Kingdom Come
Revelation • Sermon • Submitted • Presented • 28:54
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· 68 viewsRevelation 21 & 22 reveal God's ultimate purposes. But they are so far beyond our comprehension that they are expressed in poetic language, that inspires and excites us. So today we'll watch The Bible Project video "Heaven and Earth," and then hear from two of our congregation about their impressions of heaven. Deb's impressions are partly expressed through the MercyMe song "I can only imagine." (The video and song are deleted from this recording for copyright reasons.)
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Introduction
Introduction
Introduce Heaven and Earth video:
The new earth and heaven in Rev 21 and 22 remind us a lot of something from earlier in the Bible. What might that be? This video from The Bible Project explores the big story of the Bible, and helps us understand where we are up to here, at the end of the Bible.
[Watch video]
Now, because Revelation is poetry, we know that it is written to convey impressions and feelings, not merely facts. So we thought it was important to hear different impressions of heaven, so we’ve asked Deb and Lynette to share theirs.
Deb, can you come up and share your impressions of heaven, what it means to you.
Deb speaks
Deb speaks
Thanks Deb. Now Lynette, could you share your impressions?
Lynette speaks
Lynette speaks
Thanks Lynette. Thanks to both of you.
It’s interesting, isn’t it, how our experience of this world informs our expectations of the next, and we see a lot of that in the great negro spiritual songs of the past, which focused so much on the freedom and rest that heaven would bring.
What’s it all for?
What’s it all for?
There’s one thing I want to briefly talk about, though, and that is the question we often feel, even if we don’t ask it: was it really worth it? All this suffering and pain, what was it all for?
The Bible Project video made it obvious that in Revelation we end in a place very similar to where we started. There are deliberate echos of Genesis 1 & 2 in Revelation 21 & 22. Particularly in
1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
But the Bible Project didn’t really explain what the point was—we went through all this suffering and pain to end up in the same purple place we started in! Did we really?
Well, no, we didn’t. And if you look closely at verses 4 and 5 here, you’ll see what’s different.
Remember in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were living in a “very good” world, but there was night, and the sun was the source of their light, and God came and walked with them in the evening, not all the time, or so it seems.
31 And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.
8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.
God’s presence was there, in Eden, and it is what made it very good, and a place of peace and fruitfulness. But in Revelation 22 it’s different.
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.
Here we see God’s face, and his name is written on us—we belong to him in an intimate way. And there is no night nor sun, because we see by God alone. What made the difference, what is the difference behind this poetic, figurative language?
It’s the cross and the empty tomb!
This may be the climax of the Bible, the triumphant end of the story. But the crux of the story, the turning point where everything changed, was the cross and the empty tomb.
At the cross Jesus wiped out our rebellion and the separation from God that came as a conseqence. And when he rose again, he made a way for us to join him as a joint heir of God. As Paul explains it:
4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
We are not merely free of our sins, we have moved from being rebellious creatures, separated from God, cast out of his holy presence, abandoned to our own stupidity and rage, to being pure and good sons living in the family of God.
Adam and Eve started as creatures who were at peace with God. But we end as part of God’s very family, dwelling in the Trinity, with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit right there with us! That’s why we see God’s face and see everything by his light, because we are, at last, ushered in to the most beautiful and wonderful and holy and fun and fulfilling and fruitful and fabulous place: the very heart of the Trinity, the family of God!
So is it worth it? Is a few decades of suffering worth the journey into the heart of God? Ask the angels! They marvel at what God has done for us. Absolutely it’s worth it!
But this is a journey that you have to take. It’s not something that God forces you on. You need to accept his invitation. So if there is anyone here who hasn’t accepted Jesus payment for their sins, who hasn’t accepted his invitation into the family, please come and talk to Graham or me after the service, and we’d be happy to help you take those first steps into the familiy!