If you would turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation 21, we'll read verses one through seven. Taking this for the text of our sermon this morning. Revelation chapter 21, verses one through seven. starting in verse one. 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. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, 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. 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, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I'm making all things new. Also he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. 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. The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son. Let's go to the Lord in prayer. Father God, we ask that you would illumine our hearts this morning to understand and to receive your word. Pray that you would teach us about heaven. And God, that you would make us heavenly minded. God, we thank you for the good gifts that you've given us here on earth. There are many things for which we have to give thanks and to be thankful as your people, but God, we pray that all of them, God, would remind us of and impress us with a sense of your goodness, your generosity and benevolence and your great mercy and grace. and that enjoying the gifts that you give, that we might be better equipped to give praise to you, the giver. But God, we cannot be content to have everything except you. We pray that you would give us the greatest gift, and that is your own blessed presence. God, that you would fit us for heaven. We pray that you would prepare us to one day enter the glory of heaven and behold your face. We pray that we would be enabled to enjoy the eternal blessings in life of that place. And we pray it all for Christ's sake. Amen. This morning I would like to call you to be more heavenly minded. It's an especially especially the case during this time of year for us to center our hearts and minds on the things of earth. And so we need to remember to be heavenly minded. This is a concept that really has fallen out of favor. It's not much talked about, I don't think. We live in the world and we're to be salt and light and we have a great mission, a great commission to fulfill. There are those who are lost who need us to share Christ with them, that they might be saved. There's the work of gospel missions work all over the world. There's so many things here on earth. As Paul said, it may be far better to depart and be with Christ, but there is fruitful work to be done here and now. And so in our emphasis on the work that we have as Christians in our families and in our church and in our community and in our world, it may be a temptation to focus almost exclusively on the here and now and on the things of earth. And yet we must be heavenly minded. We won't be able to fulfill our earthly callings apart from a great heavenly mindedness. But it's the case during this time of year for us to center our hearts on the things of earth. especially during this time of year. We oftentimes feel a tension during the holidays. On the one hand, we're aware of the truth of Christmas. If you're here, then undoubtedly you know what is the real reason for the season for the holidays, there's the truth of Christmas, what it means. We know that it's a special time for sober reflection on the mystery of the incarnation. What a wonder that God became a man, that God came from heaven to earth by adding human nature to his divine nature, so that forevermore the second person of the eternal Godhead, God the Son, is both God and man. It baffles the mind. How can you even comprehend that God would also be a man, the man Christ Jesus? And this required a great humility on his part, and it was motivated by a great love. He gave himself for us and for our salvation. And so added to this profound mystery is the personal investment that we have in this reality, that God became a man for us and for our salvation. He gave himself for us beginning not on the cross but in the cradle. And to contemplate these truths inspires awe and devotion in us. And we know that this is what really Christmas is all about, the season is all about these truths, and yet for many of us there's hardly time or space in our holiday calendar to contemplate anything. It's all a blur of shopping and wrapping and planning and cooking and gathering. Or it may be that such The holidays are such a difficult time because loved ones are not joining us this year. The holidays are not a time for the happiness or the warmth that maybe they once held for us, surrounding ourselves with loved ones, because this year we are painfully aware, especially this time of year, of the ones who've either left us or are lost to us, and because of this Maybe we've all but given up on holiday traditions. And it may be a wonderful time of year, or it may be a stressful time of year, or a very lonely time of year, but the point is that all that happiness and hurry and hurt center our hearts and minds on things below, on the earth. And during the very time when we ought to be fixing our hope on Christ, we're more fixated on other things, on earthly matters. The Apostle Paul says in Colossians 3 verses 1 and 2, that if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. He says, set your minds in things that are above, not on things that are on earth. So Christians, we're to be heavenly minded. So again, let me call you just a few days away from Christmas to be more heavenly minded. Well, how can we do this? We've been considering what Christians in the past have called the four last things, the four great final or last ultimate things. And so far we've considered death and judgment. And today we'll consider heaven and hell or salvation and damnation. And this morning we'll reflect on heaven, and we'll try to set our minds on heaven as we seek heaven, as Paul calls us to in Colossians 3. And if you're taking notes, there's three headings this morning. We're gonna look in Revelation 21, in these seven verses, these first seven verses, at God's promise of heaven, at God's people in heaven, and God's presence in heaven. And so let's begin by considering God's promise of heaven. In Revelation 21 verse 1, John says that he saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth and the first heaven had passed away. You know, people have all kinds of misunderstandings or incomplete understandings of the afterlife in heaven. And some people will incorrectly believe that after death we become ghosts on earth or that we become angels in heaven, neither of which are the teachings of Scripture. Other people believe in the false doctrine of purgatory, where souls go that are not damned to hell, but they're not yet ready for heaven. So there's sort of an intermediate place or a third location between heaven and hell, and that's also false. But you know many people don't realize that there is an old heaven and a new heaven. And so many people, probably most people just think about one thing. There's just heaven. It's just a place that is not earth that we go after death. And they don't distinguish between what the Bible does is that there is an old heaven and a new heaven. And what is the meaning of this? Let's think about this this morning for a moment. In Genesis when God created the world and everything in it, He also created another place called heaven. We know this. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The heavens, in the biblical worldview, there's talk of three heavens. There's the sky, the atmospheric heaven. There's the heavens above that where We find the stars, what we call outer space. But then Paul talks about the third heaven, entering into the third heaven. And this is the place that is really apart from the physical creation. It's a place, but it's not a physical place. And it's the place where God dwells. And God created, when he created everything, he created a place to dwell, a place for the angels and a place for his glory to be manifest. And this includes both the created, the cosmos, the created universe with the world and everything in it, but also heaven. Again, not a physical place, but a real place. And before that, there was nothing but God. There wasn't even a void, there was just God. And it wasn't even heaven before God created. But he created earth, he created heaven, a real place, and And you see there's more to reality than what we can see and feel. This is an important note to make because in our world we're very materialistic and naturalistic and this is sort of the worldview of secular people and non-believers is that by and large is that the only thing that is is what we can see and feel and touch. And there's no room left in our thinking for a non-physical, non-material world. But we ourselves are made of more than stuff. We're made up of two things, actually, according to the Bible. We are both body and soul. There's a part of us that is physical. It's everything that we can touch and see and feel. But there's also a non-material part of us, a non-physical part of us, an invisible part of us that is called our soul. It's actually wrong, I think, to say that we have a body, but that we are our soul. People say that, you know, to comfort those who've lost a loved one. That's not really them. That's not true, though, actually. God has made us to be both body and soul. He has made that body. And at death, our soul doesn't die, our body dies, our soul doesn't die, but in the separation between body and soul, we're incomplete. We're no longer what God has made us to be, body and soul together. The angels have no bodies, they're just spirit, only non-physical, but we're meant to be body and soul, and this is important. And so it's wrong to say that really the body is of no consequence, that it's not really us. God made us to be embodied souls. And our hope is not to be disembodied souls, just in heaven, in the way that we think about it. That's not the ultimate hope of the Christian, but to be with God and in fellowship with God as He created us, body and soul. That's how we can completely enjoy God, fully, in the way that He's created us to. Consider how Paul expresses our ultimate hope in 2 Corinthians 5, 4. Paul says, 2 Corinthians 5.4, he says, for while we are still in this tent, he's using that language to talk about our body now, which we know is not everything we'd like it to be. And sin affects it, and we know there's something wrong with it, but that's why we groan. He says, while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened. Not that, now Paul clarifies, the point isn't that we want to be free of our bodies. not that we would be unclothed, that's his way of saying not that we would just be rid of the body forever, but that we would be further clothed so that what is mortal may be swallowed up in life. In our fallen bodies, we know that something isn't right at present, and yet what we ought to hope for as Christians isn't to be rid of the body entirely, but to be changed and given new bodies that are no longer corrupted by sin. You feel the corruption, the way that our bodies, I mean, even on a physical level, the sickness and the weakness of the body, but also the way that our bodies actually At times, they're not fitted for heaven, really. They are corrupted by sin and they help our sin nature more than they help our new nature if we're in Christ. And there's something wrong with our bodies, but Christians, we don't want to be rid of the body entirely. We want to be changed and given new bodies that are no longer corrupted by sin, just as we've been given new hearts by God's Spirit when we first believed. We've already got the inward part of us, the invisible part of us as Christians been changed. We're just waiting for the outside to follow. It's gonna be a while. These bodies are more than likely gonna have to die and be laid in the grave before that happens. But that's our ultimate hope, is that bodies raised from the dead, made new, reunited with our souls, together with God forever, enjoying Him as we were meant to. And so when God first created everything, He made a physical place called Earth that could serve as a home for mankind and the rest of the physical creation, but he also made a place called Heaven for the angels, which have souls but no bodies, and so are not physical or material beings, though they too are real. And Heaven is the place in creation where, most importantly for us, where God has made His home. This is why we long for Heaven, because we sense that although God is everywhere present, Yeah, it's true that God cannot be contained by heaven and he's actually present everywhere. He's omnipresent. That's the big word for this. But we have a sense that God isn't experienced as closely as we'd like to. We're not able to fully enjoy him here. And that's because heaven is the place in creation where God has made his home. He dwells in heaven in a special way. It's the place where creatures can know God most intimately and enjoy the closest and most perfect fellowship with God. It's the place where the glory and the goodness of God are manifest. If we feel distant from God on earth, even though He is everywhere present, it's because we're not yet in heaven. That's where we will feel fully and most vividly the goodness and glory of God, because it's there that the goodness and glory of God are manifested. In the garden, Adam was given a command that served as a test, if he kept the command that God had given him, God would have enabled him to taste of the tree of life. You remember in the garden, this promise. The punishment for disobedience was death. And when he disobeyed, God was quick to remove his access from the tree of life. So what's implicit there is that if Adam had obeyed, during this period of trial that he would have been able to take and eat from the Tree of Life and be confirmed in righteousness and would enter into eternal life. And all of this is sort of hinted at throughout the Bible. What does the Tree of Life represent? What does the Tree of Life represent? Have you ever wondered this? I don't have the time this morning to really make the case for this, but I would suggest that it represents eternal life for both Adam and for his posterity, all of his natural descendants, the human race. This is what Paul means when he says in Romans that all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. It means that through Adam's sin, he and his sons have failed to reach eternal life and to enter into the glories of heaven. We've failed to reach heaven. Adam could have led us there, but he failed. And they have all these comparisons in the New Testament between Adam and Christ, and this is what makes the good news such good news. Jesus has done what Adam has not. Adam fell short of the glory of God, and in consequence so did we who are his people, who are the descendants of Adam. But Jesus has kept the commandments of God. He's paid the penalty for sin. He has merited eternal life. He entered into glory, and those who are his people by faith in him have been promised to be given eternal life also and brought into glory. The Bible says that in Adam all die, but in Christ they are given life. In Adam we have fallen short of glory and failed to enter heaven. Hebrews 2.10 tells us that Jesus brings many sons to what? Glory. So all have fallen short of glory because of Adam, but in Christ he's bringing many sons to glory. And so because of Adam's sin, We fail to achieve heaven, but if we have faith in Christ, we can enter into heaven. But listen to this. Because of Adam's sin, heaven and earth remain separate. Heaven and earth are different things. And we know that. That's why we have language like hell on earth. Because very rarely do people talk about heaven on earth. There are only rare moments, but there are many ages, there are many places in the world and periods of time where things are like a hell on earth. Because heaven and earth are two separate things, and we don't see the glory and the goodness of God manifested all over the earth, where the glory of God fills the earth as the waters fills the sea. We don't see that, and this is because of sin. The earth is corrupted by sin, and so it's not a place for God's glory to dwell, and heaven and earth are separate. Now when believers die, their souls do immediately go to heaven, awaiting the fulfillment of the promise that we have here in Revelation 21.1 of a new heaven. But this is temporary and incomplete, because it's just our souls going to be with God. It's glorious. When we die, if we're in Christ, our souls go to be with God, and this is something to look forward to, but we won't fully enjoy God until we enjoy Him the way that He intended us to, body and soul. And so we groan to be not unclothed, not disembodied, but further clothed. And when will that happen? Well, this is where we must look to the promise of a new heaven. So we've really been talking about the history of heaven, so to speak, from creation all the way through. And right now, the heaven in which God's glory dwells, that's where the souls of those who have died in Christ go, or their bodies are still buried in the earth. But in Revelation 21.1, we're promised a new heaven and a new earth. And there's no more evil in them, which is what is meant by the phrase, and the sea was no more. We see that in the end of verse one, the sea was no more. In the ancient world, the sea symbolized all of the chaos and evil in the world. And so in saying it, the sea was no more, it's a way of saying that in this new heaven and in this new earth, there's no more sin, there's no more corruption, no more evil. But the real change is in verse three. where there is a union between heaven and earth. You see this in verse three? Behold, the dwelling place of God that is heaven is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them as their God. There's a union of heaven and earth. God is now not gonna dwell in the highest heaven. He's not gonna always his goodness and glory dwell there, but He's going to make His abode with man forever. And so the new heavens and the new earth are not two things, they're one thing essentially. It's God with man. Do you understand the point that is being made in these verses? Heaven and earth, no longer two separate places because of sin. We'll no longer have to choose between an embodied life here on earth, lived at a distance from God, And, on the other hand, an incomplete life with God, but without our bodies, so we can't fully enjoy Him in the way that we've been created to. One day, on the day that Christ comes again, our bodies will be raised, and they'll be changed, and we will live on a renewed earth that is made perfect, and which is filled with the glory of God. A new heaven on earth, so to speak. That's the promise of heaven. That we will, in the flesh, see God. You remember David talks about this. His confidence is I will in the flesh see God. Not in heaven without my body, but I will in the flesh see God. That's the promise of heaven, that we will in the flesh see God. Heaven on earth, God dwelling among us forever. What a beautiful thing to hope for. God dwelling among us, but who is us? Because not everybody will enjoy eternal life in the new heaven and new earth. And so secondly, we must consider God's people in heaven. So that's what heaven is. That's the promise of a new heaven, which is wonderful beyond description. And yet, who will inhabit this new heaven, this new earth? Look with me again at verse 2. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. The holy city, the New Jerusalem, as we find it mentioned in the Bible, especially throughout the Old Testament, becomes synonymous with the people of God. the people of Israel. And so when we talk about Jerusalem coming out of heaven, especially the New Jerusalem, these are the people of God under the New Covenant. All of those Jew and Gentile who've ever believed in Jesus Christ as their Savior, they belong to God in Christ and are part of this New Jerusalem. And so you have this people coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. Elsewhere in the New Testament we have these descriptions of Christ coming again with His people. And even before He sort of touches down, as it were, the dead in Christ are raised from the dead and they rise to meet Him in the air. And they're changed. And so when Christ comes again to earth, He comes with His people. And this is what's being described here is the people of Christ who are there at His coming, coming down out of heaven from God. And it says here that they're prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. We know clearly that is the language that the New Testament uses of the church, the bride of Christ. And who is the husband of this bride? It is Christ, the bridegroom. And so it's the bride of Christ who people heaven, those who have been prepared by grace to live in the new heavens and the new earth, And here's the reality that you need to understand this morning is that there is no heaven for those outside of Christ. Everything that we've been talking about, this wonderful, rich, eternal life, enjoying the presence of God, His goodness and His glory and the beauty of beholding the face of God in this final day, there's none of this, no heaven at all for those who are outside of Christ. What does it mean to be in Christ? This is the way the Bible sometimes speaks of believers, being in Christ. It's sort of a shorthand, and it's very frequently used. So you hear me talk about it then, just following the cues of Scripture, that if you're in Christ, well, are you in Christ? Do you know what it means to be in Christ? I mentioned it shorthand. Well, what is it shorthand for as being united to Christ? Are you united to Him? Is there a vital connection between you and Christ, a living connection and link between you and the Savior? Are you in Him? Does He represent you? Are you a part of His people? What it means to be united to Christ, to be in Christ, is that you have heard the gospel message which proclaims that there is no forgiveness for sin, that there's no entrance to heaven apart from a connection to Jesus. And you've believed that you will not be saved if you trust in yourself, or anyone else, or anything else. And so you've believed rather that only Jesus can save you. It's only through Jesus, and not at all through anything outside of Him, including yourself, or your family, or your church, but only through Christ that we're saved. And so you've believed His promise to receive you if you come to Him, to answer you if you pray to Him, to save you if you trust in Him. You've heard these promises made and you've found yourself able to call out to God in faith, call out to Christ for salvation. Have you believed the gospel? Have you trusted Christ? Well, it takes a work of God in your heart to incline you to believe, to overcome, the stubborn self-reliance and pride and unbelief that are natural to the fallen human heart. Faith is in fact a gift of God, Paul tells us in Ephesians 2. And so let us pray that he will grant you faith. And let me call you this morning to trust the Savior. Don't put this off for another day because you may not find another time where there's an opportunity before you to trust in Christ. You know, we assume that that the end for us will come in a moment of sickness or weakness where we know that death is coming. But death for us or the coming of Christ for us may well come when we're feasting. It may well come when we're enjoying family, we're laughing, and we're thinking, oh, the end of the world will be some other day. My own death will come at a later date. And we're not even at a place where we can begin to consider relationship to Christ. And so there is no other time, there's now. And I would call you to trust in Christ this morning. But faith is just the start. When God begins in you, he'll complete. And there's no genuine Christian who fails to progress in personal holiness or who does not grow in devoted obedience to God. And so we have to test ourselves and to discern whether or not we're in the faith, whether our faith in Christ is real, if it's genuine. And we can do that by examining the fruit of our faith. Has it produced good works? We're not saved by good works, but they follow as the fruit, the evidence of someone who is in Christ. And some make slower progress than others, but if you're not growing in your love, for or knowledge of God, then you should question your relationship to Him. You should trust in Christ. Those who believe will be prepared to inherit the promise of heaven. That's the point here in verse 2, that these people coming down out of heaven from God are prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. These are the people who have been washed by the water of the Word. These are those who have been sanctified and who are finally at their death or at Christ's coming are fully rid of sin, they're fully sanctified and made perfect in holiness and obedience, and so they'll be prepared. They're being prepared, they will be prepared to inherit the promise of heaven. They will have conquered, as verse seven says, the one who conquers will have this heritage. They will have run the race and have won the prize by grace. And so I'm just calling you this morning to consider, we all assume, just as tonight I'll preach on hell, well the fact is I've got to say tonight that there are going to be people in hell. You know, and it's amazing, just as everyone believes that, everyone believes that not only will there be people in heaven, but there will be a great number of people in heaven, that all of us will be in heaven, and all of our loved ones, our family and friends. I think rather we'll be shocked at how many people we assumed would be in heaven who are not there. But I think people really in their hearts don't believe there's anybody in hell. Or at least they've never personally met anybody that they would say, oh, definitely that person's going to hell. Maybe you have. Think of a couple people. We can think of historical villains. We're like, that person, that mass murderer, that genocidal dictator, surely if anybody's in hell, it's them. But we would never think that us or someone that we dearly love would be in hell. We need to think very carefully about what qualifies a person for heaven. or what might result in a person going to hell. Not everybody's going to be in heaven. The people of heaven are the people of Christ. The people of heaven are the people who trust not at all in themselves or their own works for righteousness, but in Christ's righteousness alone. And as a result, they're growing. They're growing in all Christ-like graces. So look at your life and see, do I have a faith in Christ? Is it proven? by His work just manifest in my heart and life. I can see Him working. I'm not what I wish I was. I'm clearly, I've got much to be ashamed about and there's great deficiencies and shortcomings and we don't have to be full of pride to recognize nevertheless I am what I am because of the grace of God. And what would I be without Him? And we can see the evidence and the marks of His work in our life. And that's what it means to see ourselves a picture of what we see here in Revelation 21 3 of a people who are the bride of Christ and who are prepared to meet him at his coming. So we have here the promise of heaven we have the people of heaven I hope that you are among the people of heaven to count yourselves among the people of heaven but I want to think for a moment about what makes heaven heaven ultimately and all the descriptions that we have in scripture they're wonderful We've read about some of them in Isaiah chapter 65 earlier. Consider some of them in verse four we read, for example, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning or crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. These are wonderful words talking about the glories of heaven. And there are the descriptions of streets of gold. and all of the things that are just beyond description, but we stretch for human language that is appropriate just to poetically get at a little bit of the beauty, the glory of heaven. And we can think about all of these things, but is that what makes heaven heaven? And a question that you ought to be asking yourselves is would heaven be what it is if I had every good thing, every blessing that I could imagine, every delight every circumstance just exactly how I would have it, every person that I love there, all the wonderful things that we think about when we think of heaven, if I could have it all, but God wasn't there, but did all the other stuff there, would it be heaven? The answer is no, it wouldn't. It would be hell, because there is no good apart from God, and every good thing is only good in its connection to God, as the one who's given it to us. And so we as Christians ought to be willing to trade everything for God himself. You know, streets of gold are wonderful. No crying, no mourning, no pain. These things sound amazing. You know, I really look forward to seeing people that I've loved, people who were a part of not just my family, my family of faith. And praise God that those families overlap considerably. So I look forward to seeing these people in heaven or knowing them in heaven, but all that just pales in comparison to walking with God, of beholding the face of God and enjoying the glory of Christ and knowing Him in a way that I've never known Him before. I've prayed to Him and I feel like at times the heavens are brass. I can't get through, I can't know just unmediated relationship, just a direct, it's like always talking to God through a tin can. You know when you're kids and you have the tin cans and the string and I can hear somebody's voice but it's muffled. I'm looking through a glass dimly. I know God but I long to know Him in a kind of fullness that I haven't heretofore known Him. Well look at our third point is God's presence in heaven. Look at verse 3 with me again. This is what makes heaven heaven. 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. Everything that follows is his doing. It's good because it's God who's wiping away our tears. And we go on to read here that he's making all things new, but what really is new about it is that we finally can in the flesh, fully, without sin, know God. We've barely scratched the surface of knowing God here on earth. And if you've had any enjoyment, any joy in your heart, any sense of goodness at knowing God or walking with him, you don't know anything compared to knowing God in glory. And that's what's being promised is knowing him in this new way. And we have this promise that is given here in Revelation 21. And my hope for you and really I call you and us to this is that we would fix our hope on that. Enjoy the holidays. You know, be busy, run around and do everything that you need to do. Or mourn. There's a reason to mourn. The holidays are not as enjoyable because of the people that we've lost or who are lost to us. But don't mourn as those who have no hope. And don't enjoy life as if this life is all there is and that your greatest good is here on earth. Enjoy them. Go through this life as a Christian does. with our hope fixed upon heaven, looking to God in Christ. Let me remind you of what Paul says again in Colossians chapter three as we conclude our service this morning. If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds in things that are above, not on things on earth. These things will truly satisfy you. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.