Welcome to Edgemont Bible Church in Fairview Heights, Illinois, where our mission is to glorify God by guiding people into a discipleship relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Let's listen in to today's message by our pastor, Douglas A. White. Take out your sermon outline, we've got some things we're gonna look at in this message called Eternal Life, Eternal Life. And it's right here from Proverbs, Revelation 22. Now, let me just share with you where we're at with this. There are two things going on here that everybody needs to take note of, okay? This is very, very important. I'm going to finish the timeline from creation. I'm coming down to the time here where Jesus Christ returns. When Jesus Christ returns, it's the battle of Armageddon. It's his father that has told him to come back. His father has been busily, and don't you get the picture here, Jesus has not been doing anything through the tribulation. He has been doing what his father told him to do, sitting at the right hand of the father. He's opened the seals of the book. but he's not been engaged in any of the judgment. Why? The Father told him, sit here till I make your enemies your footstool. Everybody with me? So Christ is not to do anything until the Father says now. So the Father has been engaged in all this time here, telling the angels what to do to those who are not believing. And you've seen this pouring out of the bowls, you're seeing all kinds of things. Then the father says to the son, the father being the only one that knows the day and the hour, he's saying to the son, go now. And when the son goes, he comes with all his saints with him and he is taking out all the rest of the enemies. All that gathered group that is finished, that's Armageddon. But with Armageddon, And this is where I'm going to differ from a number of other teachers, and I understand that. You're not obligated to follow any of that except to know this. I believe that clearly the earth is a mess after he's come back. It's bloody, it's poisoned, the seas are a mess. That's not a good place for people to take up living on. That doesn't sound like a millennial 1,000-year reign place. So what has happened? New heavens and new earth. We're going in that millennium with a new heavens and a new earth. It's cleansed. It's been taken care of. And with that new heavens and new earth, there has been the descent of the heavenly city, Jerusalem. It doesn't come all the way to the earth. It comes and rides above the earth, and it's the light of the earth. It's the light that's shining on all of the earth. Everybody with me so far? The descriptions we're looking at today are what's in the city. No one in the city dies. Everybody with me? There is no more pain, no more sorrow there. No one in the city dies, no one's feeling sorrow, no one's feeling pain in that city. That's where you, the church, are going to be living. This is our home. This is the one that Jesus told us, I'm going to prepare a place for you. That's the prepared place. What we've been looking at is the description of that prepared place. And what we're going to be looking at today is what's in the city. Set that one aside. Now let's come to the earth. On the earth, you have people who are living there in this new heavens and new earth. They're in the productive time that this earth is living. They're having a wonderful time with this. There is no more Satan. He's been booted out for at least a thousand years. He's in prison, can't be bothered anymore. There is now productivity on the earth like never been before. People are having children on the earth. They are married. Where did they come from? They were the ones who were judged at the sheep and the goats. They were the ones that were the judge of the nations. These are the people who it was judged for them saying, thank you, you helped my brethren when they were in need. Now that's all this last part of the tribulation where the Jewish people had to run to get away from the anger of the wicked one. These are the people who survived the tribulation. And they're going into the millennial kingdom as people who survived that tribulation. Everybody with me? So I've got people in heaven. There's the church and the angels, a variety of other things he says there. And then there's people who are living on earth. These people living on earth can die. They can still sin. And sin is the cause of the death. You say, what happens when they die? They were saved by the Lord Jesus Christ. Everybody with me? They sinned. When they are saved, they're going to live in the new city. Everybody with me? They're going to live in the new city. They're living on earth, and they can die. They can sin. They are going to have children, and they are going to live a long time. They are going to live like the people did back here in the beginning, the 900 years, those kind of things. It's returned to that type of living. Now having said that, I want you to pick up with me and look. This is a description of what's going on in the city, not on the earth, in the city. Here's what it says. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Stop just for a moment. That pure river of life, he said, where's it coming from? the throne of God and of the Lamb. That's where it's proceeding from. This is a river that's in the city. More like a fountain, if you would, but it's in the city. All right, everybody? And he also says, it was there, In the middle of a street on either side of the river, there was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month, the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations. So let's just break this down just for a minute. Two powerful objects of life are revealed. In Revelation 22, too, we see about the tree of life and the river of life. So we're going to look at those two things first. In the Garden of Eden, there was the first tree of life. That's where we first read about the tree of life. Let's turn to Genesis chapter 2 just for a moment. Genesis chapter 2. In Genesis chapter 2, we pick up a reading at verse, well, let's go to verse 8. The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So there were two trees present there in addition to all the other trees. They are in addition to all the other trees. As a matter of fact, they're going to be told, let's look at verses 15 and 17, Then the Lord took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you shall eat of it, you shall surely die. Now, he told him that you can eat from every one. That would include, then, the tree of life, right? That would include the tree of life. So they got all these other trees they can eat from. They can eat from anything they want to there, and they can eat freely, I might add. So whatever, if it's tasty, whatever it is, it's all good for them. But this one tree of life does something special to them that the other trees can't do. The others can keep up their nutrition level, the others can keep up their strength level, but the tree of life does something with the aging process. it stops them from aging. So however they're eating, whatever this thing is, it's continuing to give them life. They have bodies, and it's continuing to give those bodies life. You follow it? They did just exactly what he said not to do. So they did eat from the tree of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. They ate that fruit. And as you and I know, that changed so many things in the way we do things today. So look at Genesis chapter 3 with me for just a moment. Genesis chapter 3. Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, Has God indeed said, You shall not eat of every tree of the garden? And the woman said to the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, You shall not eat it, you shall not touch it, lest you die. Then the serpent said to the woman, You will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes will be opened, and you'll be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves in the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. So we recall there that God's now going to have a judgment with him. He's going to ask him questions. What's going on with you? And I want you to pick up with me at verse 22. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us to no good and evil. Did you see that? What has he become like? Like one of us. Who's the us? That would be God and the divine council. It's all of them. It's that whole divine group there. God is the one God. I'm not denying that for a moment. The others are all lesser beings. They're not as great as God. They're created beings. But they know good and evil. And now the people, because they ate of that, know good and evil like God knows good and evil. Now that's different from saying they are now like God. They said they are now like us in knowing good and evil. The plan before was simply that God was going to teach us how to know good and evil. We didn't have to be eating from that tree. But because we did eat from that tree, something dramatic changed in us. Now he's got to say, since that's what they've done, Verse 22 again, then the Lord God said, behold, the man has become like one of us to know good and evil. And now lest he put out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out of the garden of Eden until the ground from which he was taken. So he drove out the man and he placed care of him at the east of the garden of Eden and a flaming sword, which turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. So now can't get to the tree of life. The garden is still there. The garden of Eden was still there at that time. But Adam and Eve can't be there anymore. Matter of fact, they can't get back to it. They will not live forever. They are going to die. They are not going to continue to eat from the tree of life and not age. They are simply going to be kicked out. And now they're going to have to till the ground from which Adam was made. Eve was made from the ground of the garden. Adam's made for the ground of the wilderness, and they're living in the wilderness now, and they're going to be having children and doing all the things that they were supposed to have done that they were blessed to do before. Now they're doing it with sin in their record. But the Garden of Eden was still there. That's the temple of God. That's where God meets with people. That's where the angels meet. That's where all were together. But when the judgment's going to fall in just a few years, there is going to be the fall of the Garden of Eden. So let's pick up then with the Tree of Life. What's happened to the Tree of Life? Point two in your outline. After the fall and after the flood, it's gone. There isn't a garden. We don't see what's happened. There's nothing the Lord tells us about where the Tree of Life is. We can know this. The Tree of Life is in the temple of God. Wherever God is, that's where the Tree of Life is. And it's gone from the earth. It's not on the earth any place. You can't go any place. You can't find even cherubim who are guarding where the Garden of Eden is, because the Garden of Eden is gone. Why? The whole topography of the world was changed. When all that water came about and it moved across all the faces of those waters, the topography of the earth is going to change. It's not the same place anymore. And all the water is going to have a place to leave. It's going to have to have a drainage point, and that's where all the rivers of the world came from. That's where things like Grand Canyons and other places came from, because there needed to be a place for it to drain off. Not only so, but because of the way in which the earth had cooled down now from all the water being there and the way the volcanic things were going, the ice age begins. And with that ice age, it's going to be glaciers moving all the topography of the earth. In other words, Garden of Eden is gone, kids. You can't find it. It's been moved around by ice age glaciers. It's been moved around by water that moved it, and it's been moved around by God removing it. It's not there anymore. But it's Revelation chapter 22, we find out that it isn't disappeared. It is someplace. There is a river of life, and it's found for us in the book of Revelation. But let's go a little further. In these memories regarding these trees, there is a memory of the fallen. Now, let me just do this little history lesson with you here. We have here the creation of all things. Then we had the fall. Then we had the flood which followed, and the flood which followed changed a whole lot of things with people. When people came to the flood, eight of them came through. And the eight that came through within just two, three generations now are building the Tower of Babel. They are now going to be confused by all the things that's there. Now, you remember, as we've done this study before, as they were doing all of these things in the Tower of Babel, God came down and confused their languages so that they're not speaking the same language. They can't talk together anymore. His goal was scatter them out. Scatter them out. They've got to talk to different languages. They aren't going to scatter if they speak the same language. So he scattered them out by having them speak different languages. Now, as they're scattering out, he said, I can't leave them without help. He appointed to them one of the divine counsel for each group that was gone. That was what we found in Deuteronomy 32. So he appointed a principality over each of them to teach them how to get back to God. How do I know that's what they were supposed to do? Acts chapter 17 says that's what they're supposed to do. That they were supposed to discover God. They were supposed to find God. They were supposed to be set up in their own lands that they might seek after God and be found by Him that God would return His fellowship to them. But that's not what the principalities did. They modified the story. And guys, this is where it gets exciting. All those things we call mythologies, all those things that we say, that's just the way people made things up. Those are the stories of creation that the principalities told to the people. You with me? Say with me. I'll show what we're talking about. There is a memory of all the things that were in that garden. So can I tell you this? The creation epics of many, many peoples around the world said that the world was a watery mess first. It was a watery chaos. And then a tree came up in that chaos, giving life to things, and that that tree in its branches had all the stars, that in its trunk was earth, and in its roots was the underworld. They called that the world tree. That's the way it was. Now, kids, you say, that's just wrong. Think about it a moment. That is simply a perversion of the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil wrapped up into one. You follow where I'm coming from? That's what they were telling the people, and the people are believing those things. That's why you have the first five books of the Bible. It is God telling people this is how it really happened. Let me tell you what really happened. Let me tell you how the nations got split apart. Let me tell you how I created the heavens and the earth. Let me tell you how it really all happened. You're right about the watery mess. It was chaos. It was watery. But that's the way I made it. I made it so that the land would come through. Anyway, I'm not going to go through Genesis 1. He's telling us what he did. Everybody with me? All right. So there was this memory of the fallen. So there are lots of trees in mythology. I get amazed when I read back and I realize, wow, here is what's it called? Yggdrasil. That is the tree of life that the Norse have. And that's the tree of life the Norse had, came from Siberia. It was found all over Indo-European. It was found in Native American. Here's this big tree that has all the nations attached to it. It has all the knowledge attached to it. Odin hangs himself in that tree in order that he can receive from that tree life and knowledge. Do you hear how he just simply perverted the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? When he comes down out of that tree, how does he do that? Some kind of resurrection of Odin has. He's now smarter than everybody else. He knows everything there is. Why? Because he has all the knowledge of good and evil that everybody should have. That's just a perversion of that. If you're with me here, please understand, God's doing a marvelous, marvelous thing in this world. He's now gonna take all the things that were true back here, that were messed up all through time, and now he's bringing them back here. Here's the real tree of life. Let me explain to you about the real tree of life. He's gonna explain to us about the real river of life. He's gonna tell us what they are. Can you imagine the appeal that's gonna have to all kinds of people? If you had a background that was in Norse mythology and you're getting to hear about the Lord Jesus Christ being the tree, you're getting to hear about a tree of life, you're already having some knowledge about it. Now it's being corrected. You're getting the correct story about the tree of life. Well, more about that another time. Trees became so important, they became sacred objects themselves. Trees became such a sacred object that people would worship the tree. The ash tree was considered a worshipful tree. To be able to find an oak tree, an oak tree was marvelous, but it's even better when at the top of the oak tree you can find mistletoe. The only way you can find mistletoe at the top of an oak tree is in the winter when everything's dead. And there's this green ball up there, the thing up there, it's mistletoe. And they called that sacred. Now kids, we know that's a perversion of the truth, but that's what the principalities and powers were supposed to do, was pervert the truth. That was their plan. Everybody with me? That was their plan. The groves of trees became important. They became places of worship. If you're reading the Old Testament, you'll often hear them talking about taking the groves out. They had to cut down all the groves. That's because in those groves is where people were worshiping. In those groves is where Asherah was. In those groves was where Baal was. In those groves was the place of altars, sacrifices, and really crude, crude, immoral things going on in those places. Now I want you to do another one. I want you to turn to Ezekiel 47, just for a minute, okay? Ezekiel 47. Now Ezekiel 47 has followed 46, which followed 45, which had followed 44, which had followed 43, which had followed 42, which had followed 41, which had followed 40. And at 40, a whole wonderful thing is taking place. Ezekiel has a vision of the future, what's going to be taking place in the millennium right here on earth. He's getting a vision. That's Ezekiel way back there. He's getting a vision for what's going to happen out in the millennial kingdom. And a temple is going to be built, a gorgeous, beautiful temple. And it's going to be built in Jerusalem, the earthly Jerusalem. Everybody with me? Now watch what happens here in 47.1. Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and there was water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east, and water was flowing from under the right side of the temple south of the altar. And he brought me out by way of the north gate, and led me around on the outside of the outer gate that faces east, there was water running out on the right side. And when the man went out to the east with the line in his hand, he measured 1,000 cubits. He brought me through the waters, and the waters came up to my ankles. Again, he measured 1,000 and brought me through the waters. The water came up to my knees. Again he measured 1,000 and brought me through. The water came up to my waist. Again he measured 1,000. It was a river that I could not cross, for the water was too deep, and water in which one must swim, a river that could not be crossed. And he said to me, Son of man, have you seen this? Then he brought me and returned me to the bank of the river. When I returned, there along the bank of the river were very many trees on one side and on the other. Then he said to me, This water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves wherever the rivers go will live. There will be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters go there, and they shall be healed, and everything will live wherever the river goes. And it shall be that fishermen will stand by it from En Gedi to En Eglem, and there will be places for spreading their nets. Their fish will be the same kinds of fish of the great sea, exceedingly many. But its swamps and marshes will not be healed, for they shall be given over to the salt. Along the bank of the river and on this side and that will grow all kinds of trees used for food. Their leaves will not wither, their fruit will not fail, They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for medicine." Now, I want you to consider with me, back to Revelation 22, just for a moment. Verse 2, in the middle of his street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. They shall reign forever and ever. The tree. There's a tree that's given in Jerusalem, and there's a tree that's given in the heavenly Jerusalem. that looked exactly the same. They're on either side of the river. They bear fruits every 12 days. I'm sorry, every month. So 12 months out of the year, they're bearing them. And the leaves are for the healing of the nations in both places. But I want to share with you, one is on Jerusalem that's on earth. The other is on Jerusalem that's in heaven. That's in the heavens, I should say. Everybody with me? Let's see if we can figure out what it's telling us here. Trees also are seen as an illustration of a successful godly person. When you think of Psalm 1, I want you to remember with me, blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the other god, he doesn't stand in the way of sinners, does not sit in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law does he meditate day and night. And what is he looking like? He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water which brings forth its fruit in its season its leaf also shall not wither and whatever he does will prosper that is what a successful godly person is like and that's what it's like in the heavenly jerusalem that's what it's like in the earthly jerusalem trees of life Now, there's something I noticed a little bit different. Between 47, Ezekiel 47 says that, get the picture here, along the bank of the river and on this side, that will grow all kinds of trees used for food. Their leaves will not wither, their fruit will not fail. They will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, their leaves for medicine. Now, that said in that one that the fruit that's born there is for food. It does not say that in Revelation 22. It says the leaves are for healing, but it doesn't say that the fruit that's born there is for food. Now, it's implied, obviously, there's got to be a reason why those trees are bearing fruit, and they are called the tree of life, so therefore, somebody's got to be eating that. I'm going to assume that must be the people that are living in heaven, that are living in that heavenly Jerusalem, because though I know the one on earth is that way, The people are coming there, they're gathering his fruit. 12 times a year it's fruits there. I don't know if that's 12 different kinds of fruits or if that's just 12 times it's giving fruit. But it looks like it could be 12 different kinds of fruit. I don't know how that works for a tree. That's something all new to me. Is it every other tree? I don't know how that's working. But I know this, it's always a tree of life. And it's always that the leaves are for the healing of the nations. Now, I understand the Jerusalem that's on earth. I can see why the trees there would be so important, why they'd be there for the healing of the nations. Why? Because the people on earth can still die. They can still go through some pain. And the leaves then would be for their healing. But when I get to the heavenly Jerusalem, Why do they need that healing? It's because it's more than just healing, kids. That healing is what's giving to them eternal life. It's what's continuing to reproduce in them the things that they need to keep that DNA alive and sprightly. Our DNA gets old, and when those strands start breaking down, so do we. And it's not long until we die after that. That's not what's going to happen with the tree of life. It's going to replace all that DNA in us. Everybody with me? Let's look at the river of life for just a moment. There's a river that's in the garden. There was a river there. So look at Genesis 2.10 just for a minute. Genesis 2.10. Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first is Pishon. It is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good. Bedalium and onyx stone are there. The name of the second river is Gihon. It is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. The name of the third river is Hydekel, and it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates. Now, those were four rivers that were coming out, and they are responsible for watering the whole garden, the whole world. There was where everything's getting all its energy. The life that's in those rivers is giving life to everything that's on its banks. Just like a tree planted by the rivers of water brings forth its fruit in its season. That's what's going on. It's a river of life. That was found in the garden. But what's gonna happen after the flood and after the fall? With Eden being gone, It's not the same geography it was before the flood. After the flood, we've got things being changed. The Garden of Eden is gone. The rivers are going to change now because the mountains are changing now. The way that the land drains is changing now. But they're going to retain the names of the rivers. Because that's, they just retained the name of those same rivers. They're gonna call them the same, it's still gonna be the Euphrates, though it may be geographically in a different location. It's still the Euphrates, because it gives life to everything on either side of it. It's still Gihon, it's still Heidekel, all right? Water is life. A few years ago, that became a standard statement. It was called the Mni Wachoni, that water is life. The Lakota Indians kept saying, don't put this pipeline in our water. Don't put this pipeline in our water because it'll spill. It'll break. We'll have oil in our water. It'll poison us. Please don't do that. We need the water. And that's been a battle that's gone on for a long time. I want to just share with you, too, that water has great value. You're going to need water. You know, we pretty well count on everything that's going on to continue going on just like it is. Let me just ask you this. If the power stops, where will you get your water? It's pumped to your house now every day. What do you do when you come to your faucet and there's nothing there? What will you do for water then? Well, you're not alone in realizing that water is a big deal. It's very important. And that's why one of the biggest quiet battles that's going on in our world this day is the acquisition of water rights. That's a major battle going on, kids. Who owns the water? Who can own the water? Oddly enough, wouldn't you know that Nestle's and a variety of other large corporations are acquiring water rights all around? Why? Because they know that sooner or later, water has to become a massively important thing, and they will own it all. That's why I call them water thieves. They're taking the water that belongs to—as a matter of fact, Had it not been for a lot of rain this year, we were in serious trouble, especially out in the West. The water was just not there anymore. And it was dropping dangerously, dangerously low. Kids, we need the water. Now, I want you to get the picture. Because water is so important, all the peoples of the world have known all this. How can we stay alive? We need that water. As a matter of fact, some have even turned water, the rivers, into sacred places themselves. The Ganges is where you would go to purify yourself, get rid of your sins, to become a pure person. The many rivers across the world are considered to be sacred places. Can you imagine what it is when we get to hear that the river of life is flowing freely? And you'll never, ever have to worry about where you're going to get your water. It'll always be there, and that water is coming from God Himself. Let me look at a couple other things about water. I want you to look with me at Jesus as the provider of the water of life. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. 1 Corinthians chapter 10. Here, we're reading about why it's important for us to read the Old Testament. I want you to get some of the pictures it gives us here. Moreover brethren 10 1 1st Corinthians 10 1 moreover brethren I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud all Passed through the sea all were baptized into Moses in the cloud in the sea So he's got to be talking about the Exodus, right? So he's talking about the Exodus It says that all ate the same spiritual food and all drank the same spiritual drink for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them that rock was Christ So the waters that fed the children of Israel as they went through the wilderness and through the desert was the Lord Jesus Christ. That's where the water comes from. Well, consider the second thing about that. Go to John chapter 4. John chapter 4. Jesus is now having a discussion with the woman at the well about water. John chapter 4, verses 7 to 14. Here's what we read. And the woman of Samaria came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, Give me a drink. For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to him, How is it that you, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman? For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, If you knew the gift of God, And who it is that says to you, give me drink? You would have asked him, and he would have given you living water. The woman said to him, Sir, you have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock? Jesus answered and said to her, Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again. And whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst, but the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water, springing up into everlasting life." Well, he obviously says, sir, let me have some of that water. If that's how good this water is, let me have some. We'll go on. That's not germane to our discussion now to go on with that. Go with me to John chapter 7 then, just a few pages over, John chapter 7, and let's pick up on verse 37. Here Jesus is in Jerusalem, big celebrations going on right there. In John 737, on the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out saying, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. He who believes in me, as the scripture said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. Now, I want you to stop right there. Jesus says, if anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Jesus is saying, I have the living water. Who is it, do you suppose, is running this living water that's coming out of the throne, that's giving the living water that is on the earth? It is the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one giving the water. He is the water of life. He is the one who took care of the children of Israel when they're in the wilderness there. Consider with me now what it said in verses 38 and 39. He says, he who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water. But this he spoke concerning the spirit, whom those believing in him would receive, for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Jesus is telling us this, guys. Here's the deal. When you trust Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, when you're genuinely trusting him, you are born again inside. The Spirit of God comes to live inside you right there, and the Scriptures tell us that out of you shall flow rivers of living water. Why? Because out of you is going to flow praise, thanksgiving, submission to Christ. That's going to flow out of you. That's what it is if you're born again. That's the evidence that the fullness of the Spirit's with you. When you are giving thanks, when you are praising God, when you are submitting yourself one to another, when you're submitted unto the Lord Jesus Christ, that's when you know that rivers of living water are flowing out of you. Coming out of you is life, kids. Just like it's coming out of this temple river, And just like it's coming out of the Temple River on earth, that's rivers of living water. It's coming from Christ. It's you. You are a life giver because of the Spirit that's inside you, the Lord Jesus Christ Spirit. Not because you're somebody special, not because you are a positive thinker, not because you've got a good and healthy smile going for you. It's because the Spirit of God is living in you, and the Spirit of God is pushing stuff out toward other people. Why? He's the life giver. He's the one that was always giving life. It's always been the Holy Spirit. Kids, you can't have a church without the Spirit of God. Period. It can't happen. You can't have life without the Spirit of God, because He is life. Jesus is the one who provides that. Jesus is the one who gives that. It's through trust in Christ that that river is given. Let's go another step further, because there's more to see. Go on to page 2, if you would. We'll pick up there. The river in the heavenly city. Let's take a look at that. Revelation 22. Let's go back to Revelation 22 just a minute. Let's pick up our reading there. Notice what it says about that river. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Stop. It proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb. That's where it's coming from. That throne of God and the Lamb are in the heavenly city. Not in the earthly Jerusalem, in the heavenly city. And in that heavenly city, the river is coming out of the throne. They are the source of that. The Father, the Son, the Spirit are the source of that living river. It's coming out. That's why you who have taken a drink of the Lord Jesus Christ have the river of living water living in you. You are like this temple that's being illustrated for us here. Notice, it's clear as crystal. There is no algae on this river. There are no fish in that river. You say, wait a minute, it said fish. Hold on. There are two rivers. Two rivers. It's clear as crystal. It's more like a fountain. Why? It doesn't have a final destination. This one doesn't say where it's going. Notice, here's all it says about it. It's a pure river, a water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne and of the Lamb. Where's it going to? No destination listed. It's in heaven, and it's more like a fountain flowing there, but it's a river of living water. Now, it's got trees of life living on either side of it, still has that, because it's a giver of life. Now, if you would, Take a look at that tree of life in the heavenly city. Notice that it's a forest of living trees. It calls it, in verse 2 of 22, in the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, the tree singular of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month, the leaves of the tree for the healing of the nations. Now stop just a minute. It's got multiple trees, but they're all the tree of life. That's like it has an ash tree that's growing in the very center of the river, and then on either side are more ash trees. It's got an oak tree in the middle, and on either side are more oak trees. It's simply called a single tree because it's doing the same thing. It's the same variety. It's a forest of these trees. And the healing of the nations is there. It doesn't say the food is there, but there's got to be a reason why you bear fruit, so I think it's assumed that people are eating there, though it doesn't say that. It doesn't say that in heavenly place they're eating the fruit. It just simply says the fruit is being born there. Now, I'm going to let you know, too, there's always a passage that's going on between heavenly Jerusalem and the earth. There's a passage going back and forth all the time there. So the healing for the nations can be there. They can also get food there. This is where the throne of God and the Lamb are. Everybody with me? All right. Now, I want you to consider the river in earthly Jerusalem. Let's go back to Ezekiel 47. Ezekiel 47, one more time. Again, folks, there are two things going on here. There are two things going on, a millennial kingdom that was promised to David and his descendants, and all the people who are living during the tribulation, and there is a heavenly Jerusalem that's going on. Both things are going on at the same time. There are different things happening in them, but some of the similar things are happening in them, all right? In Ezekiel 47, We had read this. Then he brought me back to the door of the temple, and there was the water flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east, for the front of the temple faced east. Now, let's see. Where are we here? East, I guess, is over this way for this. So what we're going to have is from the temple flowing east out of that, it's going to go flowing east and south. How do I know that? Because it's going to wind up at the Dead Sea. You know, the Dead Sea is full of salt and stuff. It's useless. But this thing is going to flow out of the temple. It's flowing in a southeasterly direction, and it's going to flow right down to the Dead Sea. And I want you to notice what it says about what happens. He brought me out by way of the north gate, he says in verse two, led me around the outside of the outer gate that faces east. There was water running out on the right side. So he goes through all this measurement thing there. And I don't wanna, I don't mean less about it, I just mean simply that's not gonna germane to what we're doing right now. He said, when I returned, there along the bank of the river were very many trees on one side and on the other. Notice, it's not necessarily calling those the trees of life. Just that there's a lot of trees growing on there. Then he said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley, and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. Now why would its waters be healed? Because it's the Dead Sea now. But as the water comes out of the temple area, it's flowing down to the Dead Sea, and those waters are turned fresh now. They are now living waters. The sea, the salty stuff, has gone to the swamps and the marshes, and the waters are not healing those. Don't ask me why you have swamps and marshes that need salt. I don't know. Maybe there's something good that's going to come out of that. I'm confident our Lord in His new heavens and new earth knows what He's doing with that. But I notice this. As we go further with that one, this river, it gets deeper and deeper as it proceeds southeast. It flows to the Dead Sea, and it brings it to life. It brings life to all living things near it. I want you to look at what he said here in verse 7. When I returned, there along the bank river were very many trees on one side and the other. And then he said to me, this water flows toward the eastern region, goes down into the valley and enters the sea. When it reaches the sea, its waters are healed. And it shall be that every living thing that moves, wherever the rivers go, will live and there'll be a great multitude of fish. So this river is so full of life that all the animals that live on the shore live because of that river. And then all the fish that live there are living abundantly, more fish than ever, so much so that there are fishermen catching fish there. What are you gonna eat during the millennium was asked, fish. I know there's times you're going to be eating some of the other animals, but you're eating fish. Now, for those of you who don't like fish, aren't you glad you're going to be living in the heavenly Jerusalem? You can go down there and say, I'm not eating that sneaky fish. No, sir. I'm living in Jerusalem. We don't have to worry about that. We just eat fruit up there. But people are going to be eating fruit. And I know they're going to be eating fish, because that's what the fishermen are catching them for. They're getting in there. And there's multitudes of fish, just like there had been in the Mediterranean. He says the Great Sea. So people were bringing fish out there. That's got to be big fish that's coming out, kids. And people are eating that fish. And everything is living because of that. it says in about the trees that's a forest of trees on either side of the river the trees bear fruit every month just like its original does in the heavenly Jerusalem remember what things on earth are a shadow of things So here, just like it is in the heavenly Jerusalem with 12 trees, on the earthly Jerusalem, there are 12 trees, or there are 12 different fruits bearing it there. There's a forest of these trees, and they're bearing this fruit, and people are coming from all over to get the fruit of those trees. That's going to make Jerusalem a draw, is it not? People are supposed to come to Jerusalem three times a year at least, and especially that one time, and they're going to have plenty to eat when people come there for it. This is your home we're talking about, kids. This is what's going on in your home. Let me go a step further with you. Let's go back to Revelation 22. Let me pick up this. Verse 3, and there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. Stop here just a minute. We're back to the heavenly city. Everybody with me? There's no curse in the heavenly city. The throne of the Lamb and of God are in that one. Why is that important? Because that's where you live. And you are said to be in the presence of the Lord all the time. That's where you live. On the earth, it looks like David's going to be ruling on the earth there, out of the temple that this river is flowing out of. Let me go further, another step further with you. He says, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servant shall serve him. Now, it looks like to me that's the 144,000. that they get the closest work to Him. The 144,000 were seen to be those that are the closest to the Lord Jesus Christ, and they get to be with Him. They're going to serve Him there, so His servants will serve Him. He goes on a step a little bit more by saying, they shall see His face, His name shall be on their foreheads, there shall be no night there, they need no lamp, nor light of the sun, nor the Lord God gives them light. They shall reign forever and ever. And that, brothers and sisters, is about your new home. That's where you're going to be. That's what's going to be happening. There are two things happening, your home and the earth. Father, thank you so much for the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for all that He is. I pray, Father, no one will be in this place and leave without knowing that Jesus Christ is Lord of lords and King of kings, and that they will trust Him and follow Him. And I thank you again for what you will do in Jesus' name. God bless you. We hope God has encouraged you with today's message by Pastor White. Thank you for joining us at the Edgmont Bible Church. 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