Good morning. Please turn to Revelation chapter 21. We will read verses 1 through 8. And it reads, 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 from 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 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 is seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end, to the thirsty I will give from the spring of 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. but for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. God is creating a new heaven and a new earth for his bride, his bride which he has purified and they will have perfect union during this time. And all pain and trouble and suffering will be removed from his people. See, this is the finale of God's redemptive historical process. God, John, in this last part of Revelation parallels the beginning of Genesis. We're basically ending where we started. But we're in a better position now than when we started. Gary Meadows points this out. Human history climaxes where it all began, on earth. See, it ends with man in perfect communion with God, like Adam was originally in the garden. But once man fell, that communion was broken. In the garden, Adam was righteous. Scriptures and the confession both attest to this. He had a righteousness of innocence. A righteousness that existed because he had never sinned. You see, but he didn't have a righteousness of perfect obedience. In Christ we have this righteousness of innocence like Adam had before the fall. because Jesus was sinless. He never sinned. But we additionally have a righteousness of obedience because Jesus lived a life of perfect obedience to the law of God. Before the law, Adam was righteous. He never sinned. God made him in perfection and God said that this was very good. but at the same time he hadn't lived a life of perfect obedience to the law of God. He wasn't credited with fulfilling the law of God in every respect because he had not lived a life of perfect obedience. He didn't have this righteousness of obedience, but in Christ we have a righteousness of innocence and obedience. Christ not only never sinned, he also lived a life which fulfilled the law in every respect. and every believer is wrapped in this robe of Christ's righteousness. R.C. Sproul has a children's book called The Priest with Dirty Clothes, and it communicates this idea of imputed righteousness. And children, if you haven't read this book, you should, because it explains one of the greatest truths in Christianity, imputed righteousness. In this story, there was a priest, and he was on his way to go and to see a king. But this priest fell into the mud, his clothes became dirty, and now he was in a quandary. Because the king was expecting to see him, however, he was commanded not to stand before the king in dirty clothes. All of his washing, all of his scrubbing would not remove the stain from his garments. You see, but the king's son had compassion on this priest. He gave him his royal garments. where the prince donned the priest's filthy clothes. And now this priest was fit to stand before the king because he wore the garments of the king's son. See, this is a picture of how God clothes us in his righteousness so that we can stand before God, our God and king. It is on account of this that we can spend eternity with God. Do you see how simple this picture of redemption is? That it can even be demonstrated and communicated to a child. Christ clothes us with the garments of his righteousness, because like Zachariah, we're like a bran that was plucked from the fire. We are drenched in our sins, and all of our acts of self-righteousness are like filthy rags. That's the problem that man had after the fall. In Genesis, man sinned and was therefore separated from God. He was cursed. A death sentence was pronounced. But here in Revelation, we have man eternally in the presence of God with the removal of the curse of death. And this happened because of the work of the Lamb of God. Hermann Hoeksema points out that the main purpose and the thrust of this passage is not the glory of the new heaven and new earth, but rather it's the glory and the radiance of the Bride of Christ, who comes down from heaven as the new Jerusalem. John begins with the new heaven and new earth because that's just a natural occurrence for a new creation account. Remember, in the first creation account, it started out, in the beginning, God made the heaven and the earth. God first has to remake and abode for his people. But God's dwelling with his radiant bride is the central theme of this passage. And we can see this demonstrated in John's chiastic structure in verses 1 through 5 that we read. So just as a reminder, chiasms, as we've mentioned in previous sermons, are literary devices. A chiasm repeats its main point in the opposite order around a central point. So let me give you an example in English. One would be, when the going gets tough, the tough get going. That's a chiasm. My point goes in this order. Going gets tough, tough get going. My central point is tough. I'm able, in that simple sentence, to communicate how a tough person responds in a tough situation. So chiasms are important because they communicate a central theme through the structure of the text. So in Revelation 21, one through five, the central theme is the radiant bride of God with which God dwells. And so let's glance over that text. We see this here, starting in the first part of verse one, we have the new heaven and the new earth. And then toward the middle part of verse one, you have the first heaven and the first earth have passed away. At the end of verse one, you have the sea no longer exists. And then from there, we begin to take a step down. We have the holy city that descends from heaven and God dwelling with his people. And then verse four, you have death no longer exists. At the end of verse four, you have the former things have passed away. And then in verse five, you have God creating everything new. So just to repeat it, the beginning of verse one and in verse five, you have God making the new heaven and the earth and making everything new. The middle of verse one, And verse 4, you have the first heaven and the first earth pass away. And then in verse 4, you have the former things passed away. At the end of verse 1, you have the sea no longer exist. And then in verse 4, you have death no longer exist. And then our two central points there are sandwiched in at verse 2 and in 3 through 4. You have the holy city that descends from heaven and God who is dwelling with his people. So let's look at the first verse. John's wording in this verse is very similar to Isaiah 65, 17. where it says, for behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth, for the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. The recreation of the cosmos fulfills the prophecies in Isaiah in chapter 65 and 66. God's recreation of the old for his people. Verse one in Revelation 21 communicates God's recreation of the creation. And this recreation began when the old creation fell. At the moment the old creation fell, God began the recreation process through the covenant of grace. God announced His plan in the garden. That's in Genesis 3, 14 and 15. The Lord God said to the serpent, because you have done this, cursed are you above all the livestock and above all the beasts of the field. On your belly you shall go and the dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and her offspring. He shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel. God declares that the offspring of Eve shall crush the head of the serpent. See, normally in scripture, a child is declared a child of the father. But God didn't say the offspring of Adam would crush the head of the serpent. He said the offspring of Eve. That's why the virgin birth was necessary. Original sin prohibited a son of Abaddon from accomplishing what the covenant of works required. So here you have God's two covenants working side-by-side in these early passages in Genesis, and they flow side-by-side in both Testaments of Scripture from the beginning into the end. The covenant of works, which is the covenant that God made with Adam that all humanity is under. Everyone is required to keep the moral law of God in its totality. That's the covenant that God would judge by, the works that you performed in your life. which puts us in a difficult situation because no sinful son of Adam can perfectly keep what the law demands. See, maybe you don't recognize this covenant. Maybe you don't even believe that it exists. That's completely irrelevant. See, you're born under Adam, therefore you're under this covenant. Just like being born in the United States puts you under the laws of this land. Perhaps you were born here and you don't recognize the jurisdiction of this country. But when you stand before a judge for running a stop sign, it's not gonna matter. You're under the authority. Now the other covenant that we have is the covenant of grace, whereby faith, the righteousness of God, is imputed to his children. Jesus, the second Adam, the one who perfectly followed God's law. All of his children now may dwell with God. See, God's making all things new from the beginning of the fall. This city that we have in Revelation 21 is the fruit of all redemptive history. Paul allegorizes these two covenants in Galatians 4, verses 24 through 26. Now this may be interpreted allegorically, These women are two covenants, one for Mount Sinai, bearing children for slavery. She is Hagar. Now, Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia. She corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. That is the thrust of these two covenants. One which is born into a slavery of sin, the covenant of works through Adam, and it's magnified at the covenant that Moses gave on Mount Sinai. And one which is born into freedom from sin, freedom from the law, the covenant of grace, which is magnified in the new covenant through Jesus. Israel in the Old Testament was saved by faith. Remember this as the writer of Hebrews says, the blood of bulls and goats can forgive no sin. They were not saved by the works of the law. Because remember, anyone who was guilty of one point of the law was guilty of breaking the whole thing. And no one kept the law perfectly. And even if you thought you did, you'd then be guilty of being prideful. No, the Old Testament saints were saved by the covenant of grace, not by works. They were saved in their faith in a Savior to come by trusting in the promise of God. Old Testament saints had to be converted. They're not saved by following the law of Moses that was laid down on Mount Sinai. See, and you can see these conversions in the Old Testament. People such as Judah, who at one point was, out of jealousy, involved in selling his brother into slavery. And then many years later was willing to lay down his life for his younger brother, Benjamin. The same person acting completely differently because God had done a work in this man's life. He was not saved by his works. It was the grace of God that changed this man's heart. Christ is the beginning of this new creation. And this new creation begins in you. when you're born again. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5.17, therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is passed away. Behold, the new has come. Your regeneration is the first fruits of this eternal dwelling that we read of in Revelation 21. This is the plan that God had from the beginning. Perhaps it's better to say this is the plan that God had prior to the beginning. As Stephen mentioned during Sunday school, God wasn't surprised by what happened in the garden. Remember what Paul writes in Ephesians chapter one, verses three and four. Blessed to be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing from heavenly places. Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. Before the creation of the world, God chose us to be holy. God planned this new creation long before the old one was even made. And now continuing in verse 1 of chapter 21, the sea is no more. The removal of the chaotic sea is the great Christian hope. The sea symbolizes, is a great Christian hope, the sea symbolizes the chaotic sinful world and its economy that persecutes the people of God. It is used as a word picture throughout scripture. We see this sea through which the beast arose in Revelation 13, that's 13 one, and I saw the beast arise out of the sea with 10 horns and seven heads, with 10 diadems, and its horns and its blasphemous names on its heads. And again we see that the harlot in Revelation 17 one, come I show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters. Isaiah also compares the wicked to the sea. That's in Isaiah 57, 20 through 21. Says my God for the wicked. Additionally, the symbol of God leading his people through the Red Sea to the Promised Land is such a beautiful picture of God's people walking through the chaos into God's glory. Here, God's people are ultimately free from their captivity. See, God removed the sea of the Egyptian army behind them, and he removed the sea of water that was before them so that they could go to the Promised Land. Isaiah writes in chapter 51, 10 through 11, was it not you who dried up the sea, the waters of the deep, who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over? And the ransom of the Lord shall come to Zion with singing. Everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. They shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. We are reading the writing of a man, John, who was surrounded by a literal sea on the island of Patmos, telling us that the chaotic sea of this world, which at the time was persecuting him through the hands of the Roman Empire, shall cease to be in the world to come. And the sea of chaos of sinful man that torments the people of the godly will not exist in glory. And we continue to verse two. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. Simon Kistemacher points out that the New Jerusalem is a picture of perfection with respect to measurement, adornment, and glory. This is the bride of Christ, holy and adorned for her husband. This is a picture that is demonstrated through marriage. So we have many false pictures in this sinful world that have been given through marriage, but this is the true marriage. This is one that isn't marred by the stain of sin. The world, the flesh, and the devil have no sway over this union. See, the bride of Christ stands in stark contrast to the whore of Babylon, which we see in chapters 14 through 21. The New Jerusalem is a bride, the wife of the Lamb, while Babylon is a harlot with whom the kings of the earth would fornicate. The New Jerusalem is the splendor and the glory of God, while Babylon derives her splendor from exploiting her empire. In the New Jerusalem, nations walk by her light, which is the glory of God, but Babylon corrupts and deceives the nations. Uncleanliness, abomination, and falsehoods are excluded in the New Jerusalem. But Babylon is full of abominations, impurities, and deceptions. In the New Jerusalem, you have the tree of life for the healing of the nations, while in Babylon, you have her wine, which makes the nations drunk. In the New Jerusalem, it is full of life and healing, while in Babylon, it is full of blood and slaughter. The New Jerusalem is the dwelling of God while Babylon is the dwelling of demons. God's people are called to enter the New Jerusalem while God's people are called to come out of Babylon. New Jerusalem is eternal because she is a bride while Babylon is only for a season because she is a harlot. Isaiah speaks of similar adornment in Isaiah 61 10. I will greatly rejoice in the Lord. My soul shall exult in my God for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with a robe of righteousness as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest, a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself in jewels. This nuptial imagery of the God who rescues his people, who rescues his bride, is replete throughout the Bible. As the Lord says in Isaiah 52, no more will his bride be defiled by those who are unclean. His bride is adorned, his bride is pure. God and his people live in the new Jerusalem in perfect communion for all eternity. This is something that should get you excited. Perfect communion with God. No more worldly or sinful distractions. Maybe when you pray, you get distracted. Maybe your mind drifts off when you read the Bible. Maybe you daydream during the worship service. Maybe you're daydreaming right now. See, that's not gonna happen in the New Jerusalem. We will be a city of priests. There will be no temple. There will be no certain place that you have to go to worship God. Not like you need it in the Old Testament. In fact, we have a foretaste of this in the New Testament. Since Christians are all priests of God, there is a priesthood of believers. You don't have to go to a specific geological location to worship God. He says, wherever two or three of you are gathered, I am there. I ask you this, where did Adam have to go in the garden to meet with God? There wasn't a certain place. He walked with God in the cool of the day. Adam didn't have to approach God through a mediator because he wasn't sinful. However, after the fall, everything changed. No longer did Adam freely walk with God. Adam's sin created a chasm between him and God. Blood sacrifices were then necessary, which pointed to the need for an ultimate atonement. These specific sacrifices, which were heightened in the tabernacle and the temple period, serve as a visual presentation of God's holiness and man's far-offness. See, God said do the sacrifices here in Jerusalem, at this altar. No other altar. No altar in the entire world. Not in the high place. Not in Samaria. No, you can't mix in Baal and Ashroth. There were a million ways that you could get this wrong, and there was one way you could get it right. And this precise exclusivity in the ceremonial law pointed to Christ, who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me. That is, every other pathway, except for that one, is lost. Every other pathway is failure. The bridegroom who donned flesh that he might purchase his bride, like Isaiah wrote in Isaiah 52.3, that bride that Isaiah says was sold for nothing, but was purchased for money. It's bad enough to get sold into slavery, but to get sold into slavery for nothing. See, but our bridegroom did not leave us in that state. He put on flesh that he might become a kinsman and redeem us by fulfilling the law that we could not, and by paying a debt that we could not. Like Boaz, who was Ruth's kinsman redeemer. Boaz, who fulfilled the law, first by seeking out the one who had a right to her. See, this wasn't something she could do. She couldn't go forward on her own behalf. She was a Moabite, a Gentile. She had no rights to fulfill Israeli law. The Moabites, those who came from the incestuous union between Lot and his daughters, a people who were unclean, a people who were cut off, that was her genealogy. She was helpless. She needed Boaz to fulfill the law on her behalf and to redeem her and her land. And with that transaction, she became a part of God's covenant community, a Moabite. But she was not to act like a Moabite. No, she was a bride in God's covenant community, a bride of a righteous man. See, this is what Jesus did for us. That was us, born into an unclean genealogy, sons of Adam. We could not fulfill the law on our own behalf on account of our father, Adam. We were poor. We could not pay the debt that we owed. We could not inherit this land. However, Jesus had the proper genealogy. He was the son of God. He was not a son of Adam. Jesus fulfilled the law and paid the debt through his life. Jesus fulfilled the law through his life and he paid the debt through his blood that we may dwell with him for all of eternity in the lands of the new heaven and the new earth. Peter writes in 2 Peter chapter 3 verses 10 through 12. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done will be exposed. Since all things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people you ought to be in lives of holiness and godliness? waiting for the hastening, the coming of the Lord. The hope that we have in eternity should cause us to strive towards holiness, like a good fiance would prepare herself for her husband. So I want to give you an idea. Imagine a young man who was soon to be married to a young woman. This young man longed and desired for the time of their wedding. He'd often come to visit her during their courtship. However, on one of those visitations, when he went to her house to fellowship, he found thousands of pictures of other men all over the house, just scattered everywhere. In the midst of all these pictures, he found a picture of himself. And the two sat there and began to talk of their affection for one another, and as they would talk, she would easily become distracted by the images of the other men in her house. The images of all these other men would capture her attention to such a degree that she would lose concentration on the words of her bride, of her groom. She'd almost go off into a daydream. Her bridegroom was right in front of her, but she was becoming distracted by images of other men. Would that not break this young man's heart? Oh, she might say, I'm just looking. I just find these pictures interesting, consider it a hobby. She says, you know I've accepted you as my fiance and groom, but is that any way to prepare for a lifetime of marriage? Lusting, focusing, and setting her heart on things that are contrary to her groom. But is this not a picture of us sometimes? Sure, Jesus paid the debt so he could redeem me, But do we not many times set our hearts and our lives upon things that are not our groom? Entertaining ourselves with that which Jesus came to save us from, setting our hope in that which shall not exist in the new Jerusalem. No, this hope should drive us towards holiness in anticipation of the communion that we have with our Lord. As John writes in 1 John chapter three, verses two through three. Beloved, we are God's children now, and we will not be as not yet, and what will be has not yet appeared. But we will know when he appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is, and everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure. The hope that we have for all eternity in the future should drive us towards holiness in the present. And John continues in verse three. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Since the fall, God has provided a way for man to be reconciled to him or to dwell with him again. Ezekiel prophesies this in Ezekiel 37, 24 through 28. My prophet David shall be king over them, and they shall have one shepherd. They shall walk in my rules and be careful to obey my statutes. They shall dwell in the land that I gave to my servant Jacob, where your fathers lived. They and their children, their children's children, shall dwell there forever, and David, my servant, shall be their prince forever. I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them, and I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forever. My dwelling place shall be with them. I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Paul states this additionally in the New Testament. In Ephesians chapter two, verse 22. In him you're being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. So in Revelation 21.3, we see God continuing that provision. Revelation 23 is the very opposite of what happened in Genesis 3.8 and 3.24. Turn with me please to Genesis chapter three. And in Genesis 3.8. And they heard the sound of the Lord walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. See, man is ashamed of his sin. He's hiding himself here from the presence of God. Out of shame, they're fleeing from God's presence. But not in the New Jerusalem. We will not flee from God's presence there. Additionally, look down to Genesis 3.24. He drove out man at the east of the garden of Eden. He placed a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. Here is God banishing mankind from his presence. They once walked in the cool of the day and they're now separated from his presence by sin. This dwelling place in Revelation 21.3 should hearken us back to three points in history, Eden, the time of the tabernacle in the temple, and presently, the time where God's Holy Spirit is dwelling with the believers. In Revelation 21.3, God is recreating the fellowship that man lost in the garden. Where was the temple in the Garden of Eden? Where was the special place God had to go to walk with God? There was no temple. There was no specific place he had to go to meet with God. Turn back to Revelation 21, please. In Revelation 21, we see a city without a temple, because the Lord is the temple. Look at the city's dimensions. Follow it down to verse 16. The city lies four square. Its length, the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 12,000 stadia by 12,000 stadia by 12,000 stadia. If your Bible gives you the miles in a footnote, it'd be better just to mark out the footnote. Because as soon as you translate these dimensions into miles, you completely misinterpret the text. John wasn't intending for us to translate this into common American measurements. He wasn't intending for us to visualize this size. This 12,000 stadia, that is 12 times 1,000. 12 representing the number of God's people, 12 tribes, 12 apostles, and 1,000 representing a great number, a number of great sum in apocalyptic literature. Notice how John purposely describes the New Jerusalem as a perfect cube, 12,000 by 12,000 by 12,000. The only other cube we have in the Bible is the Holy of Holies, the place of God's presence. This cube in Revelation is the true Holy of Holies, the more perfect one, the place where God eternally fellowships with His people, and His people eternally worship Him Every one of his people are inside. There is no veil on account of sin. As John writes down in verse 27, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. There are walls in this city that are impregnable. No serpent shall sneak into this Eden. Nothing unclean shall ever enter in. Nothing shall disrupt the fellowship of God with his people. In this new holy of holies, this perfected holy of holies, we will have perfect communion with God that is unending. As Isaiah says in chapter 66, from Sabbath to Sabbath, from week to week, from new moon to new moon, that's from month to month, this is unending fellowship with your creator. and His creation without the stain of sin. No more sin. Can you even imagine an existence without sin? You have experienced sin your whole life. I don't know about you, but I find it hard to find a perfect frame of reference. My whole life has been stained by sin. As David writes in Psalm 51 verses five through seven, behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Behold, you delight in truth and in the inward being, and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean. Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. I have experienced the curse of God upon this creation on account of sin throughout my life. And I really only have one point of reference that I can consider in this regards. And that's the point of my conversion. At that point I had a desire to flee. I had God's spirit grant me a hatred for sin. And there was a great change that the Lord made in my life from pre-conversion to post-conversion. It was great. So what is the rebirth but a foretaste of what life will be like, completely divorced from sin. Because that contrast is gonna be even greater. The veil was torn between the holy place and the most holy place when Jesus died. See, but that just foreshadows what we have here. There is this now but not yet paradigm working through scripture. See, from a judicial standpoint, you have perfect community with God. But from a practical standpoint, you don't, because you still sin. As Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 5, verses four through five, for while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened. Not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the spirit as a guarantee. See, we're groaning in this present tense, like the Israelites were groaning in the wilderness in their desire for the promised land. I mean, it's their land, right? The land was granted to them prior to their birth, since God promised it to Abraham. It's their land. They can call it their land, but it doesn't quite feel like their land, because they don't live there. See, we desire to be fully clothed in Christ's robes that He has awaiting for us. We've been born again, which grants us freedom for sin. But we don't feel completely free because we still sin. We live in a time where God does not fully dwell with man on account of sin, but rather He dwells with certain men. We see this picture throughout the Bible. God came down and tabernacled with the Israelites in the Old Testament in the Holy of Holies. But our greatest foreshadowing of God's eternal dwelling or tabernacling with us occurred at the first advent of Christ. This is John 1.14, and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And we have seen His glory. Glory as of the only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth. John is very intentional with his wording here, dwelt. The use of the Greek word skene is the idea of tabernacling or putting up one's tent in a certain place to dwell. This is the same word that we have here for dwell in Revelation 21-3. This is an eternal tabernacling, an eternal dwelling between God and His people. Your sin clouds your relationship with God, but one day, oh yes, one day, there will be no veil of sinful flesh to cloud this relationship, and we will exist in perfect communion with God for all of eternity. The granting of the Holy Spirit is but a foretaste of this communion. and the Spirit helps us to seek righteousness and holiness while we await our perfection. As Peter writes in 2 Peter 3, 13 through 14, but according to his promise, we are waiting for a new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found in him, by him, without spot or blemish in peace. How can we be found with our spot or blemish in peace until he comes? only if we're found in Jesus Christ, who serves as our prophet, our priest, and our king, who will lead us in worship and rule over us for all of eternity. Jesus will serve as our true prophet. He shall not be like the prophets of the past, who when they came, as the writer of Hebrews states, they were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword, they went into the skins of sheep and goats, they were destitute, and they were mistreated. He shall not perish as these types did. Instead, he will fully communicate the things of God with us, and we will dwell with him for all of eternity. And Jesus in this kingdom of priests will serve as our eternal high priest, leading us in the worship of God for all of eternity. He will not be like the priest of the past who died and then were replaced by another. He will not be like the priest of the past who had to first atone for their own sins before entering the holy of holies. Instead, he is sinless. He leads us into this eternal holy of holies. As the writer of Hebrews states in chapter nine, verses 10 and 11, but when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is, not of this creation, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by the means of blood, by the blood of goats and calves, but by the means of his own blood, securing an eternal redemption. And in Hebrews chapter eight, verses one through two, Now the point that we are saying is this, we have such a priest, one who is seated at the right hand of God, the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord has set up, not man. He will also serve as our great king for all of eternity. David was a great king of Israel. He protected his people in the stronghold of Jerusalem. But David, although he sought after the Lord's heart, was not perfect, nor could he be, because he was a sinful man. He lacked holiness. And his son Solomon, although having great wisdom, lacked holiness even more. And the kingdom, which fell into idolatry, was ripped in two. See, but when Jesus serves as our perfect king in the new Jerusalem, there will be no division in this kingdom. The sea will be no more. Unlike the old Jerusalem, the new will not be surrounded with enemies. The Israelites disobeyed the Lord in Canaan and they did not remove all of the evil from the land. Later kings such as Solomon began to trade and to create alliances with these countries and even marry their daughters. No, Jesus has removed all the enemies. Sin and death are defeated by Christ. They have no authority in the New Jerusalem. Jesus will be our perfect King because He will remain. Unlike earthly kings who live and die, and then their offspring pine for power, Jesus will remain. Because of Christ, we will spend eternity in the New Jerusalem, dwelling with our Creator, our Redeemer. We have an eternity to know and to learn the knowledge of righteousness of God. Here God's people will have perfect communion with Him where they will grow eternally and grow in knowledge of Him. I was recently speaking with a friend about when the disciples met with Christ after His resurrection on the Emmaus Road. And Christ told him from the Old Testament all the places that spoke of him. I told him, man, I wish I had an MP3 recording of that conversation. I mean, I could just put that on while I drive to work and drive home and just keep listening to it. And he told me, you know what, one day in the New Jerusalem, We'll probably have many conversations like that. We'll be spending an eternity learning about Christ and His work, all the ways that He has redeemed His people, all the ways that He has demonstrated His attributes throughout history and creation. We have no reason to believe that in heaven that we're gonna be omniscient. D.A. Carson points this out, that this is an attribute of God, and we have no reason to believe that upon the resurrection that we're gonna be exactly like God in this respect. I mean, really, do we additionally think that we're gonna be omnipresent and omnipotent? No, these are God's attributes, not ours. Therefore, we're gonna continually grow in the knowledge of our creator. we're gonna spend an eternity growing in knowledge of our bridegroom. Imagine that eternity getting to know God, an eternity growing in our knowledge of Him. Some of us think that the idea of heaven is boring, and that's because we find the idea of God boring. Although none of us would admit that. Maybe you find the Bible boring, prayer boring, religious conversations boring, And if you ultimately find no interest or joy in anything holy, you're probably not converted. But other times, the idea of heaven sounds boring because we just have a foolish understanding of heaven. Michelangelo made many works of art depicting heaven and creation. And many of them paint a clearer picture of his depraved heart than they do of anything that is heavenly. And when these paintings aren't sinful, they're often just plain silly. Heaven is never depicted as unclad baby angels flying about. Really, is this the picture that you get when you read Isaiah 6? The seraphim, the fiery ones, who when they speak the foundations would shake? Others have conveyed the idea of glorified people flying through the clouds and playing harps. This isn't the picture that we have in the Bible. We will dwell with God, we will work with God in the new heavens and the new earth, and none of the creation will suffer the effects of sin. I don't claim to know everything that eternity entails, because the Bible doesn't tell us every fine detail. We just get a big picture. But I do know this, the one who made the new creation is the one who made the creation that we're enjoying now. It's not like a fun God made this life and then another boring God came along and he's going to make the eternal creation. It's the same God who made the old creation who will renew it into a new one. Everything that is good in life is a gift from God. Beauty, creativity, laughter, fellowship, intimacy, waterfalls, stars, microbiology, family, everything came from God. And if Jesus has gone to prepare a place for us, as he said, we can be assured that the second Eden will be greater than the first. you love your relationship to your spouse, well, you will be a bride of Christ for all of eternity. And that relationship will not be stained by sin. Will there be football? Will there be fishing? Riding? What about my favorite music? Is there going to be art? We don't have to fret about the existence of any of these things in eternity. God gave man the ability to be creative, gave him the earth to subdue and to enjoy, and he will do the same in the new heavens and the new earth. The relationship that I have with my wife, which I enjoy immensely, is merely a foretaste of the bliss that will be enjoyed in the eternal communion between the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, and his bride. And another reason this eternal communion will be so blissful is due to all of the removal of the consequences of sin, which John writes on in verse 4. 21-4, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. God said to Adam that he would surely die if he ate from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And all of this pain and sorrow and sickness are merely the consequence of that death sentence. Every time you get sick, it's a reminder of your frailty. It's a foreshadowing of your death. Your bones break, your memory fades, your joints lock up. There is a slow, gradual death occurring in all of us that began from the moment of our birth. One of the consequences of the fall is that man was cut off from the tree of life. As it says in Genesis 3, 22 through 24. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out from the garden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove them out at the east of the garden of Eden. He placed a cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life. See, but the separation from the tree of life ends in the new creation. Look ahead to Revelation 22. starting in verse one. Then an angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life, with 12 kinds of fruit, yielding fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And again in verse 14, blessed are those who wash their robes so they may have a right to the tree of life and they may enter the city by the gates. The bond of sin and death was broken by the blood which washed our robes. Because of Christ's victory, death shall be removed. Death shall have no power in the new Jerusalem. As Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15, 54 through 57, when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written, death is swallowed up in victory, O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Where is the sting of death in this new kingdom? It is removed. Isaiah speaks of this time in Isaiah 25, verses 7 through 8. And he swallowed up the mountain covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from the earth, for the Lord has spoken. In the garden after the fall, God cursed the environment. Therefore, man would toil in difficulty. But we won't have these diseases and this suffering that are part of God's curse upon us. God put the curse in place, and it is God who will remove it. In the New Jerusalem, in God's recreation, we see the curse which God placed upon humanity finally removed. And man will spend eternity in joyful bliss, in perfect communion with God and with each other. As a deacon, I've become well acquainted with sickness and distress, the sickness and the distress that this curse plagues upon our body. And I know that many of you eagerly desire the resurrection of your body, a time when you will no longer suffer physically. See, but remember, church, this is only for a season. Only for a season will your loved ones be in misery and pain, which ultimately ends in physical death. As Paul writes in Romans 8 verses 18 through 23, For I consider the present sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself would be set free from its bondage to decay, and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who are the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly, as we wait eagerly for the adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. This is our hope. This is our true promised land. Jesus is the true and the greater Moses who will lead us out of the slavery of sin, who led us out of the slavery of sin. Now he guides us through the wilderness journey of this life. after which he will lead us into the promised land. See, but unlike the first Moses, who was kept out of the promised land on account of his sin, Jesus Christ, our perfect Moses, shall lead us into the promised land, and we shall reside with him for eternity in perfect fellowship. A land where God eternally dwells with his people, who are his bride. in perfect communion, protected from the consequences of sin and death. And I close with John's statement at the end of Revelation. Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.