Inside The New Jerusalem
Revelation 21:23-22:5
Message #5
We are moving toward the end of our spontaneous mini-series. I was compelled to do this mini-series on Heaven, and we are blessed to be moving toward the end of it. We are in our fifth message on Heaven, and if you haven’t heard the others, I strongly encourage you to get them, watch them or listen to them, all over at wordbymail.com or download the WordByMail phone app.
Our goal has been for you to know that Heaven is real. Heaven is real! It’s more real than you think. It’s more real than your affected imagination can conjure up because our minds have been so influenced by the enemy’s use of the world and mythology and all this crazy stuff, that we have this incorrect view of Heaven. I want you to know that you can imagine Heaven as real as this life. In fact, more real. This life – perfected. This life – glorified. This life – intensified. And I want you to sense it. I want you to feel it. I want you to imagine yourself there so that you are anxious (in a good way) about Heaven. And so that you are more anxious and more bold to share with those who may not be going there how to get there so that they will be there with you. Right? That’s the goal. That’s the goal of Heaven.
So, we ended the last message in Revelation 21 verses 22-23. We said there is no physical Temple in the New Jerusalem. We started looking at the outside of this new city, this New Jerusalem on the New Earth, which is Heaven. So, when I say New Earth, what I mean is Heaven. The New Earth is Heaven. The New Jerusalem is our base of operation on the New Earth, which is Heaven. Keep following me.
Last message we said there is no Temple there. Why? Because the Lord God and the Lamb are the Temple. The Temple is the place where God meets with the people and all of the New Jerusalem is the place where God meets with the people and where his presence dwells. And so that is the Temple, the entire New Jerusalem, as big as we talked about it in our last message. And then verse 23 again re-focused us with this repetitive intensity on the single most important part of Heaven.
Revelation 21:23 (ESV)
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.
The glory of God illuminates the city and the Lamb is its light. I need to continue to tell you this because all of your misassumptions and the effects of mythology on you don’t make this clear. So, get rid of all this other stuff and hear this. The most vital all-encompassing, indescribable truth of the New Jerusalem, which is Heaven, is the permanent, full, real, tangible presence of the Lord God Almighty. That’s what Heaven is. That is where Heaven is – Heaven is where God is.
And so, how many times have you seen silly movies inspired by principalities and powers about Heaven that don’t include God? Or don’t include at least the indescribable glory of God? And how could there be such a movie? We need to be very, very, very clear on the best part of Heaven. And that is we will be enjoying the full, tangible, indescribable presence of God, the touchable, real, communicable presence of God. Amen? Don’t forget that.
In this message, we continue the tour of the New Jerusalem. As I said, we were outside looking in, and looking at the size. Today we kind of go inside the New Jerusalem, which is our base of operations in Heaven. John’s angelic tour gave us the awesomeness of the size and the look of Heaven with the glory of God shining through it in our last message. Now we go into the center, into an area that you’re going to see, which looks just like a certain garden that you might remember.
We are going to see the people in the city, we mentioned that last study. We will see them more today. We are going to see a river and we are going to see a Tree of Life. We are going to see the River of Life and the Tree of Life, both coming from the throne of God in the center of Heaven, much like a garden, if you’ve ever read Genesis. We are going to see the throne of God. We are going to see ourselves as his servants worshiping God. We are going to acknowledge that we will see the very face of God. And then we are going to talk in this message about ruling and reigning from the New Jerusalem as our base of operations in Heaven.
John starts again in verse 23, we need to pick it up for context, and then we will move forward.
Revelation 21:23–24 (ESV)
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.
24 By its light (the Glory of God and the Lamb) will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,
In the glory of God will the nations walk, that should bring up a question for you. The kings of the earth bring their glory into the New Jerusalem. The Greek word for the word “nations” there is ETHNOS. We get our English word “ethnic” from that word. When it is used in the plural it means “races of people.” It means “nations of people.” It means “peoples” (in plural). It means “people groups.”
Let’s just talk about this. The nations will walk. Again, we are so hung up on this ethereal, disembodied, all spiritual cloud and harp propaganda that the enemy has fed into your mind, that we say, “Eh, the nations walk.” But we don’t really see the nations walking in Heaven. We think, “Oh, well that means clouds and harps, right? Because everything about Heaven means clouds and harps.”
No! It means nations are walking. Turn to Revelation 7 verses 9 and 10. John says,
Revelation 7:9–10 (ESV)
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!”
These are the nations who are walking in the New Jerusalem. They are the same nations and tribes and peoples and tongues and languages that are standing at the throne and worshiping God and bowing down and crying out “Salvation belongs to our God!”
It’s the real deal. When you read the nations will walk in the New Jerusalem, you need to see a whole bunch of people walking on real ground, in a real city whose center looks like a garden, and they are really walking up to a throne where God really is sitting. And they are really worshiping him. They are walking, living, relating – all in the light of the glory of God.
And again, the real question in all of our study about Heaven, is have you joined the nations who will be walking in the New Jerusalem? Do you count yourself among these peoples, these nations, these tribes, these tongues? Do you see yourself soon (and trust me it is soon, and very soon) going to see the King?
It is soon and very soon that you are going to see the King. I don’t care if you live another hundred years. That is like a tenth of a day. So that is like two-point-four hours. If you have a hundred years left and God’s timeline is a day is equal to a thousand years, then you have two-point-four hours left before you see the King.
Do you see yourself walking on the streets of the New Jerusalem with these nations, with these tribes and peoples and languages and tongues, and walking up to the throne? Because if you don’t see yourself there, you should. And if choose to not see yourself there, then you really need to see yourself in the alternative eternity, because there is only one of two. And you need to see yourself very clearly in one or the other so that you are not surprised when you get there. And you won’t be. So, if that’s not you walking on the streets with the nations under the glory of God, make it you today.
Back in Revelation 21 verse 24, it says The Kings of the Earth will Bring their GLORY into the New Jerusalem. Let me ask you a question. When was the last time the “Kings of the Earth” brought their “glory,” if you will, to this same King of Kings, not in the New Jerusalem, but in the Old Jerusalem? It was in Bethlehem. It wasn’t quite Old Jerusalem, but it was a suburb if you will. It was just outside the Old Jerusalem.
The kings of the earth brought their “glory” to this same King of Kings. Do you remember? It was the Magi who came from foreign nations as kings of those nations who came to worship this same King of Kings as a babe in the manger. And again, we don’t have a hard time imagining a manger and Jesus being born and the Magi. Maybe you look on your fireplace mantel every year and you know exactly what it looks like.
We can see that. I am telling you Revelation is the same level of reality. The Magi, the kings of the nations, those who are saved, will come and will bring the evidence of their “glory” if you will, into the New Jerusalem to this same King of Kings.
What is the question this brings up? The question is: Are there Kings of the Earth? Are there kings on the earth? Are there kings under the King of Kings? If there are nations, do they have rulers? Because here it says the nations walk in the glory of God and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into the New Jerusalem. Well, if that is real, how real is it? I’m telling you it is very real! It’s as real as it says it is. Yes. There will be nations on the earth. Yes. There will be kings on the earth. They will be saved.
See, we have a hard time. There are so many verses (and I had a hard time picking them to decide what to show you) that talk about us ruling this earth. And we apply them all to the Millennium when we know that we will rule and reign with Jesus Christ. If I were to tell you that we, as the saints of God, will rule and reign with Jesus Christ on the earth during the Millennium, you would just say, “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before.”
But what if I told you that so many of those verses actually refer to eternity? You’d say, “Yeah, yeah. I know. Eternity. The Millennium.” No! The Millennium is one day long. A thousand years is as a day. So, I am going to show you just a couple of verses that don’t talk about us ruling and reigning the earth for a day. They talk about us ruling and reigning the earth forever, for eternity. Are you ready to get that Millennium-only image out of your mind?
I know the new earth is coming. I know that Revelation 21 verse 1 says the old earth has passed away and the new earth has come. But that doesn’t change everything. It’s not like now it’s a cloud and it’s not an earth anymore. It is an earth. The New Earth is described more like this earth was originally than anything else. That is what you need to get into your mind.
You can turn back to Daniel 7 and you can make some notes there. We did a message called “Daniel in Revelation.” You can look for that on wordbymail.com. We showed how the Book of Daniel is so connected to the Book of Revelation. Well, let’s talk about one of these key chapters. In Daniel Chapter 7, Daniel is seeing the Antichrist’s rule during the second half of the Millennium. Daniel is seeing, in a vision, the Antichrist rising up as the little horn among the ten nations and ruling over the earth. That is the picture.
Daniel 7 verses 21 and 22, we are in the last half of the Tribulation now.
Daniel 7:21–22 (ESV)
21 As I looked, this horn (Antichrist) made war with the saints and prevailed over them,
22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.
And many of you, if you are Biblically knowledgeable, would say “Yeah. I know. We are going to possess the kingdom (meaning the kingdom of this earth) during the Millennium.”
There’s a day coming when the Ancient of Days, God, is going to come back. Judgment is given or ruled for the saints and the saints are going to possess the kingdom. And you say, “I see that in my mind, that is the Millennium.”
Here’s the problem. Skip down to verse 27 and prepare to say “Oh, I see.”
Daniel 7:27 (ESV)
27 And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’
And how often do we say this? “Oh yeah, everlasting kingdom. That is for a thousand years in the Millennium.”
No, that is one day. So, what does everlasting mean? It means forever. That’s what it means.
Let’s look at it in the NLT.
Daniel 7:27 (NLT)
27 Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.”
So, if the kingdom is given over to the saints and the rule of Jesus Christ will last forever, and all the rulers of all the kingdoms on the earth will serve and obey Jesus Christ forever, that is referring not just to the Millennium, but also forever, just like it says. His kingdom will last forever.
So, there are real kingdoms in Heaven. Real people, real earth, real stuff to do, real kingdoms to be governed, it is real. That has been our whole point. Not kingdoms of clouds with choirs of harp players. That is the devil’s propaganda to get you to not be excited about Heaven. Heaven is real! It’s more real than this life by far, including real kingdoms and a real New Earth.
What about that famous Christmas verse? This is a great one. Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7. These are such wonderful, wonderful verses. We read them every year at Christmas time. Let’s look at verse 7.
Isaiah 9:7 (ESV)
7 Of the increase of his government . . . there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, . . .
Think about it. A government that is increasing forever. A government that is increasing with no end. Guys, an increasing government over a kingdom where there is no end, can only be eternity. So often we use this, even when we really dig into it, of the Millennium, and say that Christ is going to rule the world. Well, guess what? The Millennium ends. And his government, the increase of his government never ends. Now, this blows your mind, because the world is finite. Well, “never end” is infinite. So, if the world is finite, but the increase of his government never ends, what is it referring to? It has to be referring to something that can be governed that never ends. What could that be?
What do we know that is ever-expanding and never ends? The universe (and eternity). Our universe is ever-expanding, and there is no end to it. Our universe is expanding right now. More now. Still more. Still more expanding. And coincidentally, the increase of the government of Jesus will never end. And our universe will never end. Is there a chance that there is a connection between the governing of Jesus Christ and the universe? Please say yes! And who is going to rule such a big place? We are!
Listen, I don’t know about you, but most people after a while on vacation say, “Can I possibly be productive? Is there something I could do with myself?” Ask someone who hasn’t worked in a while. You’ve got to do something. We are born to be productive, and that fits with ruling all of the universe. So, is it true that you may be part of ruling the nations of eternity? Yes.
This is a good time to be talking about our role in governing eternity. Haven’t you thought about it? You either want to rule or don’t want to rule. Some of you are like, yeah, that would be cool. Some of you are like, “Oh, man. Do I have to be in charge of somebody?” Listen, what if I told you this? What if I told you that God created this earth for Mankind to rule? Would you believe me? If I told you that this earth was created originally and then the dominion of this earth was given to man, would you believe me? And if I told you that Heaven is God restoring this earth to the way he originally created it, would you believe me? Then why would you not think that Mankind will rule the entire earth? It’s obvious.
Listen. The New Earth is God restoring this earth to the way that it was, which was created as a paradise and given to Mankind to rule. And so, that is what is going to happen.
Here is what Randy Alcorn, writer of the book “Heaven” says.
God is by nature a creator and ruler. He is glorified by what he creates and rules. He delights to delegate authority and dominion to his children to rule his creation on his behalf.
If I were teaching Genesis, would you not say that’s true? That is exactly what God did in Genesis, but that is a quote about Heaven. And God is going to recreate the earth and then he is going to delight in the glory he gets from recreating the earth and delegating the authority and dominion to his children to rule! It’s really good! It’s good news!
The Bible makes it really clear. The earth is returning to its pre-cursed state. And that means that we are going to return to having dominion over the earth. Not sinful, self-centered fleshly dominion like Mankind has now, instead it’s the kind that God designed us to have in the picture we see so shortly of Adam and Eve. God’s plan is a plan of redemption. He is going to redeem us to himself and he is going to redeem this earth to its pre-cursed state. This means the glory of his creation given to Mankind to have dominion over, which is the logic.
Write these verses in your margin. 1 Corinthians 6 verses 2 and 3.
1 Corinthians 6:2–3 (ESV)
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? . . .
3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? . . .
And if you’ll read the context there in 1 Corinthians 6, you’ll see that Paul is being totally cynical. I mean, he is just like, “Have you learned nothing? Don’t you know that the saints are going to judge or rule the world?” And of course, he is talking about relationships here. But the point is, he says it as if we should know we are going to judge the world.
2 Timothy 2:12 (ESV)
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him . . .
And sometimes we think “reign with him? What does that mean? Is that Jesus ruling and us saying ‘Yay Jesus, go Jesus?’” No. It means we are going to share in the reign, the dominion over creation with him. That’s what it means.
Revelation 22 verse 5 says,
Revelation 22:5 (ESV)
5 . . . and they (the saints) will reign forever and ever.
Reign means “to rule, to oversee, to govern, to have dominion of.” We will reign forever and ever.
And let’s look at the famous parable of the Ten Minas (Greek word that has to do with about three months’ worth of income.) In Luke 19, Jesus tells this parable, and I’m just going to catch you up real fast. Jesus tells a parable about a king who left a country to go away for quite some time. And before he left, he called ten servants and he gave them each something, he entrusted them with something. Let me just tell you so that you don’t have to figure it out. The servants – that’s us. The king – that’s Jesus. When he entrusts us with this “minas” (which is probably good that we don’t even really know what that word means), it means he entrusted us with something, with a gift. And then he goes away for some time.
Luke 19 verse 15 says, When he returned, having received the kingdom, He called the servants - to see how they’d done with what had been entrusted to them.
This is a picture of you and me.
Luke 19:16–19 (NLT)
16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’
17 “‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’
18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’
19 “‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’
Again, depending on your personality, you may say yay or nay on that. But Jesus says this could be your reward, to be governor of ten cities depending on how you do with the gifts he has entrusted you with here.
The point of the parable, of course, is that what you do with what God entrusts you with here, determines what God entrusts you with for eternity, with an obvious assumption that there is ruling and reigning involved in eternity.
The third servant, if you were to keep reading in Luke 19, you find out he did nothing. And the king yelled at him. The king is like, “What? You did nothing with what I gave you?” And he says “Take what little that servant has and give it to the guy who did the most with what I gave him!” And the servants are like “Yeah, but he already has a bunch!” And Jesus says “He who has will be given more, and he who has not even what he has will be taken from him.”
He is saying, “Listen. I gave you something. I went away. I redeemed a kingdom back and now I am coming back to see how you handled what I gave you, and that is going to determine what you do for eternity.”
So, there are two lessons for me in Luke 19.
#1) There is governing in heaven, there is ruling, reigning, dominion in heaven.
#2) We ought to do something with whatever God gave us.
Listen, you don’t have to be in the ministry. What God made you to do, I’m asking you, are you doing something with it?
The point is, I can see everybody I know and say, “I know what God has given you. Are you using it? Are you doing something with it?” Because there is a day coming when the Master is going to ask how you did with what he gave you, and it would be really good if you could say something besides “Umm, nothing.”
Revelation 21. Let’s re-read verse 24 for context.
Revelation 21:24-26 (ESV)
24 By its light (the Glory of God and the Lamb) 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.
This is what we have been dealing with.
Now just in case you mistakenly think that “all ‘dawgs’ go to Heaven” or that everyone gets to automatically be part of this glorious eternity in Heaven,
Revelation 21:27 (ESV)
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.
Guys, we’ve got to let this really sink in. Everybody doesn’t just automatically go to Heaven. There is nothing to support that; nothing except the devil’s deception of Mankind. The Bible says only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life go to Heaven. The Bible is very clear. You need to be saying, “How is my name written there?”
And I tell you it is in the blood of Christ. And he writes it there, as far as you are concerned, the moment that you put your full faith and trust in him as your Savior and your Lord. He writes it in blood. The blood is not erasable. Once it is written, it is there. It’s there when you make him your Lord and Savior. Do that.
Don’t argue with God. Don’t say, “Hey, God. What about all the other religions? Why don’t you just let everybody in Heaven?” I mean, you can argue with him, but, you know, you’re going to lose. Don’t argue with God. Consider his claim that only those whose names are written in the Book of Life will enter Heaven, and then make sure your name is written there. That’s how you do it. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. You’ll be glad you did.
Revelation 22 verse 1 is a continuation of Chapter 21, and it goes to verse 5. The chapters and verses are not divine, they are manmade.
Revelation 22:1–2(a) (ESV)
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 . . .
I told you we were going to see a garden in the center of New Jerusalem that reminds us of another garden where there was a River of Life. That was the Garden of Eden. And there was a River of Life there, sparkling clear as crystal. ESV says bright here, but maybe a better translation in our minds would be clear. Everything, remember everything, has been clear. Clear as crystal for the glory of God. And in the original garden where God dwelt with man, there was a River of Life. Jesus referred to the River of Life often, as the symbol of eternal life.
And also, not just a River of Life flowing from the throne of God and the New Jerusalem, but also the second half of verse 2 says also, on either side of the river, the tree of life. Do you see the renewing picture of the Garden of Eden?
Revelation 22:2(b) (ESV)
2 . . . 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.
It’s very interesting that it says month there because that is a determination of time. And some of us would say there is no time in Heaven. But apparently, there is, because there is a “Fruit of the Month” club.
Would you say not only did you not know there were months in Heaven, but what is healing? Why is there healing, I thought there was no more sickness, no more pain? There isn’t. The word there is a Greek word that we get our word “therapy” or “therapeutic” from. So, these fruits, twelve of them, one for each month, are for the therapy of the nations. And how will they partake of this therapy? They will eat. “Well, certainly that doesn’t mean actually eat.” Why not? Why doesn’t it mean that you walk up to the tree, grab the fruit and actually eat it and it will be an eternal therapy for you? That is actually what it says. I’m going to just go with what it says.
There’s the Tree of Life there. The Tree of Life that Adam and Eve were banned from, do you remember two trees were critical in the Garden of Eden?
#1) The Tree of Life
#2) The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
And once the devil convinced Adam and Eve to partake of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they were banned from the Tree of Life. Why? Because God did not want them to live forever in the curse. And so, he banned them. He put the Cherubim with the flaming sword and said “No, not yet.”
And here is something that should blow your mind. Since that day in Genesis Chapter 3, God has been redeeming Mankind to that relationship. And you would say, “Oh my word, that’s got to be at least what, six thousand years ago.” That is six days. It hasn’t even been a week in God’s timeline since Adam and Eve brought the curse upon Mankind. And since that day, God has been working to restore the relationship with Mankind that he had with Adam and Eve.
That is what Heaven is about. That’s what the New Earth is about. That’s what the New Jerusalem is about. It is a return to the paradise that God created to commune with Mankind! And I am so pumped to go there! I can’t wait to be in that Garden of Eden place with God! And my family! I mean, really, what else do you want? Garden of Eden. God. My family. It’s all good! I don’t mean to oversimplify it. But really, that should be our driving force. It really, really is.
So, there is a garden. River of Life, Tree of Life – both symbols of God restoring us to the relationship that he had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Continuing that comparison of the Garden of Eden with the garden at the center of the New Jerusalem, Revelation 22 verse 3 says,
Revelation 22:3 (ESV)
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.
Do you see the connection? There will no longer be the curse. There will be the Tree of the River of Life, and the Tree of Life and there will no longer be the curse. He is describing the Garden of Eden.
The curse will be gone. God will be there. That is good. That is Heaven. That is the big news about Heaven. And we still get to worship. And that I am very, very excited about.
…his servants will worship him. How? In a greater way than we worship him now, in a more tangible way than we worship him now. Why? Because he will tangibly, actually, for real be there.
Revelation 22:4 (ESV)
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
How much will he be there? They will see his face! Do you want to see the face of God? You can see the face of God! And in this manner, seeing the face of God is worship and eternal life. There is a judgment face that we dealt with back in Revelation 20, the Great White Throne of Judgment. Don’t digress. This is the face of God you want to see as you are worshiping him.
Do you look up when you are worshiping? Do you look up at the bright lights and just imagine God, just sense God’s presence? What happens on the day when you look up and you are looking into his eyes? I mean you are really looking into the face of God? You’re going to be like, “Okay. This is out of control.” I don’t have words. There are no words for this. We will worship at the throne with the River of Life and the Tree of Life and the fruit of the month club for therapy for eternity. We’ll worship God and we will look up into his eyes. And people say, “How can we all do that at once?” I don’t know! I’ll tell you when we get there!
They will see his face, verse 4 says, and his name will be on their foreheads. Don’t you when you miss someone, just long to look into their eyes? I just want to look at you. Just sit down here. Let me just look at you. Right? Can you imagine doing that with God? And what does that mean; his name will be on their foreheads. I don’t know that either. But I imagine Moses’ face shining after he had spent time with God. And he would come out of the tent of meeting, and his face would be shining, And the people would say, “Whoa! You just saw God!” Right? That is what I kind of see as his name on our foreheads. It’s the evidence that we are his.
In Revelation 22 verse 5, John reiterates, again, the phenomenal truth of us walking and living in the full glory of God.
Revelation 22:5 (ESV)
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.
Isn’t it amazing how the Holy Spirit continues to return the subject of Heaven back to the glory of God? Every time we do a message we start and stop with the glory of God because that is what Heaven is about. And so again, the Holy Spirit wraps up this section saying, no night, no need for light or lamp for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. That is us serving him.
So let me just remind you of what we have done in this message.
We have seen ourselves serving God and worshiping him.
We have seen the face of God and had his name put on our foreheads.
We have no need of light; we are walking in the glory of God
We are reigning forever and ever under Jesus Christ. Not just a world, although certainly the world, but the entire universe.
Guys, Heaven is real. Please hear me. Heaven is real, man, it’s real! It’s much more real than we think. It’s much more real than what has been fed to us. We need to rid ourselves of the misassumptions and the misunderstandings and say, “Lord, Heaven is more real than this life. My relationship with you there will be so much more real, so much more tangible. My relationship with those that I love that will be there with me will be so much more real, so much more tangible, because it will be free of sin and free of the curse as will the earth that we will live on. And yes Lord, if you want me to rule, I will.”
We will really serve God and really worship him. We will really see his face. We will really be with him. We will really walk and live and relate and commune in the glory of God. We’ll really reign forever with him and have dominion over the earth and even over the universe, ever-expanding, with him.
Do not miss it! Don’t miss Heaven! That’s what it is all about. It’s not about this life. Paul says in Romans 8 verse 18, for the sufferings of this present life aren’t even worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us.
It’s not about this life. It’s about Heaven. Make sure you are there. Make sure your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life by putting your full faith and your full trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Let’s make sure we see each other on the streets of gold!
Our goal has been for you to know that Heaven is real. Heaven is real! It’s more real than you think. It’s more real than your affected imagination can conjure up because our minds have been so influenced by the enemy’s use of the world and mythology and all this crazy stuff, that we have this incorrect view of Heaven. I want you to know that you can imagine Heaven as real as this life. In fact, more real. This life – perfected. This life – glorified. This life – intensified. And I want you to sense it. I want you to feel it. I want you to imagine yourself there so that you are anxious (in a good way) about Heaven. And so that you are more anxious and more bold to share with those who may not be going there how to get there so that they will be there with you. Right? That’s the goal. That’s the goal of Heaven.
So, we ended the last message in Revelation 21 verses 22-23. We said there is no physical Temple in the New Jerusalem. We started looking at the outside of this new city, this New Jerusalem on the New Earth, which is Heaven. So, when I say New Earth, what I mean is Heaven. The New Earth is Heaven. The New Jerusalem is our base of operation on the New Earth, which is Heaven. Keep following me.
Last message we said there is no Temple there. Why? Because the Lord God and the Lamb are the Temple. The Temple is the place where God meets with the people and all of the New Jerusalem is the place where God meets with the people and where his presence dwells. And so that is the Temple, the entire New Jerusalem, as big as we talked about it in our last message. And then verse 23 again re-focused us with this repetitive intensity on the single most important part of Heaven.
Revelation 21:23 (ESV)
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.
The glory of God illuminates the city and the Lamb is its light. I need to continue to tell you this because all of your misassumptions and the effects of mythology on you don’t make this clear. So, get rid of all this other stuff and hear this. The most vital all-encompassing, indescribable truth of the New Jerusalem, which is Heaven, is the permanent, full, real, tangible presence of the Lord God Almighty. That’s what Heaven is. That is where Heaven is – Heaven is where God is.
And so, how many times have you seen silly movies inspired by principalities and powers about Heaven that don’t include God? Or don’t include at least the indescribable glory of God? And how could there be such a movie? We need to be very, very, very clear on the best part of Heaven. And that is we will be enjoying the full, tangible, indescribable presence of God, the touchable, real, communicable presence of God. Amen? Don’t forget that.
In this message, we continue the tour of the New Jerusalem. As I said, we were outside looking in, and looking at the size. Today we kind of go inside the New Jerusalem, which is our base of operations in Heaven. John’s angelic tour gave us the awesomeness of the size and the look of Heaven with the glory of God shining through it in our last message. Now we go into the center, into an area that you’re going to see, which looks just like a certain garden that you might remember.
We are going to see the people in the city, we mentioned that last study. We will see them more today. We are going to see a river and we are going to see a Tree of Life. We are going to see the River of Life and the Tree of Life, both coming from the throne of God in the center of Heaven, much like a garden, if you’ve ever read Genesis. We are going to see the throne of God. We are going to see ourselves as his servants worshiping God. We are going to acknowledge that we will see the very face of God. And then we are going to talk in this message about ruling and reigning from the New Jerusalem as our base of operations in Heaven.
John starts again in verse 23, we need to pick it up for context, and then we will move forward.
Revelation 21:23–24 (ESV)
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.
24 By its light (the Glory of God and the Lamb) will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,
In the glory of God will the nations walk, that should bring up a question for you. The kings of the earth bring their glory into the New Jerusalem. The Greek word for the word “nations” there is ETHNOS. We get our English word “ethnic” from that word. When it is used in the plural it means “races of people.” It means “nations of people.” It means “peoples” (in plural). It means “people groups.”
Let’s just talk about this. The nations will walk. Again, we are so hung up on this ethereal, disembodied, all spiritual cloud and harp propaganda that the enemy has fed into your mind, that we say, “Eh, the nations walk.” But we don’t really see the nations walking in Heaven. We think, “Oh, well that means clouds and harps, right? Because everything about Heaven means clouds and harps.”
No! It means nations are walking. Turn to Revelation 7 verses 9 and 10. John says,
Revelation 7:9–10 (ESV)
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!”
These are the nations who are walking in the New Jerusalem. They are the same nations and tribes and peoples and tongues and languages that are standing at the throne and worshiping God and bowing down and crying out “Salvation belongs to our God!”
It’s the real deal. When you read the nations will walk in the New Jerusalem, you need to see a whole bunch of people walking on real ground, in a real city whose center looks like a garden, and they are really walking up to a throne where God really is sitting. And they are really worshiping him. They are walking, living, relating – all in the light of the glory of God.
And again, the real question in all of our study about Heaven, is have you joined the nations who will be walking in the New Jerusalem? Do you count yourself among these peoples, these nations, these tribes, these tongues? Do you see yourself soon (and trust me it is soon, and very soon) going to see the King?
It is soon and very soon that you are going to see the King. I don’t care if you live another hundred years. That is like a tenth of a day. So that is like two-point-four hours. If you have a hundred years left and God’s timeline is a day is equal to a thousand years, then you have two-point-four hours left before you see the King.
Do you see yourself walking on the streets of the New Jerusalem with these nations, with these tribes and peoples and languages and tongues, and walking up to the throne? Because if you don’t see yourself there, you should. And if choose to not see yourself there, then you really need to see yourself in the alternative eternity, because there is only one of two. And you need to see yourself very clearly in one or the other so that you are not surprised when you get there. And you won’t be. So, if that’s not you walking on the streets with the nations under the glory of God, make it you today.
Back in Revelation 21 verse 24, it says The Kings of the Earth will Bring their GLORY into the New Jerusalem. Let me ask you a question. When was the last time the “Kings of the Earth” brought their “glory,” if you will, to this same King of Kings, not in the New Jerusalem, but in the Old Jerusalem? It was in Bethlehem. It wasn’t quite Old Jerusalem, but it was a suburb if you will. It was just outside the Old Jerusalem.
The kings of the earth brought their “glory” to this same King of Kings. Do you remember? It was the Magi who came from foreign nations as kings of those nations who came to worship this same King of Kings as a babe in the manger. And again, we don’t have a hard time imagining a manger and Jesus being born and the Magi. Maybe you look on your fireplace mantel every year and you know exactly what it looks like.
We can see that. I am telling you Revelation is the same level of reality. The Magi, the kings of the nations, those who are saved, will come and will bring the evidence of their “glory” if you will, into the New Jerusalem to this same King of Kings.
What is the question this brings up? The question is: Are there Kings of the Earth? Are there kings on the earth? Are there kings under the King of Kings? If there are nations, do they have rulers? Because here it says the nations walk in the glory of God and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into the New Jerusalem. Well, if that is real, how real is it? I’m telling you it is very real! It’s as real as it says it is. Yes. There will be nations on the earth. Yes. There will be kings on the earth. They will be saved.
See, we have a hard time. There are so many verses (and I had a hard time picking them to decide what to show you) that talk about us ruling this earth. And we apply them all to the Millennium when we know that we will rule and reign with Jesus Christ. If I were to tell you that we, as the saints of God, will rule and reign with Jesus Christ on the earth during the Millennium, you would just say, “Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard it before.”
But what if I told you that so many of those verses actually refer to eternity? You’d say, “Yeah, yeah. I know. Eternity. The Millennium.” No! The Millennium is one day long. A thousand years is as a day. So, I am going to show you just a couple of verses that don’t talk about us ruling and reigning the earth for a day. They talk about us ruling and reigning the earth forever, for eternity. Are you ready to get that Millennium-only image out of your mind?
I know the new earth is coming. I know that Revelation 21 verse 1 says the old earth has passed away and the new earth has come. But that doesn’t change everything. It’s not like now it’s a cloud and it’s not an earth anymore. It is an earth. The New Earth is described more like this earth was originally than anything else. That is what you need to get into your mind.
You can turn back to Daniel 7 and you can make some notes there. We did a message called “Daniel in Revelation.” You can look for that on wordbymail.com. We showed how the Book of Daniel is so connected to the Book of Revelation. Well, let’s talk about one of these key chapters. In Daniel Chapter 7, Daniel is seeing the Antichrist’s rule during the second half of the Millennium. Daniel is seeing, in a vision, the Antichrist rising up as the little horn among the ten nations and ruling over the earth. That is the picture.
Daniel 7 verses 21 and 22, we are in the last half of the Tribulation now.
Daniel 7:21–22 (ESV)
21 As I looked, this horn (Antichrist) made war with the saints and prevailed over them,
22 until the Ancient of Days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most High, and the time came when the saints possessed the kingdom.
And many of you, if you are Biblically knowledgeable, would say “Yeah. I know. We are going to possess the kingdom (meaning the kingdom of this earth) during the Millennium.”
There’s a day coming when the Ancient of Days, God, is going to come back. Judgment is given or ruled for the saints and the saints are going to possess the kingdom. And you say, “I see that in my mind, that is the Millennium.”
Here’s the problem. Skip down to verse 27 and prepare to say “Oh, I see.”
Daniel 7:27 (ESV)
27 And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High; his kingdom shall be an everlasting kingdom, and all dominions shall serve and obey him.’
And how often do we say this? “Oh yeah, everlasting kingdom. That is for a thousand years in the Millennium.”
No, that is one day. So, what does everlasting mean? It means forever. That’s what it means.
Let’s look at it in the NLT.
Daniel 7:27 (NLT)
27 Then the sovereignty, power, and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be given to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will last forever, and all rulers will serve and obey him.”
So, if the kingdom is given over to the saints and the rule of Jesus Christ will last forever, and all the rulers of all the kingdoms on the earth will serve and obey Jesus Christ forever, that is referring not just to the Millennium, but also forever, just like it says. His kingdom will last forever.
So, there are real kingdoms in Heaven. Real people, real earth, real stuff to do, real kingdoms to be governed, it is real. That has been our whole point. Not kingdoms of clouds with choirs of harp players. That is the devil’s propaganda to get you to not be excited about Heaven. Heaven is real! It’s more real than this life by far, including real kingdoms and a real New Earth.
What about that famous Christmas verse? This is a great one. Isaiah 9 verses 6 and 7. These are such wonderful, wonderful verses. We read them every year at Christmas time. Let’s look at verse 7.
Isaiah 9:7 (ESV)
7 Of the increase of his government . . . there will be no end, on the throne of David and over his kingdom, . . .
Think about it. A government that is increasing forever. A government that is increasing with no end. Guys, an increasing government over a kingdom where there is no end, can only be eternity. So often we use this, even when we really dig into it, of the Millennium, and say that Christ is going to rule the world. Well, guess what? The Millennium ends. And his government, the increase of his government never ends. Now, this blows your mind, because the world is finite. Well, “never end” is infinite. So, if the world is finite, but the increase of his government never ends, what is it referring to? It has to be referring to something that can be governed that never ends. What could that be?
What do we know that is ever-expanding and never ends? The universe (and eternity). Our universe is ever-expanding, and there is no end to it. Our universe is expanding right now. More now. Still more. Still more expanding. And coincidentally, the increase of the government of Jesus will never end. And our universe will never end. Is there a chance that there is a connection between the governing of Jesus Christ and the universe? Please say yes! And who is going to rule such a big place? We are!
Listen, I don’t know about you, but most people after a while on vacation say, “Can I possibly be productive? Is there something I could do with myself?” Ask someone who hasn’t worked in a while. You’ve got to do something. We are born to be productive, and that fits with ruling all of the universe. So, is it true that you may be part of ruling the nations of eternity? Yes.
This is a good time to be talking about our role in governing eternity. Haven’t you thought about it? You either want to rule or don’t want to rule. Some of you are like, yeah, that would be cool. Some of you are like, “Oh, man. Do I have to be in charge of somebody?” Listen, what if I told you this? What if I told you that God created this earth for Mankind to rule? Would you believe me? If I told you that this earth was created originally and then the dominion of this earth was given to man, would you believe me? And if I told you that Heaven is God restoring this earth to the way he originally created it, would you believe me? Then why would you not think that Mankind will rule the entire earth? It’s obvious.
Listen. The New Earth is God restoring this earth to the way that it was, which was created as a paradise and given to Mankind to rule. And so, that is what is going to happen.
Here is what Randy Alcorn, writer of the book “Heaven” says.
God is by nature a creator and ruler. He is glorified by what he creates and rules. He delights to delegate authority and dominion to his children to rule his creation on his behalf.
If I were teaching Genesis, would you not say that’s true? That is exactly what God did in Genesis, but that is a quote about Heaven. And God is going to recreate the earth and then he is going to delight in the glory he gets from recreating the earth and delegating the authority and dominion to his children to rule! It’s really good! It’s good news!
The Bible makes it really clear. The earth is returning to its pre-cursed state. And that means that we are going to return to having dominion over the earth. Not sinful, self-centered fleshly dominion like Mankind has now, instead it’s the kind that God designed us to have in the picture we see so shortly of Adam and Eve. God’s plan is a plan of redemption. He is going to redeem us to himself and he is going to redeem this earth to its pre-cursed state. This means the glory of his creation given to Mankind to have dominion over, which is the logic.
Write these verses in your margin. 1 Corinthians 6 verses 2 and 3.
1 Corinthians 6:2–3 (ESV)
2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? . . .
3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? . . .
And if you’ll read the context there in 1 Corinthians 6, you’ll see that Paul is being totally cynical. I mean, he is just like, “Have you learned nothing? Don’t you know that the saints are going to judge or rule the world?” And of course, he is talking about relationships here. But the point is, he says it as if we should know we are going to judge the world.
2 Timothy 2:12 (ESV)
12 if we endure, we will also reign with him . . .
And sometimes we think “reign with him? What does that mean? Is that Jesus ruling and us saying ‘Yay Jesus, go Jesus?’” No. It means we are going to share in the reign, the dominion over creation with him. That’s what it means.
Revelation 22 verse 5 says,
Revelation 22:5 (ESV)
5 . . . and they (the saints) will reign forever and ever.
Reign means “to rule, to oversee, to govern, to have dominion of.” We will reign forever and ever.
And let’s look at the famous parable of the Ten Minas (Greek word that has to do with about three months’ worth of income.) In Luke 19, Jesus tells this parable, and I’m just going to catch you up real fast. Jesus tells a parable about a king who left a country to go away for quite some time. And before he left, he called ten servants and he gave them each something, he entrusted them with something. Let me just tell you so that you don’t have to figure it out. The servants – that’s us. The king – that’s Jesus. When he entrusts us with this “minas” (which is probably good that we don’t even really know what that word means), it means he entrusted us with something, with a gift. And then he goes away for some time.
Luke 19 verse 15 says, When he returned, having received the kingdom, He called the servants - to see how they’d done with what had been entrusted to them.
This is a picture of you and me.
Luke 19:16–19 (NLT)
16 The first servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made ten times the original amount!’
17 “‘Well done!’ the king exclaimed. ‘You are a good servant. You have been faithful with the little I entrusted to you, so you will be governor of ten cities as your reward.’
18 “The next servant reported, ‘Master, I invested your money and made five times the original amount.’
19 “‘Well done!’ the king said. ‘You will be governor over five cities.’
Again, depending on your personality, you may say yay or nay on that. But Jesus says this could be your reward, to be governor of ten cities depending on how you do with the gifts he has entrusted you with here.
The point of the parable, of course, is that what you do with what God entrusts you with here, determines what God entrusts you with for eternity, with an obvious assumption that there is ruling and reigning involved in eternity.
The third servant, if you were to keep reading in Luke 19, you find out he did nothing. And the king yelled at him. The king is like, “What? You did nothing with what I gave you?” And he says “Take what little that servant has and give it to the guy who did the most with what I gave him!” And the servants are like “Yeah, but he already has a bunch!” And Jesus says “He who has will be given more, and he who has not even what he has will be taken from him.”
He is saying, “Listen. I gave you something. I went away. I redeemed a kingdom back and now I am coming back to see how you handled what I gave you, and that is going to determine what you do for eternity.”
So, there are two lessons for me in Luke 19.
#1) There is governing in heaven, there is ruling, reigning, dominion in heaven.
#2) We ought to do something with whatever God gave us.
Listen, you don’t have to be in the ministry. What God made you to do, I’m asking you, are you doing something with it?
The point is, I can see everybody I know and say, “I know what God has given you. Are you using it? Are you doing something with it?” Because there is a day coming when the Master is going to ask how you did with what he gave you, and it would be really good if you could say something besides “Umm, nothing.”
Revelation 21. Let’s re-read verse 24 for context.
Revelation 21:24-26 (ESV)
24 By its light (the Glory of God and the Lamb) 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.
This is what we have been dealing with.
Now just in case you mistakenly think that “all ‘dawgs’ go to Heaven” or that everyone gets to automatically be part of this glorious eternity in Heaven,
Revelation 21:27 (ESV)
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.
Guys, we’ve got to let this really sink in. Everybody doesn’t just automatically go to Heaven. There is nothing to support that; nothing except the devil’s deception of Mankind. The Bible says only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life go to Heaven. The Bible is very clear. You need to be saying, “How is my name written there?”
And I tell you it is in the blood of Christ. And he writes it there, as far as you are concerned, the moment that you put your full faith and trust in him as your Savior and your Lord. He writes it in blood. The blood is not erasable. Once it is written, it is there. It’s there when you make him your Lord and Savior. Do that.
Don’t argue with God. Don’t say, “Hey, God. What about all the other religions? Why don’t you just let everybody in Heaven?” I mean, you can argue with him, but, you know, you’re going to lose. Don’t argue with God. Consider his claim that only those whose names are written in the Book of Life will enter Heaven, and then make sure your name is written there. That’s how you do it. Put your faith in Jesus Christ. You’ll be glad you did.
Revelation 22 verse 1 is a continuation of Chapter 21, and it goes to verse 5. The chapters and verses are not divine, they are manmade.
Revelation 22:1–2(a) (ESV)
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 . . .
I told you we were going to see a garden in the center of New Jerusalem that reminds us of another garden where there was a River of Life. That was the Garden of Eden. And there was a River of Life there, sparkling clear as crystal. ESV says bright here, but maybe a better translation in our minds would be clear. Everything, remember everything, has been clear. Clear as crystal for the glory of God. And in the original garden where God dwelt with man, there was a River of Life. Jesus referred to the River of Life often, as the symbol of eternal life.
And also, not just a River of Life flowing from the throne of God and the New Jerusalem, but also the second half of verse 2 says also, on either side of the river, the tree of life. Do you see the renewing picture of the Garden of Eden?
Revelation 22:2(b) (ESV)
2 . . . 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.
It’s very interesting that it says month there because that is a determination of time. And some of us would say there is no time in Heaven. But apparently, there is, because there is a “Fruit of the Month” club.
Would you say not only did you not know there were months in Heaven, but what is healing? Why is there healing, I thought there was no more sickness, no more pain? There isn’t. The word there is a Greek word that we get our word “therapy” or “therapeutic” from. So, these fruits, twelve of them, one for each month, are for the therapy of the nations. And how will they partake of this therapy? They will eat. “Well, certainly that doesn’t mean actually eat.” Why not? Why doesn’t it mean that you walk up to the tree, grab the fruit and actually eat it and it will be an eternal therapy for you? That is actually what it says. I’m going to just go with what it says.
There’s the Tree of Life there. The Tree of Life that Adam and Eve were banned from, do you remember two trees were critical in the Garden of Eden?
#1) The Tree of Life
#2) The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil
And once the devil convinced Adam and Eve to partake of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, they were banned from the Tree of Life. Why? Because God did not want them to live forever in the curse. And so, he banned them. He put the Cherubim with the flaming sword and said “No, not yet.”
And here is something that should blow your mind. Since that day in Genesis Chapter 3, God has been redeeming Mankind to that relationship. And you would say, “Oh my word, that’s got to be at least what, six thousand years ago.” That is six days. It hasn’t even been a week in God’s timeline since Adam and Eve brought the curse upon Mankind. And since that day, God has been working to restore the relationship with Mankind that he had with Adam and Eve.
That is what Heaven is about. That’s what the New Earth is about. That’s what the New Jerusalem is about. It is a return to the paradise that God created to commune with Mankind! And I am so pumped to go there! I can’t wait to be in that Garden of Eden place with God! And my family! I mean, really, what else do you want? Garden of Eden. God. My family. It’s all good! I don’t mean to oversimplify it. But really, that should be our driving force. It really, really is.
So, there is a garden. River of Life, Tree of Life – both symbols of God restoring us to the relationship that he had with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
Continuing that comparison of the Garden of Eden with the garden at the center of the New Jerusalem, Revelation 22 verse 3 says,
Revelation 22:3 (ESV)
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.
Do you see the connection? There will no longer be the curse. There will be the Tree of the River of Life, and the Tree of Life and there will no longer be the curse. He is describing the Garden of Eden.
The curse will be gone. God will be there. That is good. That is Heaven. That is the big news about Heaven. And we still get to worship. And that I am very, very excited about.
…his servants will worship him. How? In a greater way than we worship him now, in a more tangible way than we worship him now. Why? Because he will tangibly, actually, for real be there.
Revelation 22:4 (ESV)
4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
How much will he be there? They will see his face! Do you want to see the face of God? You can see the face of God! And in this manner, seeing the face of God is worship and eternal life. There is a judgment face that we dealt with back in Revelation 20, the Great White Throne of Judgment. Don’t digress. This is the face of God you want to see as you are worshiping him.
Do you look up when you are worshiping? Do you look up at the bright lights and just imagine God, just sense God’s presence? What happens on the day when you look up and you are looking into his eyes? I mean you are really looking into the face of God? You’re going to be like, “Okay. This is out of control.” I don’t have words. There are no words for this. We will worship at the throne with the River of Life and the Tree of Life and the fruit of the month club for therapy for eternity. We’ll worship God and we will look up into his eyes. And people say, “How can we all do that at once?” I don’t know! I’ll tell you when we get there!
They will see his face, verse 4 says, and his name will be on their foreheads. Don’t you when you miss someone, just long to look into their eyes? I just want to look at you. Just sit down here. Let me just look at you. Right? Can you imagine doing that with God? And what does that mean; his name will be on their foreheads. I don’t know that either. But I imagine Moses’ face shining after he had spent time with God. And he would come out of the tent of meeting, and his face would be shining, And the people would say, “Whoa! You just saw God!” Right? That is what I kind of see as his name on our foreheads. It’s the evidence that we are his.
In Revelation 22 verse 5, John reiterates, again, the phenomenal truth of us walking and living in the full glory of God.
Revelation 22:5 (ESV)
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.
Isn’t it amazing how the Holy Spirit continues to return the subject of Heaven back to the glory of God? Every time we do a message we start and stop with the glory of God because that is what Heaven is about. And so again, the Holy Spirit wraps up this section saying, no night, no need for light or lamp for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever. That is us serving him.
So let me just remind you of what we have done in this message.
We have seen ourselves serving God and worshiping him.
We have seen the face of God and had his name put on our foreheads.
We have no need of light; we are walking in the glory of God
We are reigning forever and ever under Jesus Christ. Not just a world, although certainly the world, but the entire universe.
Guys, Heaven is real. Please hear me. Heaven is real, man, it’s real! It’s much more real than we think. It’s much more real than what has been fed to us. We need to rid ourselves of the misassumptions and the misunderstandings and say, “Lord, Heaven is more real than this life. My relationship with you there will be so much more real, so much more tangible. My relationship with those that I love that will be there with me will be so much more real, so much more tangible, because it will be free of sin and free of the curse as will the earth that we will live on. And yes Lord, if you want me to rule, I will.”
We will really serve God and really worship him. We will really see his face. We will really be with him. We will really walk and live and relate and commune in the glory of God. We’ll really reign forever with him and have dominion over the earth and even over the universe, ever-expanding, with him.
Do not miss it! Don’t miss Heaven! That’s what it is all about. It’s not about this life. Paul says in Romans 8 verse 18, for the sufferings of this present life aren’t even worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed to us.
It’s not about this life. It’s about Heaven. Make sure you are there. Make sure your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life by putting your full faith and your full trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Let’s make sure we see each other on the streets of gold!