Pray for your will to be done, and we just pray that I would get out of the way, hide behind the cross, and you would be glorified in Jesus' name and forsake, amen. Revelation chapter 21, we're coming down to the end. It's good we are through Daniel's 70th week, not literally. looking at things, the new heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem, and it's a glorious time, that's for sure. Let's go ahead and look at Revelation 21. I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away." And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. So as you look at this and consider what the Bible says, we're in Revelation 21, verse 2. So he starts off with, and I, John. This is the last time John refers to himself by name. He did it at the beginning in Revelation 1-9. He said, you know, John, and so here we are from chapter 1 in one year. Of course, it's three times a week, Sunday school, Sunday night, Wednesday night, trying to get through about 107 lessons, something like that so far. But it was determined if I just did it on Wednesday night, I wouldn't finish, Jesus would come back, or I would delay His coming, as I jokingly said. So we wanted to get it done, so we are now in chapter 21. It talks about the New Jerusalem. Verses 1 and 2 speak of that new heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem. Each one plays a significant part in God's eternal plan for man. 1 Corinthians 10.32 mentions three specific groups of people, Jew, Gentile, and the church. Each group will inherit the New Jerusalem, the earth, and the new heaven. So, we're going to look at these three. The New Jerusalem, that's going to be where believers, the church age is. This city plays two significant roles in eternity. First, it's the city from which Christ reigns for eternity. You'll see that in verses 22 and 23 later in the chapter. and it is the dwelling place of the Bride of Christ. You'll see that in Revelation 21, 9. The second place is you have the new earth. That's the Jew. The Jewish people aren't earthly people. We're a heavenly people. That's what the Bible says very clearly. We're seated together in heavenly place. You can go through all the Scriptures and you can see that. But the Jews are an earthly people. They'll be a dwelling place of the Jews. God promised a specific land to Israel in Genesis 15, 18. That land grant extended from the Nile River to Egypt to the Euphrates River. This landmass could match Eden. We don't know where Eden is. We know that Eden is real, the Garden of Eden and so on. And that given to Abraham may have been that landmass. But the New Testament says to the Jew, the meek shall inherit the earth. The original land grant could be extended to the entire planet. And again, like I said, these pictures that I did, they're my renditions. I gave you another one the other day and last week or last Wednesday we looked at it, it looked like this. So we don't know what it looks like, we just know that it's going to be beautiful. I don't know about you, but some of you guys that are hunters You get up there in your stand, you look out at the beautiful area. Like me, we were from Knoxville. You go to Gatlinburg and you look out and you just... the beauty and the wonder. Can you imagine this is your view for all eternity? Just add a little shack right here and you're looking out your window. Call it a mansion. I say little shack, it's a mansion. But imagine if that's what it is. Imagine if that's the way it looks. Something like that. All we know is there's no tears, there's no sorrow, no sin, none of that anymore. What a glorious time. Then it talks about the new heavens. One other group concerns those saved during the millennium. They'll be those who partake of the tree of life, they don't physically die. According to the tree of life, you take of the tree of life and you will physically live. It's not far-fetched to believe the earth will be fully populated in a short time. Imagine that. No sin, no murder, nothing that destroys God's creation because He's going to rule with a rod of iron during the millennium. And in the millennium, He may repopulate the earth just like that. You think about Methuselah. He lived 969 years. That may be a short lifetime. In the millennium, although it is a thousand years, I guess it wouldn't be a short lifetime, probably it's the whole span just about. But in Isaiah 9, 7 talking about Jesus says, Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end. The church has definite links to the New Jerusalem. And I won't give you the verses there in Hebrews and also in Revelation chapter 3, but the bride of Christ has a special place of honor in Revelation 21.9. It's both the nearness to Christ and her place in the administration of it. While the foundations are linked with a church, the gates of the city are linked with Israel. So if you read, and go ahead and look at that, Revelation 21-12 and why you're going there. I didn't come over and set the air, so I'm going to turn it down at least a degree so I don't smoke up here. And you guys could be a little hot out there too. So as you look at this thing and you see it, you look at Revelation chapter 21, I think I told you verse 14, 12. linked to Israel, and he had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and the names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Look at verse 14, And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So you've got both groups mentioned there. The New Jerusalem manifests all the Lamb's bestowments upon His bride. This is the heavenly Jerusalem. Like I said, I wasn't over here and I should have. I'll bet it's set on heat. And it is. This will change your life. And mine too. So it's beautiful, it's perfected, it's lighted with the glory of God. It descends from Him, unites forever, redeemed earth with an imperishable heaven. The church dwells in the bridal city, the Lamb is the light thereof. Look at Revelation 21-23. Look at what it says here. And the city had no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. What a tremendous thing. There's no need. When he said, think about what happened in the beginning in Genesis, he said, and let there be light. That was God's glory because there was no sun yet. Let there be light and light just... He just made light and He exudes light. And as I've told you before, I believe Adam and Eve were clothed with light. And when they sinned, they lost that... that garment of light and then they were naked. It wasn't like, oh, all of a sudden they lost their clothes. No, they were clothed with light. And like I also said, you look at the Chinese language. And in that language, you look at nakedness and it's the loss of light. So the light is gone. So you study their symbols and nakedness shows that those symbols, it loses the light. And that's 4500 year old language. They knew more than we give them credit for. You tell the Chinese young people, you say, hey, your ancestors believed in God. Your whole language, all of those figures were designed to give glory to God. It shows Adam and Eve in the garden. In the garden are two people. And then in one you got one person coming out of the side of the other. Imagine what that means. It means that they knew and understood the book of Genesis and the creation. Now let's look at chapter 21, verse 3. Chapter 21, verse 3 of Revelation. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. That was the whole purpose the whole time. In Genesis, God walked in the garden with Adam and Eve. That was the purpose of man's creation, was the fellowship with God. We've lost that fellowship that Jesus brings back, but we don't walk around with God. We will for all eternity. It'll all be different. But right now, He dwells in us, but we don't walk with Him like we did in the garden, like we will in the future. Can you imagine being with God? That's the future. That's what we're looking at. That's after the millennium when all this is destroyed and we have a new heaven, new earth, a new Jerusalem. Everything is new. You know what He says about us when we get saved? Behold, all things become new. We're a new creature in Christ Jesus. You see, we have parts of it, but imagine when you get it all. Imagine when everything changes and everything becomes new. So the tabernacle of God is with men. Look at Exodus chapter 26. You know, the angels, when they came down to announce the birth of Christ, they said He would be known as Immanuel. Immanuel means God with us. The significance of that name shines forth when He dwells with His own in a city built four square. The tabernacle in the wilderness was a prototype of this glorious reality. God said to Moses in Exodus 26 30, And thou shalt rear up the tabernacle according to the fashion thereof which was showed thee in the mount. That tabernacle is a depiction of what the tabernacle is going to be when it comes down from heaven. Moses saw the dwelling place of the Lord and was told to use what he saw as the design for that place where God would dwell with the Hebrew people. That's what the tabernacle was all about. Christ was the substance of which the first tabernacle was the shadow. Turn to Hebrews chapter 9, you'll see that there. Hebrews chapter 9. And in Hebrews 9 it talks about that tabernacle in verse 11. Hebrews 9, 11 and 12. Oops, I'm in 10. I got so many notes in my Bible, my pages stick together. There was no chapter 9 of Hebrews in my Bible for a moment. Hebrews 9 verse 11. The Bible says, "...but Christ, being come, and high priest of good things to come, by greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building, neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood, He entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." That holy place is in heaven. So the Bible says He obtained that through the shedding of His perfect blood. Some say, well, He collected His blood and He went to heaven and He put it on the altar. You know, we don't have specific scripture on that, but it's plausible. He died, He shed His blood, and He ascended from the earth, resurrection, he ascended up, he saw Mary and said, don't touch me, I haven't ascended to my Father yet. And then he ascended to the Father, came back and he said to Thomas, touch me now. And he didn't necessarily touch him, but he could touch him. He couldn't touch him until he actually, he reunited with his body, They roll back the stone, He came out, He saw the women, and then He ascended back up into heaven, and He may have put the blood on the altar right there. We don't know. We just know that God in the Old Testament, that was the picture and type. And the future, that's what it is. So as we go on, He says the tabernacle of God is with men, and He says He will dwell with them there in verse 3. He will dwell with them. Such a relationship between God has not existed since the Garden of Eden. Although God did inhabit the tabernacle in the wilderness, He was not accessible to the general populace. The priests could go in, but nobody else could go into the holiest of holies. God revealed as far back as Leviticus 26.12 that He would one day dwell with His people. This promise repeated a number of times throughout the Old Testament is finally fulfilled. Imagine that. Our future is to dwell with God. Our future is to be with Him. When you look at verse 4, I see some of you doing this. Heirs on, you know, you're not the only one. Johnny's about ready to fall out with the heat, aren't you? Revelation 21 verse 4, And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. Just dwell on that for a moment. Dwell on that verse. Wipe away all tears. What's that mean? Well, man inhabits a glorified body in the millennium, but tears may still be shed. Jesus lived in a sinless body, and the Bible says in Psalm 30 verse 5, for His anger endureth, but for a moment in His favor, His life weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. You see, there are going to be tears wiped away because there's going to be tears. Imagine standing before the judgment seat of Christ, and knowing that you lived a life, you got saved, you lived your life, and then you just... Never live for Him. And everything you've done is wood, hay, and stubble. And it's gone. Do you imagine you might shed a tear? You're going to suffer loss, the Bible says. Now there'll be another group. Gold, silver, precious stones. and they will receive a reward. We're all going to receive for the things done in our body, whether it be good or bad. That's what the Bible says. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord persuade men. That's what the Bible says. That's why we preach about living for the Lord and living godly, because if we don't preach that, we have missed our calling. Our calling is, yes, to go out and to evangelize. Yes, that's true. But what about those that are already saved? It's to feed them and nurture them and help them to grow and mature. Help you to grow and mature. He says, there will be no more. When you consider humanity's sufferings through 7,000 years of history, because remember, we have 6,000 about right now, a little bit less than 6,000. The millennium is 1,000, so we've got another 1,000. After 7,000 years of history, No more tears. Romans is the book of much mores. If you look at Romans 5, 9, 10, 15, 17, 20, and you go through and you see all those times it says much more, Revelation is a book of no mores. Revelation 3, 12, 7, 16, 18, 14, and 21, 22. Chapter 20, verse 3. Chapter 21, 1, and 4. And chapter 22, verse 3. It says no more. No more. No more. The emphasis is no more. When you look at Romans, it's much more. Much more. And you ought to study that out. You ought to look it up. Get your concordance out. Look up. Much more. and it's much mores, it can be with an S, but you look up much more and it'll tell you so much. You look up Revelation, it says no more, no more, no more. What are we looking at here? Well, there are no more tears. There's no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, the Bible says. No more pain. Why does he say that? The former things are passed away. Isaiah 65 reinforces the truth that bad memories fade from our minds to haunt us no more. You're not going to be in heaven for all eternity and be thinking about all that you should have done on the earth or all that could have been different on the earth. It's going to be, look, He's going to reinforce the fact that all those memories are gone. Now we'll probably remember each other according to what it looks like. You look at Lazarus, you look at the rich man, the rich man recognized Lazarus in hell and in Abraham's bosom. So there is some indication we'll recognize each other, but it won't be like, well, I remember when you said that bad thing to me. Can you imagine all eternity holding a grudge? Some of you work on it now maybe, but you won't have it in heaven. Look at chapter 21, verse 5. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful." You know, the Bible's true and faithful. I'll fail you. No doubt about it. I will fail you as a pastor. I'll fail you as a Christian. I failed my wife. I fail my kids? I don't try to. But in all honesty, I'm not perfect." And you all say, no you don't. You don't say amen on that one. Hey, we all fail. But he says, I make all things new. Since the beginning of time, man has sought a utopian existence on earth. You know, we got some tree huggers in this city. I probably won't even get into that. Let me skip that thought. They come to every city council meeting and the last one, Carl Sagan, and she read this thing about him and how we're this little dot and, you know, you cut down our trees. On your road, Anita. And it's just like, come on! We've got a great city, great people. And somebody cut down three trees in the middle of a drive that the fire truck couldn't even get through because it was destroying the sewer system. And they're going to have tree huggers there. Look, you're not going to be a tree hugger in heaven. You can go hug all the trees you want, but you're not going to make them a god. That's the difference. Man's been looking for that utopia, though. For millennia, man has tried vainly to effect the necessary changes to bring about the perfect kingdom on earth. The motivation for his efforts has often been based on greed or power, comfort, sensual pleasure. When God makes all things new, a part of this will include the fulfilling of man's desires minus sin. Perhaps everything this world has sought to bring pleasure will be enjoyed by man in the future. Man seeks power, we'll have it. Man seeks a perfect environment, we'll have it. Man seeks a healthy, perfect body, we'll have it without exercise. No more weight lifting, no more running, no more, oh, you know, I've got to work out my elbow. Man seeks wealth. We're going to walk on a street of pure gold. Imagine that! And then he says in that verse, he says, write. This is the last of twelve commands in Revelation to write. Revelation 1 verse 11, verse 19, chapter 2 verse 1, three times in chapter 2, chapter 3, chapter 14, chapter 19, and now chapter 21, verse 5. He says, write, write 12 times. Why? You know, and when we were looking at one of them, it was almost like he was saying, write, and John was so enamored with what he saw, he's got to be reminded, your job is to write this down when I tell you to write, write. And when I don't tell you to write, you need to be writing. So 12 times he's got to say, John, wake up, write it down. We need it. We needed to read it. And John's up there just going... And especially now. I mean, he sees all the beauty and the wonder and no sin. And can you imagine being John and coming back to the Isle of Patmos? I'll show you. Well, we'll look at the next slide here in a minute, because I think I'm going to get further than I anticipated. But he says right 12 times, chapter 21, verse 6, He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. It is done, the Bible says. These exact words were spoken in Revelation 16-17. Go ahead and look over at Revelation 16-17. In Revelation 16-17, look at what the Bible says there. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done. Why is it saying it here and saying it there? Well, in the verse we just read, it refers to the end of Christ's judgments. It is done. Now we're looking at the end of time itself. It is done. The basis for this declaration was laid on the cross when Jesus said, it is finished. John 19, 30. Remember, He was on the cross and He said, it is finished. Now He's in Revelation. He's got all His judgments. He says, it is done. And now He's looking at eternity. He says, it is done. It is done. What was in view then has now reached its actual conclusion. The Lamb of God was removed. Or He has removed the world's sin and introduced everlasting peace. Man says, peace, peace, when there is no peace. But there's going to be peace. Peace on earth, goodwill to men. People say, I want goodwill to men. No, I want peace on earth. Well, you better make sure you've got the goodwill to men. Make sure you don't put the cart before the horse. Listen, the reason we don't have peace is because man's sinful. You look at wars. Why do we fight many of the wars? It's all money. It's money. Or, you know, you said something bad about my daddy. I'm going to go take you out and spend trillions of dollars and a bunch of lives. If you study out what's going on, man is sinful and destructive. And God says, all that's done. He says alpha and omega. You know, they're modernizing the Bibles. I've got a list of them in one of my books. And I list the books. I list all the different versions. Hundreds of versions. He's Alpha and Omega, which is the beginning and the end. They're going to change it soon. A better translation is going to be, I am the A and Z. It's shorter, right? Oh, I can understand A and Z. I can't understand Alpha and Omega. That's what people think. Doctors with PhD in colleges say, I can't understand the Bible. Now, children can. I don't know what thee and ye means. Thee is singular, ye is plural, ye, you and yours is plural, thee, thy and thine is singular. When you look at the Greek and the Hebrew, it distinguishes between the singular and plural second person pronoun. When you look at the English, in our Bible, thee is singular, ye is plural. Oh, that's so difficult. It's not difficult. But they're going to change it to I am the A to the Z or whatever. Now look at Revelation 21.7. 21.7, He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my Son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. He talks about inheriting all things. This contrast between the saved and the unbelieving refers to before the new heaven and new earth. It's not implying that such a thing will happen in eternity. There won't be these fearful unbelieving in eternity. He says, but... So He says, inherit all things. He says, but such a fearful gap separates the believers, the overcomers inheriting from the unbelievers, those suffering the second death. Now how do you overcome? Look at Revelation chapter 12. Revelation chapter 12. How do you overcome? Very simple. Revelation 12, 11, and they overcame Him by two things, by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. How do you overcome? By the blood of the Lamb, by the word of your testimony. What's the word of your testimony? It's Jesus Christ. So how does somebody overcome in the tribulation? By the blood. By the blood. That's it. It's Jesus Christ. Salvation's by grace through faith. And then I know, and I went over it earlier, and I'll give it to you here. Somebody says, well, I got the mark of the beast. If you take the mark, you'll be condemned. So a saved person takes the mark, they lose their salvation. Impossible. Salvation is all about God. Everybody that takes the mark is deceived. If somebody believes on the Lord Jesus Christ during the tribulation, they're saved by the blood and by the word of their testimony. And the Bible says, and they love not their lives unto the death. That's just the result of trusting Christ. And then the Bible says, if it be possible, they would deceive the very elect. All those that take the mark are deceived. God's going to protect those that are saved from being deceived. They will not take the mark because they won't be deceived. What's salvation up to? It's all up to God. So there's people that say, oh, well, they got the mark here. Yeah, it's different. There's nothing you can do to condemn your soul other than die without Christ. You have the opportunity until death. Well, in the tribulation, you have the opportunity until you take the mark. And once you take the mark, you're condemned. But a saved person that trusts Christ, and there'll be multitudes in heaven, the Bible says, that have lost their lives during that seven-year period that trusted Christ, and then He's going to supernaturally protect them where they can't lose their salvation. What's salvation about? It's all about God. So who overcomes in Revelation chapter 21? Those that overcome by the blood and by the word of their testimony. There's only by in there twice. By and by. And then the result is they love not their lives unto the death. He talks about the fearful and unbelieving there in Revelation 21 verse 8. He talks about all liars there. Everyone is guilty of some of the things listed in there, but God's classification for Christians is found in 1 Corinthians 6.11 which shows forgiveness through the cross. But such were ye. You see, under Christ's blood, you're still a sinner. but you're a saved sinner. And that's what's different. People don't understand that. They say, well, you know, you still do bad things. Yes, you do. I got the old man still, but I got a new man that'll help me get through the day and through the week and through the month and through the year. And the one that I submit to will be the one that controls. If I submit to my flesh, of the flesh I'll reap corruption. If I submit to God, He will lead me and guide me and direct me and help me every single day. Now as we go on, look at Revelation 21.9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked to me, saying, Come hither, I'll show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. Notice it's one of the seven angels. Although the subject is the new heaven, new earth, the vision is narrated by one of the angels that poured out the seven vials. And that's all it's saying. He says it's one of the seven angels. So he has two jobs. One prominent feature of the seven vials was the fall of Babylon which prepared the way for the marriage of the Lamb and the bride's appearance. The angels who poured out these vials are fitting messengers sent to show the judgment of the false wife and the glories of the true one. One of them came to John and talked with him, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And then it talks about the Lamb's wife in the verse. And we went over that in Revelation chapter 19, so I won't repeat it here. But in Revelation 21, verse 10, And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. So I wanted to give that to you anyway. I wanted to show you another picture I did. And there's John up on that high and great mountain. And he sees the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven. It was necessary to go to the high mountain to view the great city as it descended. The necessity would indicate that the city was very high in the sky. It also never states that the city ever touched down on earth. Perhaps it orbits the earth in a fashion similar to the moon. After all, the moon is the type of the church. If so, this would create two Jerusalems, one in the sky and another upon the earth. It would explain why both Christ and David can reign at the same time. You'll see that in Jeremiah 30 verse 9, Ezekiel 34 and Ezekiel 37. David will be raised up to be king. And then in one last verse, Revelation 21 11, having the glory of God and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Jasper can be many colors. One of those variations is the clear quartz. Maybe that's why it says clear as crystal. Hey, that's a whole lot better than talking about Daniel's 70th week for all those weeks we went through it. All the destruction. And guess what? You don't have to be here for any part of Daniel's 70th week. The seven years. But you better be here. You better be here. Let's put him up on that mountain a little bit higher. And then I just noticed I got another one too. You just don't know. And because I'm just anxious about it. This was the first picture I tried. That's the tree of life in... and I didn't finish the sentence. I'll have to fix that. And that's chapter 22. So when you look at this thing, John is up there and he just sees it all. I just can't imagine John coming back to earth. Yeah, it's just like Lazarus. Lazarus rise from the dead and he comes out and he says, man, I don't know. But let me tell you something. We can all go to be with Him. You need to trust the Lord as your Savior. Let's pray. Lord, we do thank You for Your many blessings, guide, lead, and direct in all things. Pray for Your will to be done. We just ask that You help us to get much out of the services today. In Jesus' name, Amen. Alright, you're dismissed. We'll start again in about 14 minutes.