Well, we have enjoyed a month of remembering the Reformation. 500 years ago, Martin Luther nailing the 95 Theses to the Wittenberg Castle door, and sparking, continuing what God began through the release of his word in Europe, and we are the beneficiaries of that today. As we went through that month and went through the various solas, we culminated the last week with to the glory of God alone. Because the Reformers preached, because the Bible teaches this, that the great purpose of the salvation that God graciously gives us is a free gift through faith in Christ alone. that that is meant to bring God glory, to shine out what He's really like. God's glory shines out by rescuing and transforming sinners into saints, and then one day will shine, will one day shine in His divine glory. I've got a prop here that's giving me trouble, so pardon me. I need my Not Just for Kids bag. Think about what God is giving us in salvation and just how amazing it actually is. For God to open up His home to us, for God to change us the way He does and the way He promises to do is really over the top. We know that it's completely undeserved. It's mind-blowing. but it is at the same time what God created us for. And we see that right from the beginning when we look back at Eden where God creates man to be in this perfect environment and to have this perfect relationship with his creator. And yet we see the fall marring that and then the whole story of the Bible is really about how God is redeeming, how he's buying back his people to give back to them their home, what they were created to enjoy. That's redemption. And that is how God is gonna display his glory in the ages to come to the angelic host. Just displaying in the church and displaying in his people what he's done to make them part of his kingdom and inheritance. And we read about that as we get toward the end of the story that's recorded for us in the word of God. We reach the final chapters of the book of Revelation. And we reach finally chapter 21. We want to read these familiar verses, Revelation 21, 1 through 7. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be there with them as their God. 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. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, look, attention, this is actually happening. I am making all things new. Also he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, that's the first and last letter of the Greek alphabet, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage and I will be his God and he will be my son. It will in fact be a new day shining when heaven and earth are reborn. And I want us to think about this from this passage and others related to it along two lines of thought. Number one, where we long to be. Where we long to be. There is a place. We were made for, and that our hearts long for, where we long to be. And secondly, what makes that place so special is the person that's there, whom we long to see. Verses three through seven. New day shining, heaven and earth reborn. Let's ask God to help us see with eyes of faith. God, we would ask that by your spirit and for the glory of your son, and because of the reliability of your trustworthy word. That you would help us, Lord, not only believe, but feel, as it were, to see this coming day. I pray, God, that you would help us, who are putting our faith in Jesus, to find joy and strength in this certain future that you are giving to us in Jesus. And Lord, I pray as well that you would extend the offer of the water of life to those who have yet to drink from it. For whatever reason, they're reluctant to drink. Perhaps they fear the line of the tribe of Judah. Perhaps they fear to draw near. Perhaps they don't feel like they have the need. Perhaps they are pursuing other rivers of the light. And yet, Lord, you know that what they most need And what their hearts most desire, because it's what they are created for, is the river of life that flows from your throne and from the throne of the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. So God, call them home. And Lord, help us as we march toward home to do so with enduring faith and love and peace. For your glory we pray in Christ's name, amen. Where we long to be. John writes, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. This new heaven that he speaks about, speaks of the skies, the physical universe of planets and stars, the new earth. What is that? Well, it's rivers and rocks and forests and lakes and certainly nothing less than what we enjoy now defined as earth, but with the curse removed. And then the holy city. The New Jerusalem, unlike the old city torn by war and strife and beset with sin like every city that's ever been upon the earth, this New Jerusalem is the heavenly city that we've already learned about where the true capital of the universe is. where saints and angels live and give praise to God and watch what's happening on earth, waiting for the consummation of the age, this capital of the universe comes down from heaven to earth as the New Jerusalem to become centralized on earth, to rule the earth and all the universe. It is the moment at which finally heaven and earth are one. It was once that way. in the days of Eden, and it will be that way again. The first heaven and the first earth will have passed away along with the sea, and actually this is not the first time we've heard about this event. The prophets have been talking about it, and the apostles have been talking about it throughout the scriptures. In Isaiah 65, 17, God says, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. The former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. He uses similar language again in 66, chapter 66, in verse 22. In Psalm 102, 25 to 26, of old, you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain. They will wear out like a garment, and you will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end. The Apostle Peter writes in his last letter, 2 Peter 3, the day of the Lord will come like a thief. People won't be expecting it. And then the heavens will pass away with a roar. The heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved. They'll be loosed. What seems to be described as an atomic dissolution, the atoms actually splitting, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed. So just like the flood, wiped clean the earth in the days of Noah, fire will wipe clean the earth in this coming day. Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn? But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. The old earth was shot through with unrighteousness, and this will have righteousness taking up residence. Matthew 24, 35, as Jesus talked at the end of the age, he said, heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. You can count on what I'm saying is absolutely true. God is going to make good on his promises, and Jesus does not lie. As you think about that, The thought of leaving the material world is hard for us. The thought of it being destroyed is hard for us. In fact, Paul compares being without a physical body between our death and the coming resurrection as being naked. There are only certain times you ought to be naked and you don't like to run around naked. You're cold and it's not normal for us. Human beings are not just spiritual beings. Without their bodies, they're naked. We are physical beings, too. And the salvation that the scriptures promise through Christ redeems, buys back every part of us. He doesn't just redeem our souls. He redeems our bodies, too. The resurrection is not just spiritual. There's a resurrection that happens at the new birth. We're made alive by the Spirit of God. But it is also physical at the end of the age. We will be raised immortal, that is, without the capability of dying, and incorruptible, without sin. When God created the first human beings, when they were perfect, without sin, he prepared a physical place for them. And not just the whole wide earth. That would have been too much for two people to manage. It would have taken centuries to populate the whole earth as they were fruitful and they multiplied. So God planted a garden paradise with rivers and fruit trees, gold and precious stones, physical beings. must have a physical place to live and physical food to eat and physical enjoyments of sight and sound and touch and smell. That's what their bodies are created to tap into. That's what they were designed for. God, as our loving creator father, delights to love on his children with good gifts perfectly chosen for them. And because this is our inheritance, this full salvation, including our bodies, what comes with that is a universe, is a earth, heavens and earth that are suited for resurrection bodies, that are suited for those who are physical beings to enjoy. The inheritance of the saints is not just a spiritual inheritance. We are not Gnostic heretics that believe matter is inherently evil and spirit is inherently good. There is good matter. I mean, fried chicken, good matter. And there are evil spirits. In the new heaven and the new earth, both matter and spirit are completely good. It's a glorified state where both the spiritual and the material are unified. Heaven and earth become one and all is exactly as God would create it to be, very good. We do not believe what Plato believed, that it is a good thing to be released from the prison of matter and free to dwell, floating around in the spiritual realm. That's Greek philosophy. That's not gospel from God. It's not good news. So what will that new heaven and new earth be like? Well, I think we can perhaps answer that with, well, what is the current heaven and the current earth like? Because God created both. And when he did, he pronounced that they were very good. What is it about the current heaven and the current earth that demands that they be redeemed, that they be reconstituted, that they be purged? Well, what was it about the earth in Noah's day that demanded that the flood come wipe off the inhabitants and wipe clean the earth? Well, same thing as why the earth has to be cleaned again by fire and replaced. This season of the year, the stunning beauty of the natural universe is breathtaking. It is, in God's words at the beginning, very good. I don't know that there's any other way to define it. Shimmering sunsets and dancing rivers, the brilliant colors of fall, teeming varieties of birds and animals and fish, an endless buffet of good food, and all the beneficial activities we can choose from on a planet so pleasantly situated in the universe, even under the curse of sin. When the old heaven and the earth make way for the new, do not think that you're going to lose anything of true beauty or joy that you love so well now. They are shafts of light from the rising sun. They're prophecies of a new day shining, of heaven and earth reborn. All that will be missing will be the darkness and the brutality and the pain. For underneath, The current beauty of the present heaven and earth. Underneath and shot through it all is dirge and dagger. Sin has marred the universe and death batters it bloody. When something ugly breaks down, we don't fret about it. But when something breathtakingly beautiful is spoiled and assaulted, it rips at our souls. That is why you hurt the way you do, despite the beauty. Because the beauty has been ripped and torn, has been hijacked, has been prostituted. Every green forest full of life is also a catacomb of death and rottenness. ruled over by the law of club and fang. Every good thing spoils. Every joy is fleeting. Every love song goes off key or ends silent in the grave. Our hearts leap toward the beauty only to have our hopes dashed when we uncover the downside. The party always ends, and the laughter always sinks into bittersweet memories. And sometimes it is unbearable. All creation groans in travail, waiting for release from bondage to corruption to which the curse has subjected it. And inside our minds and hearts, and sometimes we feel it with our very bodies, we scream, there has to be more. There has to be a better world. God, the way you made me. These beauties that we love, these things that minister grace to our souls, call us to something better than this. Better than this outrage of suffering and death. And that is what the beauty marred is supposed to do in your soul. It's supposed to call forth from you in the deepest part of you this insatiable hunger for more. It makes you desperate to find the path to complete joy and never-ending beauty. And that is exactly what we find woven through the promises of God. The current state of things must come to an end. Not because the beauty has to be done away with, but it has to be done away with to make way for perfect beauty and for enduring joy. Psalm 37 refers to the land that the people of God will inherit And that's another way that can be translated as earth. Land is just a subset of earth. So if you own the earth, you own land. And the same word is used in Hebrew. So with that in mind, listen to these words. For the evildoers shall be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord, and by waiting on the Lord we mean you're trusting Him, you're inquiring of Him. It's a word associated with worship of the Lord. You're looking to Him for your help. Who wait for the Lord shall inherit the land or the earth. But the meek, shall inherit the land and delight themselves in abundant peace. That's not just absence of war, that's everything right, that's shalom, finally everything in its place, operating exactly as it ought to operate. For those blessed by the Lord shall inherit the land or the earth, but those cursed by him shall be cut off. We find a similar theme running through Hebrews 11, the great chapter of faith. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised. While it's talking about Old Testament saints, obviously, in a New Testament book, we're in this group too. When we die, we haven't received everything God has promised. We're still looking for it. But having seen them and greeted them from afar and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth, do you ever feel that way? I mean, there's parts about this that compel you and make you want to stay, and there's parts about the earth that say, I don't know if I belong here. I'm like a vagabond here. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return, but as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. So it's not just the wide heavens and earth, but there's actually a dwelling place, a city, and that city is the heavenly city. According to Hebrews 11, it has foundations and its builder and maker is God. It's real, it's tangible, it's physical. The heavenly city becomes the new Jerusalem, taking the place of the old Jerusalem. This will be the capital city where the people of God will live forever. And the text says that this city descends from heaven as a bride. Prepared. Beautiful. Belonging exclusively to her husband, God Almighty. Together, they'll be together forever, just as a marriage binds people together till death do them part. There'll be no death, so they never will part. This is a city that is always God's and always will be. A bride. Revelation 19 describes this new Jerusalem, this bride is dressed in white linen, and the white linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. It's a place unlike the big cities of our world that while they have beautiful buildings and amazing arts and culture, they're also ransacked by crime and by sin. This place will be pristine. There won't have to be a police force. There won't be any jails. And it is coming down from heaven to earth like the bridal procession in a wedding, the formal presentation of the bride to the groom. Later in chapter 21, the city is further described in verses 23 to 27, the city had no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. Think of the bustling cities full of life and activity and all the cultures coming together and all the dazzling sights, and it never shuts down. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what's detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. On the gates of this city are inscribed the 12 tribes of Israel. And on the foundation, the names of the 12 apostles. Israel served as the guardians of the word of God and the nation through whom the Savior King Jesus the Messiah was born. And the apostles were his sent ones to proclaim the gospel to the world. All who live in this city, the New Jerusalem, are there only by virtue of faith and the revelation of God through these human instruments. They are a united people of God, and they're His forever, for He has loved them with a love that will never let go. Paul talks about this as he writes believers in the city of Ephesus in Asia. Ephesians chapter two, they were Greeks, they were not Jews. There's a lot of adjustment having to be made as the church took in a huge influx of Gentile believers, what once was largely Jewish. And he says to them, so then you are no longer strangers and aliens. You're not foreigners. You're not illegal. But you are fellow citizens with the saints, people that belong to God, and members of the household of God. Welcome to the family. You are built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. It is clear from Revelation 21 that people and nations will live all over the globe, but this is the capital city in which the glory and honor of the entire earth will flow. Think of the most magnificent civilizations and cultures in all of human history. and the splendor of this city and this kingdom will far outstrip all that's gone before, because there'll be nothing to mar the beauty of it. No dirges, no funerals, no graveyards, no hospitals necessary, no prisons, no sin, no curse. The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis, in the final book, The Last Battle, says it this way, one of the characters having arrived, I have come home at last. This is my real country. I belong here. This is the land I've been looking for all my life. Jesus has transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of everlasting life. He has made us legal citizens of this heavenly city. Our names are on the registry, and He has done so by the power that enables Him to subject all things to Himself. The entire universe, heaven and earth, is going to conform finally to His rule. Remember, all authority has been given to Him in heaven and earth. By virtue of His sacrifice on the cross, He has won this battle for us. He is opening the gates for us, the gates of paradise. And we belong there. It is the place we long to be. And we finally can get there because of Him. So let me say to you, as you long for the beauty, as you enjoy the good things, and yet face the nauseating pain of the hard things, don't give up. Fight the good fight of faith. Endure to the end. It will be worth it. God has put his stamp on it. And God has put your name on the registry, the place we long to be. The second thing we see is whom we long to see. He says, behold, in verse three, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them. They will be his people. God himself will be with them as their God. 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. You see, to be living in a beautiful place, apart from the people we love, is really not that attractive. It's actually very lonely. And I brought this from my office. My office is like a museum of stuff I've collected from all over the world. And this is actually collected from closer to home. It's a ram's horn. And so when the Bible talks about trumpets, this is really what they're talking about. And I'm tempted to play it. but I don't know any tunes and I'm just gonna pass on it right now. No, maybe I'm not. Okay. Something like that. I need to work on my embouchure. My dad told me that I should quit trumpet because I didn't have the embouchure, so he was right. And that's why this is meaningful to me. You know, it's cool to have a hollowed out horn that you can make noise out of, and kids love it when they come to the office. But what makes this special is that it belonged to my dad. And he did play French horn and trumpet, other brass instruments. And so, really, this would be nothing more than some kind of cool object, except that it belonged to my dad, and it used to sit on his desk. So what makes this really valuable to me is not the thing, it's the person who owned the thing. What makes a house a home is the people that you love who are there. You take them away, and sometimes it feels good to walk through that house and see the things that they touched and imagine the scenes that you had together, but it's not the same, and it hurts. You take away your brothers and sisters in Christ from the heavenly city, banish the angels who've been serving your needs often unbeknownst to you throughout your life, and make God go far away, and heaven itself becomes a ghost town, a place of terrible loneliness, and its beauty will only mock the emptiness of your heart. We not only need a perfect place, we need perfect people. We need a perfect person. We need unbroken, unmarred relationships. We were made to know God and to dwell with Him, to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever. We were destined to live among His saints, the people that belong to Him, the saints of light, forever. In our current state, the blinding splendor of God and His perfect holiness is too much for us to behold. We have to be changed to take it in. to have complete communion and joy, that can't be ours till we reach our glorified state when God's transforming work in us is complete. We work by the power of the Spirit to have relationships among one another that are pure and close and that are never broken, but the reality is that our own flaws and our sins and time itself and disease and the curse rips away at our relationships. and Mars and eventually breaks every one of them. We long not just for a place, we long for the people of God to be close to them forever. And we long ultimately for God who has made it possible. In fact, Psalm 36 talks about it. They feast on the abundance of your house. You give them to drink from the river of your delights for with you is the fountain of life. And in your light, we see light. The fountain doesn't matter without him, and the light is darkness without him. The description in our passage speaks of relationships. It's a dwelling place. He'll be with his people, and God himself will dwell with them as their God. He's gonna take up residence with them. It becomes, It becomes even more than what Jesus did as he came as Emmanuel and pitched his tent among us, because that was only 33 years in length, and then he left. It becomes more than even the indwelling spirit that we can't see, but we feel, and we sense his presence, but we still are limited. We finally come home, and God, God says, you are my son, you're my child, you're my daughter. Welcome home. This face-to-face vision of God is the heart cry of believers through the ages. And our sin and our suffering and our death and our limitations cause this vision of God to be distorted and dimmed. We agonize with it. There are times where we feel like that God isn't even there. We feel like he's cruel or he's sitting on his hands. We feel like We find ourselves arguing with God about the place he's put us and the things we go through and we ask him to break through and he seems so distant. The psalmist do the same thing. That distance is gonna be dissolved. And the distortion that comes through our own sin nature is gonna be gone. And we'll see God face to face. Job cries out in the depths of his suffering. In Job 19, I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last, He will stand upon the earth, and that after my skin has thus been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God, and I shall see Him for myself. My eyes shall behold and not another. So it's not just that hoping there's gonna be a beautiful world someday, and that my distant descendants will enjoy it. It's that I myself will participate, along with my distant descendants. because of this everlasting God. David, man after God's own heart, and yet was a fugitive much of his life, and even as he ruled as a king in Jerusalem, there's so much that brought pain to his life, his own sin, as well as the sins of others, and he says in Psalm 27, four, one thing I've asked of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. Right now, it's like flashes of beauty. I mean, I can think of specific times in my life where I felt like the glory of the Lord just descended. And it's like I would give anything to experience that every day, all the time. When God pulled back the veil that way, like on the Mount of Transfiguration, it wasn't that I went through some system where I had some book, okay, five things you need to do in order to experience this glory of God. It's just something he gave, okay? But my heart hungers for way more. I want the full measure of it. I want it never to end. And so that's what David wants, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord to inquire in his temple. Psalm 27, 13, later in that psalm he says, I believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. And I'm really not convinced he's talking about this earth now as the land of the living. This is the land of the dying. The land of the living. Psalm 73, Asaph, he's struggling with how the wicked prosper and the godly suffer. And toward the end of that psalm he says, you guide me with your counsel and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there's nothing on earth I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. Ezekiel 37, 27, my dwelling place shall be with them and I will be their God and they shall be my people. or Jesus speaking on the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5, 8, the Beatitudes, blessed, happy, are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. 2 Corinthians 6, as Paul deals with the worldliness of that church and being unequally yoked with unbelievers. What agreement has the temple of God with idols? We are the temple of the living God. As God said, I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them. And I will be their God and they shall be my people. That's relationship. That's Eden restored. That's like face-to-face conversations with God. That's the kind of closeness that you have maybe with a handful of people at best on this earth. And one day God will be part of that group. Revelation 22, four and five, Brother Chris is gonna take up this passage next week as we talk more about the new heaven and new earth. They will see his face. and His name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more, and they will need no light or lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light. I love being out of doors, and I don't like it, though, when the sun goes down. I like sunsets, but I don't like the dark. I like the stars, and I like the moon, But darkness, only if I'm gonna sleep or die. I don't like getting up so early in the morning that it's still dark. I like the sunrise. We long for the light, the light of God's presence. God's presence with his people changes everything. He is our blessed hope. He is our true dwelling place. He is our joy, our strength, our song. He's the one that makes heaven home. Really without Him there, heaven is just a fancy version of hell. And with Him there, He fixes everything. The text says there'll be no more tears. Because He, He will tenderly wipe away every tear. There'll be no more death. The tearing away of our dearest loved ones from our embrace and the sword that it drives through our hearts, that's over. No more grieving, no more crying. Because the pain that causes these normal responses is also gone. There'll be no more reason to grieve. There'll be no more cause to cry. All these former things, they have passed away. Do you not thirst for this? If you thirst for this, what you really thirst for is Him. And God says to you from the throne, if you are thirsty, come and drink. Make this yours now to Christ. Because as the song says, there is a day coming when there will be no more night, no more pain, no more tears, never crying again. And praises to the great I am and we will live in the light of the risen lamb. And that's the secret to it. It is the lamb slain for us that makes this possible. His perfect righteousness earns this. His atoning sacrifices banishes our death because it purges our sin. He has himself tasted our pain. He has experienced death. He has borne the curse and the wrath of God so that you and I could be welcomed into the inheritance that he alone deserves so that his home could become ours. so that one day we hear the words, welcome home, children. This is the place I've prepared for you. Heaven and earth reborn. It will be a new day shining. And may it come quickly. Let's pray. Oh God, Oh God, stir our hearts for our home. So that as we wind our way through life, we are on the homeward path and not taking the bypass. Help us endure the difficulties. Help us press on toward the upward call of God. Help us be willing to let goods and kindred go, this mortal life also. Because even if they kill the body, we are yours forever. And you have conquered death for us. God, someday in the future, when the people here gathered in this room are enjoying these things that you have promised, may we think back on this day. And the time we spent together setting our minds on what you have promised. Thank you, Father. And thank you for Jesus who opened the way for us. In Christ's name, amen.