in Revelation chapter 19 Revelation chapter 19 I will remind you that as we come to the book of Revelation We're looking at a unique genre of biblical text. The Book of Revelation is written by the Apostle John. We have four other books from him in two different genres. So I want to remind you that when the Apostle writes a letter, it looks like a letter. It sounds like a letter. We're familiar with the genre of letters. When the Apostle writes an eyewitness account from memory of about a three-year event that radically changed the course of his life, he knows how to do that too. You witness an accident or a crime and the police come and they want your statement, you know what that means. The Gospels are like the statements, the eyewitness statements of men who saw something that has changed the course of human history. At first, there were hundreds or thousands of eyewitnesses, but those either turned from Christ or got old and died. And so it's not surprising that the thing that God, in his providence, through the apostles, who are the foundation of the church, would have endured for two millennia, are the eyewitness accounts of those who were with him, remember, from the baptism of John until he was taken up into heaven. They saw the whole thing. So we have a genre of letters or epistles. We have a genre of gospel. And now we come to the fifth book of the Apostle John. And this book is very, very different. Some of you I know, you've told me recently, you've read through the book of Revelation and you say, whoa, what is going on here? And I would just encourage you, get a good commentary, talk to your elders. They could recommend a good commentary. that can help you to be oriented in this kind of a book. I don't want to say very much about the book as a whole today, but what I do want to remind you is that John tells us at the very beginning that this book will be about things that were, about things that are, and about things that shall be. So there are some groups who really milk the what shall be, and they look at 98% of revelation as future. And I believe that's an error myself. Our church does not take a position on eschatology. You're not required, you know, to be in fellowship with this church to have a certain view of eschatology. But I would challenge you today to think about most of the book of Revelation either being things that are in John's time or John remembering things. So, for example, as he's writing his letters to the seven churches, most people would agree, he's writing about things that have been, about problems that are in the churches, and he's addressing those. Somewhere toward the end of this book, there's a shift. And I will admit to you that I continue to think about the question of the shift from things that are to things that shall be. And somewhere in the late teens, is where that shifts. And now John, who has been speaking of things in the present, I'm persuaded dealing mostly with the destruction of Jerusalem and the recalibration of the faith to encompass all the nations of the earth. He stops talking about that and now he looks forward and he begins to talk about the things which shall be. And so my understanding of the first passage we're gonna read, I don't have this in the bulletin, but in Revelation 19 verse 11, is that this is what we can technically call the second coming of Christ. I want you to notice how he comes, I want you to notice who he comes with, and I want you to notice the results of that. So Revelation chapter 19, we're going to read verses 11 through 16. Then I'm going to read one verse from chapter 20. And then our text for today will be Revelation chapter 21. So let's now orient ourselves to that which shall be. The apostle wants us to be confident and comforted by some things that are going to happen in the future. Hear the Word of God, Revelation 19 and verse 11. John is speaking. Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh, he has a name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Then we'll jump down to chapter 20, verse 11. And for our purposes today, I want you to notice that this follows this presentation of the second coming of Christ. All through Revelation, John has been looking up, or at least he has been in heaven, and he's seen the throne of heaven. But now this is a different throne. Revelation 20 verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. and the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. And now we come to our text today. 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, 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, also translated the tabernacle 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 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 am 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. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable. As for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. 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. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with 12 gates. And at the gates, 12 angels. And on the gates, the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. On the east, three gates. On the north, three gates. On the south, three gates. And on the west, three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." We'll end our reading here. This is the Word of God. Well friends, I think there's going to be a special part of heaven dedicated to apocalyptic literature. I think you're going to get to go for free to classes. And we are going to understand the layer upon layer upon layer of meaning that is embedded in apocalyptic literature. There are numerous apocalyptic portions of the prophets in the Old Testament. You might be familiar with the Olivet Discourse contained in three of the Gospels. This is where Jesus puts on his apocalyptic hat. And he also is looking to the future and announcing things that are to come related to the destruction of Jerusalem within 40 years of his going to heaven. Part of what's so hard about this, and part of what's so difficult as we try to sort through these amazing teachings from John the Apostle, is that there's two parts to the second coming of Christ. On one hand, this is a day of terrifying judgment. All the wrongs of history will be righted. The wicked elites of the world will be destroyed. Not just by death, but by this terrifying thing, the second death. I would remind you today, there's a little thing, I learned this as a kid, born once, what? Die twice. physical death, and a later second death. Born twice, that is born of your mother and regenerated or born again through the work of the Holy Spirit, die once. That's just your body. And even that won't stay dead. It's an amazing thing to think about. So there's this horrible part. By the way, we skipped some of the most horrible parts. There is a judgment, there is a horrible destiny that awaits those who rebel against Christ. But also then, and where we're going to focus today, is this beautiful description of what John calls a new heaven and a new earth. You'll remember last week we talked a great deal about this new heaven and new earth. About how is it that we anticipate the new heavens and the new earth. But now we come to this glorious ending of the book. Again, there are many wonderful lessons to be learned through the book of Revelation. But these last few chapters, in a particular way, are forming, if you will, the bookend at the other end of the bookcase. So on one end we have the creation of heaven. But now we have the consummation of heaven. And so I wanted to read those portions today in Revelation 19 because I think it helps us to remember that now these things are not happening out there somewhere far away and they're not happening in Narnia or in Middle Earth or some other fantastical land. Rather they're happening on the earth. And God is going to dwell with his people forever on the earth. This is a pretty shocking lesson. So we're going to be looking at chapter 21 today, and I'll be referring back a little bit along the way. But I want to remind you that right in this very spot, very recently, there was a wedding. I love weddings. Weddings are one of my favorite events in the whole church calendar. But today I want you to think about a delay, and I put that in quotes, between the pronouncement of the minister, I now pronounce you husband and wife. In fact, Knox and Jessa were so quick to get out of here that he didn't even get that announcement done, for those of you who were there. But there's a delay between the pronouncement of a wedding and the consummation of a marriage. It's one thing for words to be said. It's another thing for oneness to be experienced by the partners of the marriage. Where are we in our marriage with Christ? I would say we are somewhere between the pronouncement and the consummation. That our salvation has been declared and we believe what has been declared. That's your justification, your adoption. But there yet awaits your glorification. The consummation. When you, in your experience, discover that in fact what has been promised is true. that you are the wife of the Lamb. Now we're mixing metaphors, but I want you to think about this. Who is the Lamb? The Lamb who was slain before the foundation of the world. The Lamb who alone is able to open God's purposes and plans for all of creation. The pronouncement has been made. But there is yet something more. I remember listening for the very first time to the whole, I think it's the third movement of the William Tell Overture. I'd always just known it as the Lone Ranger theme song. But I listened to the William Tell Overture. On really good speakers, I had it turned up really loud, and for the first time, I was drawn into the intricacies of this piece of music. And I saw it building, building, building to this glorious crescendo. I actually knew it was the Cincinnati Orchestra, and I actually had a friend who her dad was playing in this recording of the William Tell Overture. Made it even more personal. and to listen, and to realize that by the time we were getting to the end of this song, I was actually holding my breath, waiting for what I knew to be a glorious crescendo. And it was glorious, and it's still one of my favorite pieces. Those united to Christ long for the day when the bridegroom finally arrives. And the marriage is forever a reality in our experience. The marriage has been announced, so prepare yourselves in expectation of the final climactic event of salvation. Fix this glorious hope in your mind. Follow its light wherever it might take you. Today I want to answer three questions that I think are beginning to drive us and get us to the promised truths that are in very symbolic terms. I want to admit up front today, remember we're studying apocalyptic literature. I'm persuaded that apocalyptic literature at its heart is what I would call verbal cartoons. Perhaps you remember a long time ago waking up and my dad would always lay aside the comics. We weren't allowed to read them on Sunday, but on Monday we could read the comics. And there would be the very familiar comic strips set out in very familiar order. But it was the thing that the comics were doing that was so interesting. And so there would be the little thought bubble that would make sense out of the symbolism and the familiar forms of the comic strips. And I think it's the same way. If we're going to understand what the various symbolism of apocalyptic literature means, we need to be paying very careful attention to what to what the symbolism means. And so, think about the symbolism here today. Point number one, how will God dwell among us? How will God dwell among us? Well, there's three things I want you to see in these first four verses. The first thing is that in order for God to dwell among us, there must be a new heaven and a new earth. This world is fallen, broken, sinful, in rebellion against God. Have you seen signs of rebellion against God? People who not only do it in shame, but do it with pleasure. When they take the holy name of God, their Creator, and use it as a filth word to express disgust. Do you see the greater and greater use of profanity all around us? I watched, I sat over here at 21st and Wanamaker the other day, and I watched a 75-year-old lady flip off somebody. I could not believe it. Right out her car window. I said, what is this world coming to? Friends, do you realize that you are supposed to shine like a light in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation? Now, I don't know. Some weeks, and sometimes for a lot of weeks, things go by and I don't really, I'm not really reminded of that. But I want to remind you today that there is a new heavens and a new earth that's coming. The first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. The sea is symbolic all through scripture of the constant churn of nations in rebellion against God. And so the fact that there is no sea means that now things are stable. Now things are calm. No more armies are marching. No more nuclear bombs are stored in their silos. And then John tells us that he sees, or sorry, that he hears a voice. Verse three, I heard a loud voice from the throne saying something. Now, think about this in the context of what has just been related. that this throne has been talked about. And back in chapter 20 verse 12, I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne. And then if you go back to chapter 20 verse 11, you see a distinct throne described here. I saw a great white throne in him who was seated on it. Now this is the first time that there's any kind of description of the throne. This is the throne of judgment. This is the throne where the sheep and the goats will be separated. Where finally and forever the righteous and the wicked will go to their appointed places. This is different than the throne that's been talked about for the last 18 or 19 chapters. The throne that's been talked about all through the beginning of the book is the throne in heaven. But now the decisive change has come because now Christ has come. We read about the second coming of Christ. We read about the armies of heaven arrayed in linen, white and pure. They are following him down from heaven to earth. So they're described, that's in chapter 19 verse 14. They're on white horses and they have white robes. How did their robes get white? Well, it said earlier in the book that they washed them in the blood of the Lamb. If you wash your sinful clothing in the blood of Christ, they will come out white and pure and spotless. Remember, it's symbolism, not reality. And that group is now described in chapter 21. I saw the Holy City in New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. How does a bride, I mean, come on, how does a bride adorn herself for her husband? That's the whole point of the ceremony a couple of weeks ago. She's arrayed in white because she's coming to see her husband. But I want you to notice, again, chapter 21, verse 3, a loud voice speaking from the throne. Who is on the throne? Well, duh, it's the person who came down from heaven to earth and is now seated on his throne, and now he's speaking. And while he's watching his army of heaven land behind him, who are the bride, we're going to get to that in a minute, he's saying, now. The dwelling place of God is with man. Because I'm here. Do you see? We have to read chapter 21 in light of chapter 20. We have to read chapter 20 in light of chapter 19. There's this symbolism that is all going together. I want to remind you that the whole book has been developing this theme of God dwelling in the midst of his people. This loud voice spoke. The dwelling place, also translated the tabernacle of God, is with man. He will dwell with them and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them. Friends, this is exactly what had been promised in the tabernacle. God would dwell right in the center of the nation of Israel. The first and second temples, the throne of God was hidden away in the recesses of those temples. Even on the day of Pentecost, when God came and dwelt on each of his people in flames of fire. But let's be specific. Randy Alcorn states, Jesus indwells us now. And perhaps he will then also, but he will physically dwell or reside on the new earth with us. Have you ever imagined what it would be like to walk on the earth with Jesus as the disciples did? Have you ever wished that you could have that opportunity? Well, you will, on the new earth. Whatever we will do with Jesus, we'll be doing with the second member of the triune God. What would it be like to run beside God? To laugh with God? To sing and climb, play catch with God? Jesus himself promised that we would eat with him in his kingdom. He said that on the cross. This is an intimacy with God that is unthinkable to those who have not grasped the significance of the incarnation. To eat a meal with Jesus is to eat with God. This brings us then to the second point this morning. What does God's eternal kingdom involve? What does God's eternal kingdom involve? I want you to see that in verse 5, we now have a decree from this one who was on the throne. He made an announcement in verse 3, and now he's doing something in verse 5. He who was seated on the throne, we just talked about that throne, said, I am making all things new. I want you to notice here that Jesus is not just making his saints new. He's not just making the temple new or some other subset. Ta pun ta. I am making everything new. Also, he said, write this down. For these words are trustworthy and true. Do you see, friends, what's happening here? That this is what we have dreamed of our entire life walking with Christ. Oh, for the day when there would be no more nuclear threats, when Putin and Zelensky wouldn't be expending the young men of their nations in a futile, stupid war with each other. Has your heart broken over that? I saw a pile of men in their 20s littering the battlefield, and my heart broke. What is it? You're lonely? You're afraid? You're frustrated? You're ticked off at your spouse? You've given up hope that God can actually redeem you from your sin. Friends, seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness. What we're doing here today is we're laying out We're landing the plane on this subject of heaven. This will be the last sermon in this series. And so my goal is not to do a bunch of exegesis today, but I want you to see what God is doing here. He who is seated on the throne, that is not merely God, but Christ sitting on his white throne on the earth, behold, I am making all things new. He said, write this down for these are trustworthy and true. And then he said to me, it is done. This is the moment that all of creation has been groaning for. Romans chapter eight, the whole creation groans that the sons of God might be revealed. And now it has been accomplished. Because Jesus is there, He can say, I am the Alpha and the Omega. And God said, let there be light. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. The Word was God. All things were made through Him. And without Him, nothing was made that has been made. Jesus is the Alpha. But now, Jesus is the very last. I would remind you of 1 Corinthians 15, where it says, the last thing that will happen is that Jesus will give the kingdom to the Father, in order that God the Father might be all in all. Jesus is bringing things together, not only in heaven, God's will is done in heaven, but also on earth. He's bringing all things together in Himself. And what does that look like finally? The Son comes. The incarnate Son comes. He lands. Remember we wrestled a few weeks ago with the physics of the ascension. Well now, wrestle with the physics of the second descension. Does he fly an airplane? Or is it a spaceship? How does he slow down? Does he sit on something and get carried around? Or does he walk? Does he ride a donkey? Friends, do you see the claim of the second coming of Christ? It is personal. It is physical. And it is and it is public. There will be nothing secret about it. You won't learn about it in the newspaper, I don't think. You'll see it in the skies, and God himself will be with us. Secondly, notice that God's kingdom is beginning to end a kingdom of grace. Look at verse 6, the second half. Jesus is speaking here. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. Here is the King now giving a cup of cold water to whoever is thirsty. Freely. Without cost. Without condition. He is offering His grace to those who are thirsty for it. Are you? longing for God's grace. And thirdly, what does God's eternal kingdom involve? We read about this in chapter 20. We could have read a lot more in chapter 19. But look at what he says here in verse 8. Well, verse 7, I will be his God, he will be my son. That's speaking of those who are redeemed. But then verse 8, but as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. That takes us right back to the end of chapter 20, where that second death is defined. Another aspect of the kingdom of God is the final judgment upon the wicked. Jesus describes it as the separation of the sheep and the goats. The righteous and the wicked. Those who name the name of Christ and those who rebel against Christ, and I'll point out, there is no neutral middle ground. Jesus is the King of Kings. If you don't acknowledge it, that means you're a rebel. And rebels in the Bible are not the good guys. Randy Alcorn writes, Anthony Hokema is correct when he insists that, quote, we must see history as moving toward the goal of a finally restored and glorified universe. Consider this prophetic statement. This is from Revelation 11. The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ and he will reign forever and ever. It doesn't say he'll replace this world's kingdom. No, the kingdom of this world will actually become the kingdom of Christ. God won't obliterate earthly kingdoms, but will transform them into his own. And it's that new earthly kingdom joined then to God's heavenly kingdom over which he will reign forever and ever. This is a revolutionary viewpoint. standing in stark contrast to the prevalent myth that God's kingdom will demolish the kingdoms of earth, rather than cleanse, redeem, and resurrect them into his eternal kingdom. In other words, what I want you to see is that these who are the rebels are being taken away and dealt with in order that the kingdom of the world might become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ. Finally, we come to the third question today. How will we reign in a city as a bride? I'll be honest, I've spent a lot of time in the first eight verses of Revelation 21, but I was delighted with verses nine and following this week. I'd forgotten how clearly and how beautifully this is stated. Again, we have a mixing of metaphors. We're gonna see a city, just imagine yourself at about 30,000 feet over Topeka. Looking down out of your airplane window, you can see the whole city of Topeka, and there's all the little cars driving around, the people walking around like ants. The city is the bride of the lamb. Here we have three metaphors all woven together. I think John is like, how do I put this into words? So look at verse nine. Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues that he's already talked about. And he spoke to me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Now, verse 10 is linked to verse 2. There also you have the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I'm persuaded that we need to connect that to chapter 19, verse 14. Chapter 19, verse 14, the armies of heaven arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. This is talking about, not only is Christ coming back, but all of the saints in heaven, who have been waiting, saying, how long, oh Lord, until you judge your enemies? They're coming with Him. All I can do is point to the Lord of the Rings and say, there's some great battle scenes, where people are on white horses, arrayed in white linen, and it's the biblical imagery of this grand victory. As these armies who are the bride, who are the city, come charging over the hill to take possession of what God has promised from the beginning to give them. And they will reign with Him forever and ever. Okay, so just to wrap this up again, there's so many things we can reflect on here. But I want you to notice how you get into this city. This city has high walls. In the Old Testament, the walls symbolize salvation. You can't get in unless you come in through one of the gates. This is a square city. There's three gates on each side. By the way, at least at one time, Jerusalem had 12 gates, actually had 12 gates in reality. Twelve on the north, twelve on the south, twelve on the east, twelve on the west, and on the name, on the gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. The New Jerusalem has continuity with the Old Jerusalem. The Old Jerusalem was the twelve tribes of Israel. They had all come together. They were the object of God's love. Now we have the New Jerusalem. It also has the twelve tribes, but notice that John is contemplating As well, the high walls of salvation which are built on 12 foundations. The reason these walls are solid, the reason that they can keep the enemy out is because they are built on the 12 apostles of the Lamb. Friends, I believe that John is contemplating here nothing less than the worldwide success of the Gospel. That is the calling into the true Israel of God. How do you get into that city? How are you part of this bride? Hear and heed the words of the apostles. A verse you can write down here, Acts 2.42. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of the bread and the prayers. This is what it looks like to follow the Lamb wherever He goes. So what does this all mean? So we apply this for final time. Number one, keep following the North Star. The same way that those slaves who lived their entire lives as property in the South learned that if they followed the North Star, they found it and they followed it until they got to Canada, they would be free. There is a long, dangerous, difficult journey that you are called to walk to freedom. Wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction. Many enter through it, but small is the gate, and narrow the way that leads to life, and only a few find it. Number one, follow the north star of heaven. Number two, recognize that you are made for a world without sin. When sin makes you frustrated, remember that sin is not part of this creation. God created this world good, and then it was corrupted by sin. Look at verse four again. It says, it says, 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. So don't fall in love with this present world. Friends, we are being pressured to put our faith and our trust in the things of this world, to put our faith and our trust in our leaders, to put our faith and our trust in our wealth, to put our faith and our trust in the goodness and the happiness of human relationships, none of those things. are what we're ultimately made for. Look toward the new world. Look toward the new heavens and new earth. And finally, number three, rejoice. Rejoice because in the midst of your trials, there is hope. There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it's not the train. There is a light because the tunnel that we sometimes feel like we live our entire life in does not last forever. God has accomplished victory over death. Jesus is coming back. And so I would just point out at the bottom of your notes there, there's three questions and I guess four questions. Those are designed to help you to reflect on some of these things. We can use those questions in our conversations this evening. As we try to apply in a final way, as we land the plane on the doctrine of heaven, we've gone from Genesis to Revelation. We've gone from the creation of heaven to the consummation of heaven. What a glorious thing it is to see God's victory through Christ. Let's pray. O Lord our God, how we thank you that you are a sovereign God. That, Lord, you will bring your purposes to pass in this world. And that, Lord, you do that through the glory of your gospel. We pray, O Lord, that your gospel would meet us in the place where we are today. Lord, if that's a place of downright unbelief, that you would challenge us to think bigger. To think about the ends for which This world has existence. Why is it here? Where is it going? What is my part in this grand creation? We pray that, Lord, in the midst of a lot of cynicism and a lot of depression today, that, Lord, this glorious gospel would lift our eyes from our slavery toward our freedom. That, Lord, the light of the star would shine into our eyes and we would have hope that there's something more than what we can see in our slavery. We pray, Lord, that you would help us to follow the doctrine of heaven in hope. Lord, to remind ourselves that we're made for something better than what we have now. A place of surgeries. A place of imprisonment. A place of abandonment. A place of frustration and pain and irritation. Lord, we fall into sin every day. We pray that you would help us to remember that in Christ we are not judged according to our actions. We are judged according to our faith. And Lord, help us to have faith in Christ and in Christ alone. To be His faithful followers, who follow Him wherever He goes, and who have our hope stored up in heaven. O Christ, bless us in these things. We thank You that heaven is a place that we can look at, where the birds fly, where the sun, the moon, and the stars shine. But we thank You, Lord, that someday in Christ, heaven and earth will be one. that Lord, there will be the resurrection of the dead, that there will be your literal victory over death, and Lord, we will live in a new heavens and new earth where righteousness dwell. Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to reflect on the doctrine of heaven. Help us to live eagerly, waiting, anticipating the blessings that will be the inheritance of all those who are in Christ. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.