What Is Heaven? (Revelation 21:1-8)

VIDEO

 What Is Heaven? (Revelation 21:1-8)

GIST: Heaven is God’s transformative grace fully realized: His people in His presence experiencing His love forever.

Welcome back to our study in Revelation. After taking December off to focus our hearts on Jesus’ incarnation, we’re picking up with, well, the end of our study… of the end ☺️. Throughout this journey together (and it has been a journey), we’ve seen that Revelation was never meant to be a mystery to solve but rather a revealing of Jesus to us. It gives us a picture of who He is and how He will work in a broken world until He returns to judge sin, destroy death, and redeem His people. We’ve watched this unfold in a series of images circling back through the same “kinds” of events over and over…until chapter 20 where Jesus’ return was depicted for the final time showing Him victorious over everything. Now, we’re in the last two chapters and what do we see? Heaven. 

So much of these final chapters flows around a driving message: Jesus is coming back, and it will be wonderful for those who have accepted His rescue and Hell for those who have chosen to run from Him. Nonetheless, I just want to walk through what we see specifically in the first eight verses of chapter 21 this morning. Before I say anything else, let’s just look at that→

“1 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. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 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. 4 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." 5 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." 6 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. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be His God and He will be My son. 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."”

A lot of this imagery is probably very familiar to many of us. However, let’s not forget we’re still in the same book we’ve been studying for over a year together. These images are John putting what he saw into the words he knew. We have to be careful not to lose the message by trying to make the pictures work with our understanding of how things should be. I know we all want to know what Heaven is going to look like, and what our bodies will look like, and what we’ll spend our time doing. However, that’s not the kind of picture we get. Instead, we’re told more impactful truths like this (and here’s our gist☺️)→ Heaven is God’s transformative grace fully realized: His people in His presence experiencing His love forever. Let’s break that down.

I. Heaven

New? Ok, before we get into the message portion, I do want to at least address the elephant in the room. Maybe you’re asking this question. Maybe you’ve never thought about it. However, since I imagine someone is, we need to talk about it for a second. This passage, which we’re reading on New Years Day by the way ☺️, starts by saying John saw a new heaven and a new earth.  “1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”

So, what does that mean? Full disclosure: I don’t completely know, and I don’t think anyone with integrity will say they do. There’s been lots of speculation. The prevailing thoughts are that either the world will be completely destroyed and then remade, or the world will just be cleaned up, or (something between the two—and this is where I fall right now) something inbetween—the world will be completely transformed or redeemed. This seems consistent with the message of Scripture and other passages like 2 Peter 3:6-7 where Peter compares Jesus’ return and final judgment to the flood. “6 Through these the world of that time perished when it was flooded. 7 By the same word, the present heavens and earth are stored up for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” (CSB). What happened then? Was the world completely destroyed and then remade? Not really, but it was completely changed. For that reason, I would say it seems like the same kind of thing is going to happen. Heaven will be earth completely transformed: made new, made perfect. Later, we’re going to see Garden of Eden imagery—which is helpful. I’ve said this as often as I can in this study, but we have to fight the sterile white room image of Heaven. Heaven will be vibrant and alive in a way the best parts of this fallen-creation only hint at! 

It will be the world with no sea. Not necessarily because there won’t be vast bodies of water in Heaven, or Jesus had enough of it the first time ☺️, but because the sea symbolized chaos and destruction in the ancient world. Heaven will be a clear absence of that! The old way of sin has passed away. Life is new. 

Ok, so that’s the elephant. Here’s the meat. Heaven, whatever it will “look like”, will be→ 

II. Grace Fully Realized

 “2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Here we’re coming back to two pictures used throughout this letter to describe God’s people: His Bride and His City. Both of these are used to represent→

His People in His Presence. The Church is depicted as the Bride of Christ. Why? Because He loves us. Because He took Hell in our place to present us blameless before Himself that we might be with Him forever. Because only the intensity of a strong marriage relationship even comes close to the level of love Jesus has for us (and it’s just a shadow of His love!). What about the city? Specifically, we’re called Jerusalem, the Holy City, the place where God met with His people. If we had any question about what this means, God’s voices thunders it home for us→ “3 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.”” Heaven is being with Jesus. It is the ultimate place of safety and belonging…because we’re with Him! If that doesn’t excite us, then we’re probably not really looking forward to the reality of Heaven, and we probably need to look at the state of our relationship with Him now.

Heaven is His people in His presence→

Experiecing His Love. I don’t think we need much commentary on these verses: “4 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.” Being in the presence of Jesus is the end of all suffering! Why? Because the God of the universe will personally wipe away every tear! We’ve seen this before in Revelation (Chapter 7), and it gets me every time. I have been around a lot of hurting over the past few weeks. In fact, I tend to be around heart ache most of the time. The thought of Jesus taking away pain and death, the thought of no reason for morning and final tears being wiped away… This is love! 

All the hurting will be taken away because, as Brett Davis put it, Jesus came burning away all that isn’t love! Look at where these verses go next. In fact, we’ll look at this as our→ 

TAKEAWAYS

(But don’t get too excited…because these are kind of like points this morning ☺️.)

“5 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." 6 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. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be His God and He will be My son. 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."”

1. This is true. The God of the universe, the one reigning on His sovereign throne, says: “Trust Me! I’m the Alpha and Omega.” Life is from Him and for Him, and He’s offering life withoutpayment for all who conquer. That conquering, as we’ve seen throughout this letter, is all about clinging to the conqueror. Those whohave been rescued receive etneral life without payment…because Jesus has already paid!

2. We can look forward to a day when His love is all we see. Again, I love how Brett Davis defines the wrath of God: His righteousness burning away all that isn’t love. Life will be defined by Jesus alone. There will be no brokenness here.

3. So…how does this impact your prayers? I know that might seem like an out of place question, but this really struck me, actually while thinking about these verses in the shower… ☺️. When Jesus taught us to pray, He said to ask: “Your kingdom come Your will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.” Think about what this means in light of all we’ve seen about Heaven so far. How is His will done in Heaven? 

This would be praying that God be seen and known as sovereign. When we pray, we should ask for His control to be known and trusted. 

This would also be praying that souls would be saved. Heaven is full of those rescued by His grace because “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9). He isn’t back yet because He’s still saving people! 

This would be praying that God burn away all that isn’t love. Is it ok to pray for pain to go away? That’s what it will be like in Heaven. This should give us strength to ask Him to be who we know He is. It should also give us confidence that He only ever acts according to His nature, so even the things we don’t understand can’t be outside of His loving sovereignty.

4. So…how does this impact your life? “7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be His God and He will be My son. 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.” What defines you? If you’re defined by sin, you’re running headlong away from grace and toward the Hell you’re choosing. If you’re defined by His rescue and His conquering of sin in your life, you’re heading toward Heaven. No, you won’t be perfect. But where is you heart? Are you striving to live for Him because you know you’re loved and love Him?

PONDERING... Why Does Communion Matter? (Mark 14:22-25)

VIDEO

Why Does Communion Matter? (PM Lesson Outline)

GIST: Communion points us back to His sacrifice, around to His provision, and forward to His return.

SCRIPTURE: Mark 14:22-25

22 And as they were eating, he took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to them, and said, “Take; this is my body.” 23 And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, and they all drank of it. 24 And he said to them, “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. 25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.”

Setting:

The Passover. This was a time of remembering and a highly structured ceremony. The specifics are fairly detailed, but in general, there would be phases. Each aspect of the meal pointed to something that was to be remembered about God’s provision and His deliverance. Through the meal, the head of the house, would be responsible for explaining these symbols to the party. It was a highly anticipated celebration of reverence.

Abolishment & Abandonment. This particular night would also be the last time these disciples would ever celebrate this feast. From this point forward, the celebration would be replaced by the Lord’s Supper. However, in this immediate context, this celebration was also pitted against the imminent abandonment of Christ we discussed this morning. To me, this is amazing! Jesus knew what was about to happen and still provided them with this beautiful picture of His sacrificial love!

I. LOOKING BACK TO HIS SACRIFICE

Passover was all about looking back and Communion is, as well. Jesus goes “off script” here and reinterprets two of the most famous symbols.

Bread. Formerly, this unleavened bread represented the haste with which they had to leave Egypt. Now, it would represent His body. What does this mean? His incarnation, perfection, and death. Consider 2 Corinthian 5:21 “21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

Cup. Before there were four cups drank throughout the meal which represented the four-fold promises of God’s provision from Exodus 6:6-7 “6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.” Now, it has come to represent His blood, His sacrifice for us which bought provision for our ultimate need.

Lamb? Let’s not overlook this. There was no lamb at their feast. Why? Jesus is the lamb.

II. LOOKING AROUND AT HIS PROVISION

Provision Song? We do this together, remembering not only His past sacrifices, but also His present provisions. We don’t see this as much in this particular passage as we do in other passages. However, one point that struck me this week was a point I often overlook when I think about celebrating Communion. When we celebrate it together here, as long as I have been a part of this, we have always closed by saying, “and Scripture tells us that afterwards they sang a hymn together”...and so, we do the same. We always sing, “Bless Be The Tie That Binds”. I had never given much thought to what they sang together. However, given that this was a Passover celebration, we can say with some confidence that it was one of the Hallel Psalms which were sang all leading up to and during this ceremony. We’ve already addressed that these keep coming up in this last week. It was from these psalms that the people sang during the triumphal entry. And it was these psalms Jesus used to condemn the Pharisees who tried to trap Him. These were Psalm 113-118, and it seems the last ones to be sung after the meal were numbers 115-118. Therefore, while we cannot say with 100% certainty that these were the songs, it is very likely. I won’t read all four of those here, but just taking a few key verses from each will show you just how much these psalms had to do with God’s provision. That was on Jesus’ heart as He went to pray in the garden and approached the cross!

Psalm 115 1 Not to us, Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness. … Psalm 116… 3 The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me; I was overcome by distress and sorrow. 4 Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!” 5 The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 6 The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me....8 For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, 9 that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living. … 13 I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. 14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. … Psalm 117 1 Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples. 2 For great is his love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord. Psalm 118 1 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever....14 The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. 15 Shouts of joy and vict 17 I will not die but live, and will proclaim what the Lord has done. …22 The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; 23 the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. 24 The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad. 25 Lord, save us! Lord, grant us success! 26 Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. From the house of the Lord we bless you. 27 The Lord is God, and he has made his light shine on us. With boughs in hand, join in the festal procession up to the horns of the altar. 28 You are my God, and I will praise you; you are my God, and I will exalt you. 29 Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever.

Example For Us? Remembering His sacrifice is not an empty act. It is a call to praise and emulate Him!

III. LOOKING FORWARD TO HIS RETURN

Pointing to both His death & RETURN! “25 Truly, I say to you, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God.” (emphasis added)

Pointing to that ultimate feast.

Revelation 7:13-17  13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. 15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. 16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Revelation 19:6-9 6 Then I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; 8 it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”—for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. 9 And the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”

TAKEAWAYS

1. Remember. May we never forget.

2. Rejoice. I throw this word out there a lot, but I don’t want us to ever take it for granted. As children of the One True King, who have been bought with such a price, we should ever be rejoicing. This morning we saw Jesus tell Peter and the disciples to watch and pray to avoid falling into temptation. We should do the same. And as we pray, we should remember. And as we remember, we should rejoice!

3. Reach out. This makes me think of the Needtobreathe song, “may these Hallelujahs be multiplied”.

END WITH “FOREVER” BY CHRIS TOMLIN

PONDERING... He Makes All Things New [BARE-BONES NOTES] (Revelation 21-22:5)

He Makes All Things New [BARE-BONES NOTES]

GIST: Heaven is going to be a new place, with new people, and new life--and it’s going to be absolutely beautiful.

SCRIPTURE: Revelation 21-22:5

I must apologize for these notes on Revelation becoming progressively of a more scanty nature. Teaching five lessons every Sunday has made it pretty difficult to type fuller outlines for each lesson.

This passage, however, is completely worth our full consideration. My notes are brief, but His word is far more important anyway. We’ve come through to the end. Sin has been dealt the final blow. Now, we see Heaven--and, oh, what we see. Heaven is going to be a new place, with new people, and new life--and it’s going to be absolutely beautiful.

1. NEW PLACE

Chapter 21 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. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 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. 4 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.”

5 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.” 6 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. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 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.”

1. Restoration of Genesis 1
2. Heaven and Earth Combined (Vs 1-3)
1. God is with His people as in the garden.
2. Not a Sterile Heaven
3. A Place of Perfect Peace (Vs 4)
4. A New Place Full of Life (Vs 5-7)
1. Remember the promises of the first 3 chapters?
5. A Warning for the Lost (Vs 8)

2. NEW PEOPLE

2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband….9 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.” 10 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, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

1. Bride (Vs 2, 9-10)
2. Jewel Having God’s Glory (Vs 11)
1. Which we in no way earned.
3. Great Wall of Protection and Security (Vs 12-18)
1. 12-His People. Fulfilled
4. Foundations Stones=Priest’s Breastplate (Vs 19-20)
1. The church is built on the foundation set forth in God’s Word
5. Street of Gold vs Street of Death (Vs 21)
1. See 11:8
6. No Temple (Vs 22)
7. No Sun (Vs 23-24)
8. All Good, no bad. (Vs 25-27)

3. NEW LIFE

Chapter 22 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.

1. Garden of Eden Reversed (+ References to Ezek. 47:1-9 and Zech. 14:8)
1. River (Reminds us of where we are, Heaven)
2. Tree of Life...but this one brings healing
2. Life is given.
1. We see His face and have His name.

TAKEAWAYS

1. Heaven will be beautiful.
2. This world might seem crazy, but it is not without a purposeful end.
3. This is what life is all about.
4. Honestly, we just need take time to soak this in.

PONDERING... Are You Standing? (Revelation 7)

Are You Standing?

GIST: Judgment is coming. Only those in Christ will be able to stand. But, oh, what standing this will be! Come to Jesus. (So…maybe that GIST statement became a little less condensed this week…)
SCRIPTURE: Revelation 7

This is a pretty packed passage, so I won’t linger. Today we’re going to look at the when, who, what, and why it matters. (Note, this is probably a lot of words to digest in one setting :P. In “real life”, we took this in two parts.)

When is this happening?

After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree. 2 Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, 3 saying, “Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees, until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.”

When looking at Revelation, everyone wants to think in terms of chronology. We know this is about the end times, so we want to know specifics. However, as we’ve addressed before, this is not a chronological book. We’re seeing what’s going to happen big picture from several perspectives. This passage is no different. While there are definitely differing views of timeline here, I think it is most important to see this passage as an answer to two questions posed in chapter 6.

Question 1- 10b“O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

• Answer: Not until all who will be saved are.

Question 2- 17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

• Answer: Those

Who are these people?
I guess I kind of already gave this answer away, but let’s look at it anyway.

4 And I heard the number of the sealed, 144,000, sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel:

5 12,000 from the tribe of Judah were sealed,

12,000 from the tribe of Reuben,

12,000 from the tribe of Gad,

6 12,000 from the tribe of Asher,

12,000 from the tribe of Naphtali,

12,000 from the tribe of Manasseh,

7 12,000 from the tribe of Simeon,

12,000 from the tribe of Levi,

12,000 from the tribe of Issachar,

8 12,000 from the tribe of Zebulun,

12,000 from the tribe of Joseph,

12,000 from the tribe of Benjamin were sealed.

9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, 10 and crying out with a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!” 11 And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, 12 saying, “Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever! Amen.”

So the short answer here is that both groups represent those who have will be/have been saved. There are different views on this, of course, but I think this really fits with the context and the Scripture. Let’s break it down a bit more.

• Complete and True Israel
• So the first number we have is this 144,000. 12, much like 7, is a number of completion. So this listing is not meant to be an actual number of people, but rather symbolically representing the complete Israel. The tribes are listed here, but not all of them. Specifically, Dan and Ephraim are left out because these tribes had become seats of paganism, and replaced by Joseph and Levi (Levi was not usually included because their inheritance was Spiritual instead of physical). So, it seems the full picture is that of complete and true Israel—everyone who is really part of the people of God (i.e. those who are saved). 
• Those sealed
• There is a lot of question about the sealing, and we’ll address this again when we get to the mark of the beast passage. However, this being sealed on the forehead is not a physical marking, but a sign of being completely God’s—following Him, belonging to Him, being marked by thoughts, desires, and actions which are of Him (Matthew 22:37 “37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”… See also: Deuteronomy 6:4-9. I really think the same idea is being communicated here.)
• Innumerable and Multicultural
• John heard the sealing then saw this multitude. They were symbolically complete and true Israel, but when he saw them, their number exceeded 144,000—and they were from everywhere! Oh, the beauty and expanse of God’s salvation.
• Purified and Worshiping
• About what were these people doing? They were purified (clothed in white) and praising (waving palm branches) the purifier!

What is this great tribulation?

13 Then one of the elders addressed me, saying, “Who are these, clothed in white robes, and from where have they come?” 14 I said to him, “Sir, you know.” And he said to me, “These are the ones coming out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.

I will be brief here, though this is undoubtedly one of the more debated topics. Jesus told us there would be tribulation (John 16:33). From the Fall until His return this is true. Therefore, in a very real sense, the great tribulation is now. That fits with the interpretation of who these people are, as well. Those singing the song we’re about to digest a bit are not just from one isolated point in history. They are the redeemed. If you are saved, you’re in this number.

Nonetheless, because I know someone (if there are indeed people reading these posts) who will ask if the great tribulation (given the definitive article and such) is actually referring to a specific time when persecution will get worse. I don’t pretend to know all these answers, but I do wholeheartedly believe it will be getting worse (see our little chat on progressive parallelism from last week); it’s building.

What does (could) this mean for you?Several months back, I preached on this passage in celebration of our homecoming. So, if this seems really familiar…it is. Nonetheless, the picture here is still absolutely beautiful!

15 “Therefore they are before the throne of God,

It's too easy to miss out on the significance and honor of this first description. In Heaven, we will be in the direct presence of God. ... This should kill us. All throughout Scripture we are told our sinful, human forms cannot see God in all of His glory (fully revealed) and live. Think about Isaiah, who was only given a glimpse of Him and fell to the ground saying, 'Woe is me! I am undone!' (Isaiah 6). Yet, here we are told we will be in His full presence. How? Because Jesus came fully revealing God to the world, and endured Hell to make this impossibility our reality. Hold that, we will be coming back to this!

and serve him day and night in his temple;

Two quick points to clarify this image a bit. One, there is no night and day in Heaven. We're told that in Revelation 22:5. God is the only light in Heaven, and He doesn't ever "go down". So this just means our service will never end. Two, there's not a physical temple in Heaven either. Revelation 21:22 tells us Jesus is the temple. So our continuous service is to Him.


Now, here's a point where I think people really start to miss out on how incredible Heaven will be. Even Christians, because we carry with us the baggage of a sin nature, recoil at being told we'll be serving God in Heaven. I think that's because we have a misconception of what service is. We think of it as some sort of demeaning task. However, that comes from our arrogance. Service is meant to be an act of love. At least, that's what Jesus did when He came "not to be served, but to serve" (Matthew 20:28). Now, I cannot say we definitely won't be washing dishes in Heaven, but I know in Jesus' parable of the talents when He greets the faithful servants, He says, "‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master’" (Matthew 25:14-30). So whatever we do, and we could spend another whole sermon talking about all these possibilities, we can know for sure it will be done with joy--out of a pure love for Him. It's going to be amazing. I can promise you that. But better yet, He did.

and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.

We can definitely see how these next few lines feed into each other. We will be standing before the throne of God, because of Jesus' love, the love of God. We will be enjoying life as it was meant to be; our lives, untainted by sin, being service to God, because of that same love. Now we see we are sheltered by His presence. We're taken care of...because of His love. We could camp out here all day, but let's just look at how the passage itself illustrates it-->

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore;

This is an awesome picture. First, I do think there is a spiritual aspect to this promise. For many of you, this will remind you of Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied."(Matthew 5:6). This blessing happens on earth, but here we see our longing for God fully satisfied.


Nonetheless, there is a physical aspect to this promise, as well. Hunger and thirst are realities of our human weakness. Some reading this post have felt the impact of really needing food. Many around the world die from this every day. From what I've seen online, approximately 21,000. That's astronomical. And that, in part, is what is being promised here. All the physical pains in this fallen world will cease. No one will go hungry. No one will feel the pain of arthritis, or asthma, or diabetes, or cancer. Life will be as God intended in the garden of Eden...only better! The next point continues this thought-->

the sun shall not strike them,

nor any scorching heat.

We already mentioned there won't be a physical sun, per se, in Heaven. However, I think this promise alludes to something else about Heaven's environment. Not only will our bodies be freed from physical maladies, but the environment itself will be perfect. This truth really struck me last year when I was reading a tiny book by C.S. Lewis called "The Great Divorce", which actually has nothing to with divorce, but is an allegory about Heaven and Hell (I highly recommend it!). Because of how most modern images and films depict Heaven--vague, bright whiteness or...clouds--I think we tend to have a very sterile picture of Heaven in our minds (which could feed the disinterest some feel). I won't dwell on this for long, but thinking of it really blows my mind. Take a few seconds to think of all the things you love about Earth: maybe a sunset, trees in the fall, a beach, a clear night sky... (you fill in the blank). This world is truly beautiful... AND, this is the tainted version! Why should we expect Heaven to be less stunning? It will be even better...and without the bad points. The sun won't burn, mosquitoes won't bite, poison ivy won't...poison.

17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd,

and he will guide them to springs of living water,

Here, again, we are reminded that this is all because of Jesus' love. We have this great statement: the Lamb is the Shepherd. The one who is in control, died in our place, as our sacrificial Lamb. Now, He leads us by springs of living waters. This probably reminds you of Psalm 23, "The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters...." Or possibly, the story of the woman at the well, when Jesus tells her, "...If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water... whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:10,14). This water, this salvation, will never run dry.

and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Oh, what comfort this is. There's nothing I can do to make this more clear. This world is hard. It is full of heart break and disappointments. We lose those we love. We experience ridicule. We cause pain to those around us. There are many reasons for tears. Yet, this is not forever! Like Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 4:17-18, "17 For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, 18 as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."

There will be no more need for tears. AND, if that wasn't encouraging enough, look at the verse again. He doesn't just say, "you won't cry anymore". He says, "God will wipe away every tear from their eyes". The hands that formed the universe will reach down to wipe away your tears.


Breath-taking. This image...is absolutely wonderful.

However, as I mentioned when I preached on this in September, there is a great number from every tribe, people, and language...but it's not everyone.

This is for those who have 'washed their robes white in the blood of the Lamb'. Now, this is actually a really paradoxical statement. However, to those of us who have grown up in the church, it seems common place. However, typically, blood doesn't make things white...or clean. But Jesus, who is completely pure, shed His blood in our place. This picture isn't about people who will be worthy. It's about Hell-deserving people who have accepted Christ's forgiveness, who have given Him their lives and been saved by His grace. It's all about Him.

But there's another group. Those who aren't cleaned...by choice. Revelation 9:20-21 tells us, "20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, 21 nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts." We then see in Revelation 20:12-15, "12 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... 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
I do not need to go into the same detail here about Hell as I did about Heaven. They are opposites. One is eternal life. One is eternal torment. And the people who enjoy Heaven are not somehow better than those who suffer Hell. The difference is Jesus Christ. Has the Lamb become your Shepherd, or not? " 9 because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved... 13 For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved” (Romans 10:9-10,13).

And, again, I think that is the main point in this passage. Remember those two questions from Revelation 6?

Revelation 6:10b“O Sovereign Lord, holy and true, how long before you will judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”

• Not until all who will be saved are.

Revelation 6:17 for the great day of their wrath has come, and who can stand?”

• Those. Are you among them? Are you calling people to be?

Judgment is coming. Only those in Christ will be able to stand. But, oh, what standing this will be! Come to Jesus.