Revelation 21, and we're just going to read the first two verses there. We've been talking about eternity. again, there are things that we can Stand on that are pretty sure and and steadfast And I know one thing for sure that if you're saved, I'm gonna be with the Lord. Amen I mean if you're saved I know I'm gonna be with him and there's a lot of details that we don't understand about God's eternal plan it is very through a glass very darkly, but we're just gonna speculate where it's and that God gives us some breadcrumbs, but with a qualifier that it's hard to see it very clearly. But Revelation 21 verse 1 says, and the new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." And we had said last time that there are these three areas to inherit for the three groups that will inhabit eternity. the Jews, the Gentiles, and the Church of God. So we talked last week about the new earth and how that it looks like that's going to be given to the Jews because the meek shall inherit the earth. And it looks like the Jew is very connected to this planet. It seems like it is. The new heaven it looks like it's more given to the Gentiles. That's their inheritance We read in Deuteronomy where it says God hath divided unto all nations the stars and the planets and all that stuff out there So something about the cosmos might be given to the Gentiles and then that leaves what we just read the New Jerusalem and that looks like that is the inheritance of the Church of God that is our home. That is our inheritance. So I hope we can get a little bit excited thinking about this tonight, because there are some things that the Bible does reveal about our home, because he wants you to know what your home is look like. I mean, when you know you're moving into a new home, right, Taylor? When you know you're moving into a new home, you check it out. I mean, you're looking at pictures. You want to go for the inspection. You're like, right, brother. I mean, you know, Victoria and Jacob are getting ready to move down to Florida. I keep forgetting to announce that, but pray for them. And I'm sure you checked out that house. I'm sure you looked at pictures. I'm sure you went and visited or whatever you could do because you want to see what it looks like. You want to see what it feels like. I remember when I was moving in where we are right now and I was there in the inspection and I think I had Eli there and I was like, Wow, I'm gonna live here, I'm gonna live here. It's like, whoa, that's pretty cool. You think of it, you let it wash over you a little bit. Well, if you know New Jerusalem is gonna be your eternal home, let's check it out. Because you're gonna live there. That's gonna be your address. So we're gonna see a little bit about tonight. There are some things that are revealed. And there are some things we could just have some fun speculating about. But let's look at it, verse two. What is this thing I'm talking about? What is New Jerusalem? Let's look at some things about it, verse two. And I, John, saw the holy city. So the first thing I wanna say about New Jerusalem is, number one, I guess I'll write something on the board to make it sound like I'm doing something. It is a holy city. That's the first thing. I see it is a holy city now. What a contrast To the cities we have today, right? I mean, the cities we have today are a mess. Today, most crime happens in the cities. Most cities are a lot more godless and violent and dangerous than the country. In fact, the first murderer in your Bible, his name was Cain, the first murderer in your Bible built the first city in the Bible. That's not a coincidence. Genesis chapter 4 verse 17. And it's very interesting how Cain, you all know Cain, right? The vegetarian Cain who brought the turnips instead of the offering, right? So Cain is actually a great type of the Jew in the Bible. Think about some of these things. He slays his righteous brother Abel. just like that nation put Jesus Christ on the cross. He is a vagabond in the earth, just like the Jew has been a wanderer for millennia. He is threatened by others around him, like the Jew has been persecuted by his neighbors for a long, long time. And he moves in the book of Genesis from an agrarian society to an urban society, right? God tells him, when you till the ground, man, it ain't going to give you nothing. And that's a double negative, that was bad English. It isn't going to give you anything, he says, when you till the ground. He goes, you want to till the ground? I'm going to take that agrarian farm life away from you, and you're going to go build a city. And if you study history, the Jews primarily have been city folk. They've mostly been in cities and established in cities and and and running cities And if you look at Revelation 11 verse 2 go back to chapter 11, I'm going somewhere with all that little all those little tidbits The earthly Jerusalem the one down here the earthly Jerusalem, which is given to the Jews is also called a holy city Look at Revelation 11 too, it talks about, it's describing the Jerusalem on the earth in the tribulation. It says, So this earthly Jerusalem that's in the tribulation, which is given to the Jews, which is promised to the Jews, is also called the holy city. But look at verse 8. Look what happens to the city. This city gets overrun by the gentiles. This city gets overrun by the antichrist Look at uh revelation 11 8 and their dead bodies These are the dead bodies of elijah and moses shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called sodom and Egypt where also our Lord was crucified. So this city got so defiled, has become so licentious, has become so perverted that God calls the city where the Lord was crucified, where was that? Where did the Lord get crucified? He didn't get crucified in New York or Gaza. He didn't get crucified in Rome or Istanbul. He got crucified right outside Jerusalem and God says that city has become so perverse and so defiled, it's like Sodom. You know the city that he burned. It's like Egypt the city that God like destroyed right the the plagues of Egypt So it becomes defiled, but if you go to Revelation 21, so that's a contrast right the earthly Jerusalem Becomes very defiled, but the heavenly Jerusalem the new Jerusalem remains a holy city It'll never be defiled look at Revelation chapter 21 Revelation 21 Look at verse 27 Revelation 21 27 is speaking about New Jerusalem, and it says and there shall in no wise enter into it Anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written is written in the Lamb's book of life. And if you look at verse 25, the gates of it shall not be shut because it is a holy city. God is not going to allow anything in there to defile it. You go home tonight, you probably lock your door. You probably hit the alarm on your car. Not in New Jerusalem. In New Jerusalem, nobody's worried about anything entering in to defile it. That is a place that God is going to keep a holy city. You're going to a place that cannot be defiled. A city that cannot be overrun, nothing flipped over, nothing set on fire, nothing stolen, nothing broken, nothing, anything problematic. This is the home that God has got prepared for his bride. Look at chapter 21, verse 3. It's a city so holy that the Lord himself can live there with you. Now God doesn't want to dwell with sin. So God has a little bit of a separation between man and his creation right now. Not then. Then he takes that thing out of the way. There's no more sea between you and him. And he says, look at Revelation 21 3. It says, and I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God." You know what was peculiar about God's people in the Old Testament like Abraham? They dwelt in tents. People built buildings, but God's people like Abraham dwelt in tents. You know where God dwells? He dwells in a tabernacle. And whatever this city is, it's called the tabernacle of God, and that's what's coming down. The place where God dwells is coming down where we're gonna dwell with him forever. I can see that's excited a few of you. I got a lot of work cut out for me. All right, John 14, two, you don't have to turn there. Jesus calls this city my Father's house. in my Father's house." This is God's house we're talking about here, right? Psalm 48 verse 2 calls it the city of the great king, right? This is where he lives. Now notice, please, that the New Jerusalem, which comes down, is different than the earthly Jerusalem that is here during the millennium. They are not the same. Look at Revelation 21 verse 2. It says, And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. The New Jerusalem comes down from heaven after the great white throne, after the earth has been burned up and renovated by fire. 2nd Peter 3 we've looked at that so this cannot be the same city in town This is something coming down from way up there. This is not anything. That's way down here. Look at 21 22, right? Notice what is not in New Jerusalem notice what is not in your heavenly home 21 22 and I saw no temple therein There's a temple in Jerusalem down here, but there's no temple in the Jerusalem up there. I And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." Right? The New Jerusalem has no temple in it like earthly Jerusalem. Now go to Ezekiel 41. Now last week, Johnny Murphy called this AP Bible, this last couple of lessons. I'm going to try not to make it too intense here. But I know it gets, we're going down a little deep in Bible study. Hopefully it can like, you know, You watch a lot of other crazy stuff that's pretty wild and nonsensical, but this is real stuff. I know we can't all figure it out, but it's pretty good stuff. Ezekiel 41 describes the temple in the millennium, right? And it's not the same temple as the new Jerusalem that is coming down. The Jerusalem that is described here is a very different Jerusalem than the one where we live. Ezekiel 41 verse one says, Um afterward he brought me to the temple And measured the post six cubits brought on the one side and six cubits brought on the other side Which was the breath of the tabernacle? There is a temple on earth in jerusalem during the millennium and the dimensions Of the city in the millennium are totally different than the dimensions of the city that are given of new jerusalem They're totally different dimensions. They're not the same place go to chapter 47. I'll show you something else. That's different 47 7 The trees in the millennium or not the tree of life that is in New Jerusalem There's some kind of pretty wild trees in the millennium that does some good stuff for people, but it's not the tree of life yet The tree of life is in the New Jerusalem. Ezekiel 47 verse 7, I said, right? Is that what I said? I hope that's what I said. Yeah. Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Trees, plural. Go to verse 12. And by the river upon the bank thereof on this side and on that side shall grow all trees, plural for meat. So there are trees that are there in the millennium, but there's trees plural, not the tree singular of life that's in New Jerusalem. Stay with me now. Go to Hebrews chapter 12. There is an earthly Mount Zion that you can touch, and there is a heavenly Mount Zion where the church will live that's coming down in the near future. Well, at least a thousand years. Revelation 21, you with me so far? How many people have I lost so far? Don't raise a hand, I'll feel insecure. But I'm just trying to blow your mind a little bit, because the Bible, if there's anything you take away from this, other than the fact that I might be crazy, but that's all right, is that the Bible is not just a book of stories. Like this idea, it's a book of stories, it tells me how to raise my kids right, not to run my neighbor over with my car, right? It's a book of history, it's a book of science, it's a book of everything. Everything about everything is here. Even the future, even eternity, because this is an eternal book. These are the eternal words of God. Now look at this, Hebrews chapter 12, verse 18. All right, Hebrews 12, 18. The Bible says, For you are not come unto the mount, Hebrews 12, 18, that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest. There is an earthly Mount Zion that you can touch. He's going back to the book of Exodus, right? When they stood there at that, and they saw the mount shaking and quaking, and Moses was afraid. He says, that's not what you're coming to. Jump to verse 22. But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church, there you are, of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better things than that of Abel." There is an earthly Mount Zion that you can touch down here, Hebrews chapter 12. Zion is just a hill in Jerusalem. Right so you could touch it you could go there like the Jews were camped outside of it But he says you've got something else is coming guys That's heavenly you notice in verse 23 the church is there whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life I hope that's you today if you're saved amen anybody alive today, okay good good good get some coffee and doughnuts all right and The lamb is there verse 24 Jesus is there, so I don't know something go to Galatians chapter 4 Let's see another delineation here Galatians chapter 4 I'm going to get into the dimensions of it in a second. That's the part that really blows my mind because I was trying to come up with some things to help my brain understand it. Galatians chapter 4. The Apostle Paul here delineates that there is an earthly Jerusalem now and a heavenly Jerusalem that's above. There's one down here and there's one up there. Galatians chapter 4 verse 25, the Bible says, for this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which is now, and is in bondage with her children. So there's a Jerusalem right now that's earthly, with its problems and bondage and trouble. And he says in verse 26, but Jerusalem which is above is free. which is the mother of us all. And we'll get into that, what that means in a little bit, but there's a heavenly Jerusalem, a new Jerusalem that's gonna come down that's gonna be our home. Stay with me now, stay with me. Now let's go to Revelation 21. Let's look at, so it's a holy city, not the city down here, not the corruptible city that's on earth, not the one that gets run over by the Gentiles in the tribulation, not even the one where people go to worship in the millennium. It's another Jerusalem that comes down. So it's a holy city, and number two, it's a great city. I don't mean great like, oh, wasn't that a great game? I was not describing the NBA play-in. But wasn't that a great game? Great in that it's vast, it's enormous, it's huge. Big city, really great city. It's a tremendous city, right? Revelation 21, look at verse 16. No, read verse 10. Revelation 21, 10. This holy city that comes down is described as great. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city. The holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, so it's a great city And I don't think it means just great like wow isn't it great to be there. It's great in its size It's great in its dimensions. It's great in the materials that make this up. Let's go take a look at it Let's do a little zillow tour and go inside there do a little 360 tour and see where you're moving in what the what the accommodations are like brethren 2116 and the city lie at four square and the length is as large as the breath. And he measured the city with the reed 12,000 furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. Now, I'm not an artist. I did what you probably would do. I was asking ChatGBT to draw me pictures of this thing. But some think it might be a giant cube. Because when you go to the Old Testament tabernacle, the holiest of all where God dwelt was a cube, 15 by 15 by 15, right? This could be a cube. Some have drawn it as a pyramid on top of a pyramid, like an octahedron. Whatever it is, it's tremendous. It is, look at verse 16, it is 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles. One furlong is an eighth of a mile. That computes out to 1,500 miles for the length and the breadth and the height. Can you fathom how big that city is? New Jerusalem's vertical height exceeds the International Space Station. If you sat it on top of the Earth, it is 1,250 miles beyond the International Space Station. The International Space Station is 250 miles above the surface of the Earth. This is 1,500 miles sitting on top of the Earth. That's where the base of it looks like it is. You could stack Mount Everest 273 times in the height of New Jerusalem. Let's just take the base of it, right, the bottom, right, the square base. Let's talk about the, you know, because you buy a house, right? You want to know the square footage. How many square feet you got to live in? Oh, there's plenty of elbow room here. The square base area of New Jerusalem is 2.25 million square miles. Two million, 225,000 square miles. You know how big that is? That's almost three quarters the size of the contiguous United States. So imagine a city going from Florida to California and Mexico to Canada. That is the base, almost, of your home. The looks on your face right now are beautiful. They're classic. It's just like, some of you are actually thinking, right? The volume of the city, right, because there's three dimensions, length and breadth and height, right? The volume of the city, the area inside that cube, is 3.375 billion square miles. Now, 3.375 is not a big number to Congress, but that's a big number to me. How big is that? Here is, I read somebody did this. Let's just say in this city, you gave everybody 1,000 square feet, 10 by 10, that's yours, right? Let's just say you had 1,000 square feet, that's just the space. If we did that, and I know you have more than that, but if we gave everybody 1,000 cubic feet of space, you could fit 496 quadrillion people there. 496 quadrillion people, that's 60,000 times the Earth's population right now. This is a great, great city. This is like, whoa. You're not the only saved people out there, folks. I know you might think you are, you feel like you might be, but there's been a lot of us down through history, and God's got a lot of people in that bride. You know when the Lord said, I hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him? And Jesus said to the people that loved him, I go to prepare a place for you. That's some place. That's some home. That's some city. So let's talk about you being there. Who gets it? Let's go to Revelation 21.9. Why do we call New Jerusalem the home of the church? I don't know. I don't know if those dimensions give you goosebumps, but some of those dimensions, I was trying to find examples and look at what people said about it. It's like, doesn't it blow your mind? Doesn't the Holy Spirit bear witness and go, yeah, man. Yeah, that's going to be yours, son. That's going to be yours. You ain't going to worry about my living room's not big enough and I got a galley kitchen. You're going to be like, woo, that's a lot of room. That's a great, great city. Revelation 21.9, let's see who gets it. Let's see who gets it. Revelation 21.9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. So the angel shows John the bride by bringing him to that holy city. Now that does not mean the bride is the city, okay? You're not a city, right? But you're so associated with that city that when I want to see you, I just show you your home. And isn't that true today? When you look at a woman's home, you see a reflection of that woman. Her character, her spin, her knick-knacks, the way she wanted to call the walls, or that thing she stuck on a table in the corner that you know what it was but you had to get it at Home Goods, right? Whatever it is, you see the flavor, the character, the style of that woman reflected in that home, and you, church of God, are so connected and associated with that city, New Jerusalem, that when he says, you wanna see the bride? He takes you to your home. He takes you to your city. And when you want to see the Lamb's wife, you see her reflected in that home. You know what you see about her? You see how precious she is to the Savior. Because this home is decked with jewels, man. Look at verse 11, it says, This city has the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Folks, the Lamb's Bride is a precious stone. You are a pearl of great price to the Lord. He sold everything to get you. And your city, the city where you live is decked in these precious stones. It looks like a beautiful jewel glowing out there in eternity because that's who you are to the Lord. You are special. You are precious. You are that diamond in the rough that he's mined out for himself. That's why now. Some people say, no. Our hyper-dispensationalist friends, if you don't know what that means, God bless you. But some people say, no, no, no. The new Jerusalem has to be for the Jews. It has to be for believing Israel, whatever believing Israel is. But let me show you why they say that. Because the number 12. is all over this city. The number 12, which is the number of Israel, right, 12 tribes, the number 12 is connected to this city called New Jerusalem, it's true. Look at verse 12, look at verse 12. It had a wall great and high, and had 12 gates, and at the gates, 12 angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. So there are 12 gates around this city that mention the 12 tribes, like Asher, and Dan, and Naphtali, and you know, you know Reuben and all these different tribes verse 13 on the east three gates on the north three gates on the south three gates and on the west three gates so the gates surround the city just like the 12 tribes camped about the tabernacle you'd have three on the north and three on the south and three on the west and three on the east so there's a parallel there verse 14 says And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." So there's twelve foundations to this city that are named after the twelve apostles. So there's a lot of twelve. There's a lot of symbolism connected to Israel. So why then would we contend that New Jerusalem is the home of the New Testament church? It's easy. We're built on that Jewish foundation. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. Ephesians chapter 2. We're built on those things. Salvation is of the Jews. You have a Jewish book. Your Savior was a Jew. We are built on those things. The early church was primarily Jewish. Look at Ephesians chapter 2. I'm not surprised that my home has a Jewish foundation. I'm not surprised that my home is connected to things that are symbolic of the nation of Israel. That's where I came out from. That is my groundwork. Everything in your New Testament is found in your Old Testament. Look at Ephesians 2, verse 19. He's talking to the body of Christ. He's talking to the New Testament church. Hey, it's not a Sunday morning, but anybody saved here today? Okay, so you're in that number. It says, and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God, and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Folks, the New Testament church, the body of Christ, is built on the foundation of the apostles. No kidding, my city has 12 foundations that are named after the apostles. That's where I got my foundation from, from my doctrine. It's built on them and my house. literally is built on those 12 foundations. It makes a lot of sense to me. Look at Ephesians chapter 3. There's this idea that, you know, the church is here and there were no Jews in the church. That's pretty weird. That's a nonsensical idea. There were apostles and prophets in the early church, folks. There were apostles. We don't have them anymore. I don't purport to be an apostle. If I do, you got to like, Tar and feather me or something like that because the Apostles age is over the prophets age is over But those people had a role in the beginning of the church. You know why because there was no finished revelation So you had apostles confirming the word and you had prophets getting direct revelation from God when there was no finished revelation for us to have how would you know what God was saying you had prophets in the early church Ephesians 3 5 says it it says which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit." There he is talking about apostles and prophets in the church in Paul's day, because they were there in the early church. Look at 1 Corinthians chapter 12. That's the foundation. Those apostles and prophets are the foundation of what we have today. They were given the revelation that we have finished for us today. First Corinthians chapter 12, verse 28, right? Look how God started this thing. First Corinthians 12, 28. And God hath set some in the church. First, apostles, right? They laid the foundation. Secondarily, prophets. Thirdly, teachers. And on and on and on. So this is the beginning and the foundation of the early church. And our early church was primarily... Other door. Door number one, Pete. There we go. All right. The early church was primarily Jewish. The first church was at Jerusalem, folks. So, yeah, I'm not afraid of the fact that there's Jewish imagery in the New Jerusalem. In Galatians, we read it before, Galatians tells us that Paul told the Christians in the body that Jerusalem above is their mother. He told Gentiles that. Jerusalem is your mother. We'll talk about what that means in a little bit. But go to 2 Corinthians chapter 11. Here's where we deviate a little bit. Make it any sense so far? Okay. It's not AP, is it AP, Johnny? All right. I've been demoted to honors, all right. All right, change of transcript. 2 Corinthians 11. Verse 2. Unlike Israel, believers in the New Testament Church are espoused or engaged or promised to Jesus Christ, the Son. 2 Corinthians 11 verse 2 says, For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy, for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ." Now, the New Testament church is engaged to Christ. We're the Lamb's wife. We're His bride, right? So even though there's all this Jewish imagery connected with our home, We're still different than Israel. We're the New Testament church. Now, notice in Revelation 21, we read it earlier, New Jerusalem is connected to the bride. He says, I want to show you the bride, the lamb's wife, and he shows him New Jerusalem. And if you go to Ephesians chapter five, that bride is the body of Christ. Ephesians chapter five, verse 30. There's no other group. There's no believing Israel. There's the Jew, the Gentile, and the Church of God. And Ephesians 5 verse 30, the Bible says, we are members of his body. of his flesh and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined unto his wife and they shall be, they too shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. The body of Christ, you gotta get this, the body of Christ is the bride of Christ. Right, there's no, just like Adam, right? Adam's bride was his body. He married his body. My sister, my spouse, right? He married his rib. The bride was his body. And the body of Christ is the bride of Christ. So New Jerusalem is connected to Jesus Christ's body. It's connected to Jesus Christ's bride. It's connected to you. It's not connected to the nation. It's connected to the church. Israel is God the Father's bride. Israel is Jehovah's Bride. You are the Son's Bride. That's two different things. New Jerusalem cannot be for Israel because New Jerusalem is the Lamb's Wife and where the Lamb's Wife lives, and the Lamb's Wife is not the nation of Israel. It's the New Testament church. In fact, if the Bride of the Lamb is Israel, then God has violated His own law. Because in the Old Testament, a father and a son couldn't have the same bride. So there's no way, because the father's got his wife, Hosea chapter 2 tells you it's Israel, and the son has his wife, that's the New Testament church. So that shows me that this city, this city is the church's city, right? It's the bride's city. Not Israel's city, not believing Israel's city or some magical group somebody made up, but the bride's city. It's a holy city, it's a great city, and it's a bride's city. And I want you to see also that it is a heavenly city. That this city, there's nothing special about the black one, I just didn't grab the right marker, right? It is a heavenly city. It is not connected to the earth. I'll finish with this thought here, and then I'll just blow your minds totally, and you'll pacify yourself with a donut when I'm done. Revelation 21, verse 2. Watch this. And I, John, saw... I'm going too fast. Let me let you turn there. Revelation 21, 2. We've read it a couple of times already. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, repaired as a bride adorned for her husband. So the new Jerusalem descends out of heaven after the millennium. 21.1 says, and there was no more sea. You ever think about that? What's that all about? No more sea? That means there's no more separation between God and man. Verse three says, the tabernacle of God is with man. The sea is taken out of the way. You know, there's a, go to Revelation chapter four, I'll show you what that sea is. You know, if the universe is like a pyramid, right? Right? You got water, you got water, and you got planet Earth. You got first heaven, second heaven, third heaven. There's water up there that separates you from where God lives. It's a great diagram, right, Olivia? It's beautiful. I'll leave it up there. You can take a picture and put it in. I can't try to save my life. But if you look at Revelation 4, 6, right, the Bible says when he's up there in the throne room and John sees the throne, he says, and before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. And in the midst of the throne, around about the throne, were the four beasts full of eyes before and behind." Folks, the sea is before the throne that separates the second heaven, which is outer space, and the third heaven where God dwells. It's a frozen sea. In fact, Job 38.30 says, the face of the deep is frozen. It's ice. It's ice. That's why he calls it a sea of glass. That's the sea that's taken out of the way. Psalm 148 talks about the waters that be above the heavens. Above the first heaven, above the second heaven, there's waters above the heavens. It's a sea of glass. What do you think keeps those evil angels from getting up there into heaven? Right, he's got a sea of glass there. Could you imagine just standing on that sea of glass and looking down and seeing Leviathan banging his head into the wall, trying to get in there? I mean, that's just some, I know it's a crazy thought, but it's a wild thought. This is the sea that separates space, the firmament, where Leviathan and his angels swim and mess around. with the third heaven, which is the heaven of heavens, where God dwells, and people go now to be with the Lord. Right, there's that sea of glass there. In eternity, the heavens are again unified. That sea is taken out of the way, and it's just like Genesis 1-1. In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. There is no sea in the beginning, and there is a sea that comes back, that is taken away in eternity. Now, it doesn't look like the New Jerusalem makes contact with the earth. when it comes down. Revelation 22. Let's go to Revelation 22. It seems like it hovers above it. It seems like we go right back to the beginning. Heaven is my throne and the earth is my footstool. Like it sits right there again on the hovering over it. Revelation 22 verse 1. It says, and he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal proceeding out of the throne of God and of the lamb in the midst of the street of it. And on either side of the river was there not trees like the millennium, but the tree. It seems like this tree is on both sides of the river. The Tree of Life, which bear twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There is the Tree of Life lining both sides of the river in New Jerusalem." So in this heavenly city is the Tree of Life. Now go to chapter 21 and look at verse 24. And it looks like, and here's why I'm getting out onto thin ice, pardon the pun of the sea of glass, but it looks like that saved nations that come out of the millennium, that are deemed worthy of God, saved nations need access to that tree of life. They gotta get to it somehow. 24, chapter 21. And the nations of them which are saved, saved from when? Not saved from, Not saved like you are saved, saved out of the millennium. We just came through the millennium. The nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it, New Jerusalem. And the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Save nations go into the New Jerusalem to get to that tree of life Look at verse 14 of the same chapter 22 chapter 22 14 This is a verse that people change like crazy to help God out because they don't understand how could salvate? Why would they need a tree of life? Because then it ain't like it is now You don't need a tree of life. You have eternal life living inside of you, Jesus Christ. But they're going to need a tree of life then. They're not going to be like you. They're going to go out into eternity, but they're not going to be like you. They're not going to be the church of God. They're not going to be conformed to the image of Christ like you are in the future. But it says in Revelation 22, 14, blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city." If you lived right in the millennium and you follow God in the millennium, you are deemed worthy to enter into the city and eat from the tree of life. Why? So you can live forever. So you can go on forever. I don't understand all of it either, but here's where, here's as scary as I'll get. Here's as woo as I'll get there, but if New Jerusalem is hovering over the earth, To get from earth to New Jerusalem, Ryan, don't get mad at me, there may be a pathway for those saved nations to go up and enter into New Jerusalem. You say, wow, it's crazy, Pat. Is it that crazy? Didn't you read over there in Genesis 28 when Jacob fell asleep and he woke up and said, huh, I see this, it's like there's a ladder here and I see the angels of God ascending and descending from the earth back up to heaven. So maybe there's a spot where somehow you can, I don't know, hitch a ride, or maybe an angel takes you up there, I don't know, and brings you up into that city, and you eat the tree of life, and you go into God's eternal plan. Let's read Hebrews chapter one with that thought in mind. It's a wild thought, I know, but it's a wild book. Hebrews one, verse 14. And you should see the stuff I'm not saying, right? That's like rattling around in my head. But it's fun to think about. I mean, this is actually real. Like Star Wars, as much as I like it, it's not real, sorry. Star Trek is definitely not real. Hebrews 1.14, speaking about angels. Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? Hmm. Not sure what that means either, but it's a curious verse. Could the angels transport these saved nations to New Jerusalem to eat from the tree of life so they live forever? I don't know. Ask Chris Lisa. But I would end with this thought. Nothing about the New Testament church, the body of Christ, is connected to the earth. Not even our eternal home. We're not connected to the earth. The literal descendants of Abraham, right? The nation of Israel. Those that are descendants by birth. You know what they get? They get a city. They get a city on earth. The spiritual descendants of Abraham by faith, the church. You know what they get? They get a city in heaven. Ephesians chapter 1, let's look at a few verses then I'll quit. Ephesians chapter 1 verse 3. I'm just saying, I don't think that's this debate whether the city does ever touch the earth. I don't think it does. Because there's nothing about us that's ever been connected to the earth. Ephesians 1 verse 3 says Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with all spiritual blessings in Heavenly places in Christ our blessings are in heavenly places. They're up there in New Jerusalem That's the place and then we go out and oh one day we'll talk about that verse 20 verse 20 and which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places." New Jerusalem is where Jesus Christ is sitting right now. And if you're saved, that's where you're sitting too. You say, I thought I was sitting at the women's club. That's where your body's sitting, but there's something about you that's sitting up there. Ephesians 2, verse 4 says, But God, who is rich in mercy, amen, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ by grace you are saved, and hath raised us up together, and made us, past tense, sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. If you're saved, New Jerusalem is the heavenly place where you're sitting right now. It's the, oh, we're just floating. No, it's a real place, right? When it says these things like, oh, yeah, it's just in the God thing. No, it's a place. It's a city with dimensions and walls and foundations and streets and a river and trees and fruit and servants. It's a real city. I'm getting excited. Galatians chapter four. Galatians chapter 4. I know what happens in your brain. It's just like, I'm going to go up there. It's like, it's just going to be I'm in a spotlight with Jesus. And it's just going to be fun. And we'll be singing how great thou art for 50 million years. Right. It's a little bit. It's a lot more than that. Galatians chapter 4 if you could think of a better thing to do on your vacation You don't think God could think of a better thing for us to do in eternity? Just sit around in a giant spotlight with like pixie dust and just seeing how great thou art He's got something for us to do which we'll get to another time Galatians 4 26 but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. So that Jerusalem above is our mother, it's our source, it's our origin, it's identity. That does not suggest we owe our life to mother church, like some religious people want to twist that verse. That means New Jerusalem is our home. It's what nurtures us, it's what strengthens us, it's where our identity really lies, our heavenly identity is that city. Philippians 3 is my last verse. Everything about your life is connected to the heavens. Your future is connected to the heavens. Your home is heavenly. Philippians chapter 3. You're typified by the moon right now. You're not even typified by the earth. The church is the moon, a heavenly body that just reflects the sun. And Philippians 3, 17 says, brethren, Be followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have us for an example. For many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you even weeping that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things, for our conversation is in heaven. That word conversation doesn't mean you yapping. That's what we use the word conversation to mean. Conversation means your fellowship, your associations. Your real fellowship, your real intimate associations are up there. That's where your family really is. That's where your origin really is. That's where your identity really is. That's where your names are written. So I want to ask you this. If your eternal home is not connected to the earth. Why should we be so attached to it right now? If our future is to not be down here, then why are we down here so much now? Listen. I had a mow the lawn this week like some of you didn't, right? You know, it's just, you gotta do things I know. You gotta fix this, you gotta do that, you gotta make a living, gotta stack stuff. I know all kinds of stuff has to happen, right? But your heart shouldn't be attached to it. And it's a tough job to not get your heart attached to it, right? To not put your stakes in too deep in your tent because you're leaving in the morning, as Pastor Mel used to say. And I'll end with what Spurgeon said. He said it really well. He said, this world is not our rest. It is but the wilderness through which we travel to the promised land. O believer, you are not to live here always. Do not build your nest on any of these trees, for they are all marked for the axe. So don't put your tent stakes in too deep. We are leaving in the morning, and we're going to dwell in the tents of Shem. We're going to dwell in a tabernacle with 12 all over it, with a foundation from the apostles that has been given us through that, you know, coming through the Jews, but it's ours. And one day, man, you'll finally let go of this earth. You'll see it fade underneath your feet and all the things you clung to so desperately will seem so silly. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his wondrous grace. Let's have a word of prayer. Thank you for being here tonight. Please eat donuts. Father, we do love you today. Thank you, Lord. I know I didn't understand everything I even said, Lord, but one thing is true, Lord, that you have something prepared for us that we can't fathom. that is so great, so marvelous that man's greatest imagination couldn't conceive it. And if the greatest thing I conceive is if you do exceedingly above all that we ask or think, how amazing must our future be with you." So help us, Lord, to, like we look at pictures of a home and the Bible says, hope deferred maketh the heart sick, but when the desire cometh. It is a tree of life. And Lord, help us to just long for you and want to be with you, Lord, and be earthly good while we're here. I know, yes, but help us, Lord, to love your appearing, Father, and consider our plan ahead, Lord. Consider this great future, that we might have our priorities right in this little thing we have on earth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.