is going to be met by Christ himself." In fact, it's described as this living water that's going to be coming from the throne of God.

If you read chapter 21, you probably read that already, right? That the living water that Jesus is promising is actually coming from the throne itself. So whatever longing that we have that we are looking for in this world, he said, ultimately it's going to be fulfilled in Christ, in Jerusalem, ultimately.

It's not going to be your mansion, it's not going to be your athleticism, it's not going to be your looks, it's not going to be whatever it is that we kind of superficially attach fulfillment to. He said, "Ultimately, all our longing is going to be met in Christ, without pay." You're not going to have to work on it.

Just because you're in his presence in Jerusalem, this is what's going to happen. But what's interesting is, if you read through the description in chapter 21 and then part of chapter 22, is that heaven is described more of a place that does not have these things than what it has.

It doesn't describe trees, it doesn't describe buildings, it doesn't describe... It does describe all these, the walls and the height and measurements, all of that. Other than jewelry, these precious stones that it described, it doesn't describe the details. It doesn't describe what the roads are going to look like.

It doesn't describe what kind of fruits, it doesn't describe what kind of food you're going to have, are you going to wear clothes? There's not a lot of descriptions about what it's going to look like, but there's a lot of descriptions of what it won't have. First thing, again, this is not in chronological order, but first thing that we know, it says that there is no death.

That was the first thing that Adam and Eve lost when they sinned. He said, "If you eat of this tree, you shall surely die," and that's exactly what happened because they got separated from the author of life. Everything that they've experienced, everything that mankind has experienced outside of God was basically death.

We think of death as physically not breathing. That's not how the Bible describes death. Death is darkness, death is being away from God's glory. If God is the source of life and you're not connected to that life, then there's death. If you have a computer, if you don't plug it in, it may look like a computer, it sounds like a computer, the screen looks like a computer, but without electricity, it's dead.

It has potential for life, but it's dead. That's how the Bible describes all mankind, that we're kind of walking around with the source of life being disconnected, and so everything that you and I experience is death. It's not what God intended. It's kind of like if you have a computer and there's no electricity and you're trying to figure out what to do with this computer, what would be a computer good for without electricity?

Make the best of it. Paperweight, protection from bullets. What would it be good for? A ruler? You could imagine, but that's what life is. All mankind who've been separated from God is not living the life that God intended you to live, is trying to make do with this physical body, the short period of time that we have.

So we say, "Well, it's about family. It's about enjoyment. It's about getting toys. It's about experience. It's about traveling." And so we're all trying to make do with what we don't understand, right? Because we're dead. What gives life to the body isn't there, so we're taking this flesh and trying to bring meaning to it.

You understand what I'm saying? That's the description of mankind. So when we go to heaven, the author of life in his full glory is going to be there forever, and when we enter, we're going to see him as he is, and as a result, we're going to be transformed, and the first thing that's going to disappear is death.

You're going to experience life to the fullest. Even now, we experience life in glimpses, right? And I think in periods when we experience God in times of worship, when the Word of God opens your eyes and you hear his voice, when you feel connected to the author of life, you experience life in glimpses.

But in Jerusalem, it's going to be permanent, constant, right? What was lost is going to be restored. So it says, 1 Corinthians 15, 54, "When the perishable puts on the imperishable and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is when death is swallowed up in victory." Again, Hebrews 2, 14, "Since therefore the children share in the flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things that through death he might destroy one who has the power of death, that is the devil." What he accomplished, ultimately accomplished on the cross for us is that he swallowed up death for us, that we may experience this life in the new Jerusalem.

There's going to be no mourning, no crying, no more pain. So in other words, all the mourning and crying and pain that you and I know of is directly linked to sin. And the only reason why we're talking about how suffering is good for us is because suffering leads us to God.

If suffering causes you to curse God, suffering is not good. Suffering in and of itself is not good. Suffering came as a result of the fall. The reason why Christians talk about suffering as good is because suffering causes us to long for God. Suffering causes us to cling to him.

But suffering was created because of the fall. So I was just sitting and thinking, what causes you to mourn? What causes you to cry? What kind of pain have you experienced? Think about it. I mean, you probably, you know, this is not a unique experience to certain people. Sometimes people ask me, "Oh, isn't being a pastor hard?" Being a human being is hard, I think.

I think it's hard being a physician. I think it's hard being a salesman. I think it's hard being a student. I think it's really hard being married. I think it's really hard not being married. That's human experience. It just happens to be I'm a pastor and you guys are other things, but I don't think sin is exaggerated for a pastor than other people.

So everybody experiences pain. Everybody experiences mourning and crying, right? Because we live in a fallen world. This is not unique to me. It's not unique to our generation, right? Suffering is not unique to the Egyptians or the Muslim world. It's universal. And he said, "When we get into New Jerusalem, in the presence of His glory, all of that will be wiped out." Isaiah 53 promises, it says, "He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.

And as one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised and we esteemed Him not. But He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows, yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgression. He was crushed for our iniquities. Upon Him was the chastisement, brought us peace.

And with His stripes, we are healed." So ultimately, what you and I experience is, again, it's not simply deliverance from hell, but it's deliverance from human experience, right? And so again, you know, I don't have to mention it. I don't even have to ask you. Every single one of you have scars, deep scars, some of you.

Some of it, some people know about. Some of it, some people don't know about. But there's not a single person in this room that don't have deep scars, because you're human and you and I live in a fallen world. And until we're delivered from this body and from this fallen world, that's human experience.

And He said, "In Jerusalem, it will be wiped out." So all this superficial thing about living in a mansion is like, it's not the mansion that's going to make heaven heaven. God is what makes heaven heaven. In fact, Jesus said, Matthew 4, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted." There is no need for the temple, right?

There's no need for the temple because God Himself is going to be there. We don't need to go somewhere to meet God. God Himself will be there. There's no need for the sun or light, because God's glory will light the world, verse 23. Again, prophesied in Isaiah 60, 19, "The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light, but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory." You know, the Bible, obviously, we need the physical light to live, but the Bible also describes light as in righteousness, right?

Clarity to know, right? There's nothing going to be hidden. Think about how much of disagreements, hatred, bitterness, how much of that is a result of not understanding each other, right? Because we have a hard time discerning what is right and wrong. How many times have you thought that you are absolutely right and found that absolutely wrong and the damage that it created, right?

Things that we make, things that we do, because our head is muddied. We don't know. We have a hard time discerning righteousness, and that's why God gives us all these different things to go through to figure what is right and what is wrong. We have the Scripture. We have the Holy Spirit.

We have the church. We have elders. We have leaders. You know, we have parents. We have our brothers and sisters in Christ, right? And so God gives us all of these things, all for what? To figure out what is right, right? And to figure out what is wrong. So because it's that hard for us to discern right and wrong.

And the moment that you think that you have it figured out, he says, "Watch out, because then you will fall," he says, right? Because pride is the first thing that you bolster up before you fall. So when he says there's no need for the sun or the light, he's not simply just talking about the physical sun, although that probably is in reference to that, but there's going to be clarity.

We don't have to guess, right? So husband and wives, there is hope, right? You're going to know each other. You're going to understand without opening your mouth. Friends, church, fellowship, right? All of that is going to be much easier when righteousness and God's light is going to be the source and he's going to make everything clear.

By its light, all the nations will walk. And again, the walk in the Bible is just not talking about like, "Oh, the lights are turned on," but walk is live, right? And so again, related to what we just said, that his glory is going to shine and all of the nations are going to be able to live because of his, right?

So his glory is going to be the sustenance that's going to feed us. All the kings and their glory will be brought into the city, meaning all that was in creation that was worthy of any kind of glory is going to be sucked up into this new Jerusalem, right?

Gates will never be shut. What is that imagery of? Why do the gates never need to be shut? What is a gate for, at least at that time and even now? Keep away your enemies for protection, right? Because that's God's city. First of all, all the enemies are wiped out already, so there are no enemies.

So again, this is just the imagery. Whether there will be real gates that's going to be open, I don't know. But the imagery is there's no need for fear. All the enemies are gone. And even if the enemies weren't gone, we're in the presence of our God. You know what I mean?

If I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil if God is with me. And so our eternal shepherd is going to be with us in his full glory. And so the gates do not need to be shut. It can be open. You're going to be able to live in peace and safety and not live with fear.

There will be no night. Remember you guys were night owls, maybe thinking like, "Oh, no night?" I mean, think about why we have night. Because of rest. We need to recuperate. And then we function during the day. You and I are creatures of the light. So we function during the day.

And I know some of you, maybe you're night owls. But even if you are night owls, you sleep at one or two o'clock, right? Because your company doesn't open up at three in the morning. Maybe you do. Maybe you're an internet guy. I don't know. But we naturally function during the day.

And at night, we recuperate. So there's no need for night because there's no need for recuperation. You're not going to be tired. You don't need to gain more energy. You don't get depleted. And then so you got to rest up. We're going to be in the Sabbath, what God intended.

So I don't know. In the Garden of Eden, if Adam and Eve had a sleeping pattern, I'm not sure if that was the case. But we know that they worked, right? And God brought them into his Sabbath to rest. But that Sabbath was broken at the Garden of Eden.

And it's that Sabbath that God came to restore. And that ultimate Sabbath is going to be at Jerusalem. We're going to finally find rest, right? So one of the things that I always wrestle with, and I think I've talked about this before, is that because I'm in a position where I do a lot of counseling with people, and there's a lot of you, it's not just some of you, a lot of you have gone through some horrible stuff in life.

You don't share with one another because it's not something that you just sit down and share with people. But a lot of you have suffered a lot of horrible stuff in life, whether it was a family breakup or some kind of assault or something horrible happened to a lot of us.

Very few people in the church don't have scars. And there's this unrest inside our heart trying to be restored. And so you seek counseling, and you seek accountability, you seek this and that, and we're all searching. And early on in ministry, I tried so hard, like, what can I say?

What books can we read? What kind of counseling? And then get them through and then walk them through these passages. And I came to the conclusion that restoration ultimately is not here. The best that we can do is give them hope. The best that we can do is to give you hope that there is an end, that there is restoration.

But you may not find it here. In fact, I don't think it was intended for you to find it here. Because ultimate restoration of this unrest in your heart that was created because of sin, maybe your sins or sins of somebody else, that ultimate restoration is going to be when Christ comes in heaven.

And so when I realized that, I realized that the best that I can do is to give them hope in pointing to Christ, in sharing the gospel with them, that salvation is coming. You see him now, but the ultimate salvation is coming. Restoration is coming. It may not be here.

You may live with that scar until the day you die. You may live with that unrest in your heart until the day you die, but it's coming. When the new Jerusalem comes, when Christ comes in his full glory, he says, "We're going to experience that rest." And then he says, "No detestable things." Part of the reason why is because there's going to be no rebellion, no sin in Jerusalem.

Nothing detestable is going to be coming into this place. And then finally, again, "No unrepentant sinners," in verse 8. And only those who are written in the book of life, only true believers, not simply churchgoers, not people who are raised in the church, but true believers where their sins were cleansed.

And true children of God are going to be in Jerusalem. And we're going to experience what everybody hopes the church would look like. I hear people saying all the time, "Oh, church should be different." You're right. It should be different, but a lot of times it isn't different because we're not there yet.

But there's a huge difference between the church community and outside the church because whatever sin you experience in the church, it's restrained sin. It's restrained sin. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God is restraining us. Even when we are in anger, there's a restraining. If you've ever worked in a secular place and somebody gets mad at you and there is no restraint, if you're talking about sexual impurity, you see it in the church, but it is restrained.

Even though it comes out, even though we experience sin, even in the church. But you ever be in a place where a bunch of men gather together, and I'm just saying men because that's my experience, where there is no restraint, it is not the same. The church is not the same.

So whatever we're experiencing now, it is at some point, because we are being restrained, but when we get to heaven, there's no need for restraint because all of it is going to be wiped out. No uncleanness, no rebellion, no unrepentant sinner will be there. And all of us are going to have full access to God's glory.

So in conclusion, 1 John 3, 2-3, it says, "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared. But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself as he is pure." And this is related to the discussion questions that I have.

In light of what we know about where we're headed, like how much of our life is dictated by this hope of His second coming, or how much of our life is short-sighted, you know, like eager for whatever vacation that we planned, or maybe even our, you know, putting away enough money, whatever it is.

Sometimes it could be very short-sighted, but long-term wise, do we have a larger picture of the kingdom? And finally, 2 Peter 3, 11-13, "Since all these things are thus to be dissolved," meaning this current earth and heaven, "what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolve, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn?

But according to His promise, we are waiting for new heavens and new earth in which righteousness dwells." I believe that the reason why we're given the book of Revelation is this, you know. We try so hard to figure out, like, "Oh, when is it going to happen? Is Saddam Hussein the Antichrist?

Is the Catholic Church the Antichrist?" Is that the, you know, and all of these things are intriguing, and I don't think there's anything wrong with it, but the ultimate goal of the book of Revelation is to get us to this, that the things that we get so easily entangled by, that so easily get excited about, are all decaying and dying, right?

You're investing in a bank that's about to go bankrupt, right? You put money in there, and a year later, that bank is not going to exist. They're about to be bankrupt. The judgment has been made. It's not like, "Oh, it might be bankrupt." He said, "No, it's going to go bankrupt.

We don't know if it's going to be tomorrow. We don't know if it's going to be next year. So why would you put your money in that bank?" So the goal of the book of Revelation is to remind us that this world is decaying. So remember, we talked about the scene of heaven and scene of earth.

The earth is just in chaos, right? Destruction, fire, famine, disease, war, and that's how the earth is pictured. And then you see heaven, peace, God is reigning on the throne, being worshipped. And he said that picture is going to be brought down to earth, and that's the Lord's prayer, right?

Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. So it's the picture that we saw of God on his throne coming down in a new Jerusalem. And so the goal of the book of Revelation is to bring us to this point.

If you and I know and believe that this is true, how should we now live? So the discussion question for tonight is, what is something new you learned about heaven in this study that you didn't know before? So how much of something that you've imagined to heaven, is it consistent with what you see in scripture?

What is something new that you've discovered? How does heaven differ from the way the world imagines it? Maybe you knew it, but when you talk to maybe secular people or maybe watching movies and they describe heaven, what is the difference to how the Bible describes it? Third, how often do you think about going to heaven?

Some people may even think it's morbid to even talk about that, because to go to heaven means to die, right? And yet the scripture says to put our hopes on that, whether we go because we die or whether we go because he comes, he says to fix our eyes upon that.

And does it have any impact on the way that you live on day to day? Okay, that's the third question. And then fourth, what aspect of heaven do you look forward to the most? So let me pray for us and then I'll let you guys get into your small group.

Heavenly Father, we thank you for reminding us of where we're headed. The rewards, Lord God, of being near you for eternity. If there's any of us in this room, Lord God, are still foreign to a relationship with you, I pray, Father, that you would help us not to simply file these things away, but to carefully examine our hearts and our thoughts, what it is that we are hoping for, what it is that we are investing in, that we may live in light of what we are studying and what we know.

I pray that you would bless the time of our discussion. I pray that we may be honest and open and that you would use, Lord, our fellowship and your word that you've already implanted in our hearts to judge the thoughts and intentions of who we are. If there's any hurtful ways in us, reveal it to us.

I pray, Father God, that you would encourage, strengthen, and remind us of the hope that we have in Christ tonight. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.