We've been studying the book of Revelation together on Sunday morning and we come to the conclusion of the main section of the book in our consideration together today. The focus of the closing chapters, chapter 21 and the opening verses of chapter 22 of the book of Revelation are on what will it be like in heaven for the people of God. What do we have to anticipate and look forward to in all eternity as the people that God has redeemed by his grace, cleansed from our sin, and made his own? The story begins in the book of Genesis, the first book of our Bible. The first verse of the first chapter of Genesis begins, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. That is the beginning point, not of God, but of heaven and earth and all creation as we know it. Man and woman are created by God, later in Genesis chapter 1, as the climax of His creation and the pinnacle of His creation. In verse 26 of Genesis 1, God says, let us make man in our image and let's have man rule over all the creation. So man is created in the image of God to rule over all the creation. that God has made. He was created with the privilege of walking in perfect harmony and fellowship with the God who had made Him. Everything was perfect. He was placed in what is called the Garden of Eden, a beautiful and perfect environment to live and serve in fellowship with His God. But in Genesis chapter 3, Adam and Eve sinned. And when they sinned, the curse of God's judgment came on all creation. It came upon them, but it came upon all that God had created because of their sin. Now a relationship with God that had been beautiful and harmonious was shattered. A world that was beautiful and conducive to a life that was perfect in every way, became a world of hardship and difficulty. Pain, suffering, misery, death came into the creation. Why do people die? Why do people suffer? Why do people experience such agony? You turn on the news and you see the pitiful pictures of great numbers of people starving and suffering and dying of disease. And you say, why would that happen? And Genesis chapter 3 tells us it's because of sin. It's not God's doing, it's man's doing. We have rebelled against God and the consequence of our sin now is all around us. However, God is a merciful God. He is a holy and just God who has pronounced the penalty for sin to be death. But He is a merciful and loving God who Himself has provided for the payment of that penalty. And the payment of that penalty was ultimately made with the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross almost 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ is Himself God. And He was born into the human race. And he was crucified on the cross. And the Bible tells us that he was bearing our sins in his body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. This was the way that the merciful and gracious God had of satisfying his demands of holiness and righteousness in the payment of sin. Now, the death of Jesus Christ has made it possible for you and I to be forgiven our sins. We recognize we're sinners, turn from our sin and believe that he died for us. We are cleansed from our sin and made new. But even if you believed in Christ, you see misery and suffering around you. You still face the reality of death. You still have pain and hardship and trial and difficulty in your life. But God has promised in the salvation that he has provided with the death of his son, Ultimately, all pain and suffering and sorrow and all death will be annihilated from the creation. And we will return to a perfect world in a perfect environment with men and women living in a perfect relationship of harmony with their God. And that's where we are in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. So if you turn to Revelation 21, I want you to note how Revelation chapter 21 begins. We read Genesis chapter 1 verse 1 where it says, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now you come to Revelation chapter 21 verse 1 and you read, John writes, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth passed away. Now, you see the connection? All things began new in Genesis 1-1. All things are created new in Revelation chapter 21, verse 1. When we get to this point, all the traces of sin have been removed. There is no sin anywhere in the new heavens and the new earth. There are no sinful beings living on the new earth. Only those who have been cleansed, washed, clean from their sin by believing in God's salvation. God will dwell on this new earth. In the opening chapters of Genesis, God came and walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden in the cool of the evening, the scripture tells us. In Revelation chapter 21 verse 3, we are told that God will dwell among his people. God himself shall be among them. So on the new earth, there will be a new city called the New Jerusalem, a city of unparalleled glory and splendor described in some detail in verses 10 to 20, 21 of Revelation 21. A city described, a literal city, But the glory of it goes beyond anything we can conceptualize. We are in eternity here. The description of the new earth with the new Jerusalem on the new earth really is a description of heaven, because heaven is where God dwells and manifests the fullness of His glorious presence. On the new earth, God will dwell on that new earth in the New Jerusalem and will manifest the fullness of His glory in that city. That means that heaven has literally come to earth. It's a city made from pure, transparent gold. The foundation stones are all kinds of precious stones. Each of the twelve gates going into the city are made of a single large pearl. It's a city that is 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles high. We are in eternity. We are describing a new creation of God. And so while some of the things here we can relate to, the precious stones, the precious metal, gold and so on, The pearls. The actual description of the city defies are reducing it to something within our finite minds. It goes beyond that, so it is literal, the description is actual here. But we are still not able to reduce it to an artist's rendering. Now, in this city, we saw there are a number of people or groups of people going to dwell. God the Father and God the Son, Jesus Christ, will dwell in this city. The holy angels will dwell in this city. Old Testament saints, including the nation Israel, will dwell in this city. And I would include here tribulation saints who complete God's program with the nation Israel. And the church saints, you and I, the redeemed of this day, the church of Jesus Christ, will dwell in this city. We saw this in Hebrews chapter 12. Now, if we come to verse 24, which we looked at last week, we just made some comments in verses 24 to 27. So let me make some remarks there that will lead us into chapter 22. The nations, Revelation 21, 24, shall walk by its light and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it. We have come to the New Jerusalem, and this is a city of great glory and splendor, the place where God dwells, where glorified saints will dwell. But note verse 24, it says the nations will walk by its light. The kings of the earth bring their glory into it. Who are the kings of the earth coming into this city? The scripture doesn't clearly tell us. Some assume that this will be just the redeemed who have been glorified, who will dwell on the earth as well as in the New Jerusalem. That's a possibility. You remember, we had the thousand years as the first phase of God's eternal kingdom at the end of the thousand years or the millennium. All sinners were cast into hell and we had the new heaven and the new earth created so that there's no taint. by sin anywhere in the new heaven and the new earth. It's possible that believers who were part of the millennial kingdom now received glorified bodies in the millennium. There will be people in their physical bodies. They came out of the Great Tribulation. Believers went into the millennium. They had children who were born in the millennium during that thousand year period. Some of those children believed in Christ. Now, when you come to the end of the thousand years, what happens? We're not told. Perhaps they get glorified bodies. We go into eternity and everybody has a glorified body. My personal opinion, and it's the view of a number of commentators as I have tried to search it out, is that what will happen at the end of the millennium is that those who are believers in Jesus Christ living on the earth in physical bodies will have their sin nature removed. They will continue on through eternity in their non-glorified, non-resurrected physical bodies. Remember, this body was not mortal as it was created. Remember when God created Adam and Eve in Genesis chapter one. At the end of chapter one, he said, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. That was before sin came into the world. That means if Adam and Eve had never sinned, they still would have had a sexual relationship as husband and wife. They would have had children. Their children would have had children. What would have not taken place? There would have been no pain in childbirth. There would have been no labor and toil in man's providing for his family. There would have been nothing that would have hindered or marred mankind's relationship with God. There would have been no pain or suffering. But for all eternity, they would have had children and families and it would have gone on and on. I think what we have in Revelation 21 and particularly in the chapter 22 is the picking up of God's plan and program before the fall. God's plan in creating humanity will not be frustrated. But humanity as humanity, unredeemed and unglorified, may well go on through all eternity. So I personally think that probably the nations here, the ethnos, we get the word ethnic from this, it can mean just Gentiles. But the fact that there are kings here as well as nations may indicate that national identity is maintained. even through eternity, because we saw Israel and the twelve tribes of Israel maintain their identity even into eternity. And each of the twelve gates into the New Jerusalem is named for one of the twelve tribes of Israel. So I would see no inconsistency with the nations maintaining their identity in going into the eternal kingdom as well. Which where the picture would be then the New Jerusalem is the dwelling place for all the people of God who have received glorified bodies. By being resurrected. Then outside the city on the new earth is the dwelling place for all the people of God who have never died and never received glorified bodies. I want you to know that some of this is conjecture because the Bible just doesn't tell us what happens. In this in between time. So if I get there and it turns out everybody's glorified, all I'll say is, well, that's one of the possibilities I thought might happen, but I think more probably we're going to see going through eternity. The plan picked up from Genesis chapters one and two. And God's plan being accomplished, we'll see more of this as we move into chapter 22. The nations walk by the light of the New Jerusalem. The kings of the earth bring their glory into it. Their glory into it would indicate, I take it, that all that they do, they are going to be accomplishing things on this earth. They bring their treasures, so to speak, into the New Jerusalem. Why? This is where the throne of God is. They come before his very presence to offer their worship to him. So it's not that since they don't have glorified bodies, they are not allowed access into God's presence in the New Jerusalem. No, they have freedom of access into the New Jerusalem and they bring their worship to God and the presence of his throne. There'll be no night time there. And so the gates are never closed because they don't close the gates in the daytime. Verse 25 says indicates that all the time. Through eternity, there will be access into the presence of God to bring worship and praise to Him. The only ones excluded are the unredeemed, and we've seen they have been cast into the lake of fire. Because we have a new earth and the new Jerusalem, and nothing vile or sinful or polluted will ever be allowed to enter into this glorious new creation. We move into chapter 22. We're going to see more connections now that will tie us back to the opening chapters of Genesis, which indicate that we are bringing to completion God's plan when He created all things. And He showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The water of life. Now, the book of Genesis, and we may have opportunity to see this later as we're in Genesis. The book of Genesis, there was a river flowing that then divided into four rivers. That's not called the river of the water of life. It's just called a river. Here it's called the river of the water of life. It's been promised to the people of God already in Revelation, back in chapter seven of Revelation. Verses 16 and 17 tell us. Revelation 7, 16, "...they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, shall guide them to the springs of the water of life. God shall wipe away every tear from their eye." There'll be no sorrow. There'll be no difficulty. There'll be no hardship. in the glory of His presence. And you'll note, He leads them to the springs of the water of life. Water is used in Scripture to depict life. Being in Israel, we had the opportunity to be reminded of that. We all appreciate a good cold drink of water on a hot day. But there, in a land that is scorched with the heat, that has much desert, water becomes even of a greater necessity. for the sustenance of life. So it's an easy transition for God to pick that up and use physical water to depict the life that he would give. In the book of Isaiah, prophet Isaiah in chapter 44, God gives a promise to the people of Israel. Let me read it for you. He says, for I will pour out water on the thirsty land and streams on the dry ground. I will pour out My Spirit on your offspring, My blessing on your descendants. And you see the connection. I pour out water on the dry ground. And then He uses that to make a transition. I pour out My Spirit upon you. Just as the water gives life in the physical realm and sustains life. So I'm going to give you My Spirit to give you life and to sustain you. Jesus picked up this picture. in John chapter 4 with the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman, when he says, Ask of me and I will give you living water. In John 7, Jesus said, If anyone believes on me, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. This he spoke of the Holy Spirit. So that picture of water and life, comes to its culmination in Revelation chapter 22, when in the New Jerusalem from the very throne of God is a river of crystal clear, pure, refreshing water. And it's the water of life to give life, to sustain life. And the picture is of the abundant provision which we are privileged to freely partake of. Life from God. Jesus said, I am come that you might have life and that you might have it more abundantly. God gives the fullness of life, eternal life. And here, that will be pictured in the literal river that will flow in this city. It comes from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Here we have the Lamb and God joined together on the throne. In the book of Revelation, we have mostly seen God the Father on the throne. But now we have the Lamb and God the Father on the throne. It's their throne. This is another one of those passages that portrays clearly the deity of Jesus Christ. He shares this throne. Now, we have one God manifest Himself in three persons. He is the triune God. I do not understand that. This is like some of the things we're talking about in eternity. There is no way to illustrate this. Because every illustration of the triune God collapses because it's flawed in one way or another, because there is only one true trinity. And that is God. How this will actually be displayed and worked out, I do not know. There are three distinct persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, but there is one God. Here they share the throne, the Father and the Lamb. Life comes from the One who is the Creator, the Redeemer of His people. In the middle of the street and on either side of the river was the tree of life. Now, you note the middle of the street at the beginning of verse 2 completes the sentence of verse 1. Now, there's some translations that also begin a new sentence with verse 2. I think the point being made here is out from the throne, you have a river running and it runs down through this central street of the city. We've seen in chapter twenty one that this street is pure gold, transparent in its purity. Evidently, in the middle of this street. There is a river running like we would have an island like in our entrance here, we have a drive like a street divided by a beautiful island of flowers. Well, there this street of gold is going to have running down it a river of life. Then in verse two, on either side of the river was the tree of life. I take it what we have is on either side of the river running out of the throne and down the center of the street is the tree of life and a row of trees, if you will, on either side of the river. So it says tree of life singular. But it seems in the description, and in Ezekiel 47, we have a similar description in the millennial Jerusalem, which seems that the tree of life represents the category of trees. Like if I tell you I have 50 acres of land and I've planted fruit trees on that land, and I might say I have the apple tree there, the orange tree there, the pear tree there, whatever. That doesn't mean I only have one apple tree. But if I have the apple tree there, that represents all the apple trees I have. That seems to be what's happening here. The tree of life is there. But is there an abundance as the tree of life lines both sides of this river? Seems to be the picture. It bears fruit every month. Twelve months, a different fruit each month. Now you see something here. We're in a new heaven and a new earth. We're in eternity, but we haven't lost our sense of time. We say, well, boy, we don't have the sun and the moon, and how are we going to have the months and all of this? God is in control. He brings it about, and every month there'll be new fruit. So in eternity, we have another connection to what we identify with. Twelve months. That evidently completes the cycle. Because there's a different fruit, new fruit each month, and then we'll be ready to repeat the cycle. Let me just mention here, before I go back to the Old Testament, I think this is important because the only description we have of heaven in any detail is what we have here in chapter 21 and these opening verses of chapter 22. And it's important we take our understanding of heaven and eternity from what God says. So much of what I read about eternity and different commentators have the idea, well, you know, we just come to the end and then we're in eternity and we just don't know anything about what it's like. Well, we do. You know, it's not some ghost like phantom. It's me kind of existence. It's not that way. Here we have 12 months. And I wait, I identify with 12 months. Here we have trees growing. producing fruit. We have water flowing out that we can partake of. I think this will be true for those in glorified bodies as well as those in non glorified body, because when Jesus had his glorified body, he sat down and ate fish with the disciples. I just can't imagine how that all worked out. Neither can I. That doesn't bother me. I hope there's more in the eternal heaven than I can conceive of with this small mind. Or what I can understand with this small mind. But we have to make such a radical disjuncture when we talk about eternity, as though it's just something that is not related in any way. Here we're told there are trees bearing fruit, 12 months, different fruit each month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation. Come back to the book of Ezekiel, chapter forty seven. Ezekiel, chapter forty seven, a description is given of Jerusalem in the millennium. The millennium is the thousand years preceding the new heaven and the new earth, the first thousand years of God's kingdom. Much of the description given in Ezekiel back chapters 40 to 48 of Ezekiel are describing the thousand year period of time. Much of what is described in that millennium is very much like what we have described in eternity, but that would be A fitting, just like much of what we're going to see, like the tree of life that goes back to Genesis. The millennium is the first phase of the kingdom, so much of what goes on in that millennium will be like what goes on in eternity. What happened? We have the new heaven and the new earth is everything brought to a greater glory than it has ever had. We still have Jerusalem. We have Jerusalem like it's never been seen before. Look at verse 12 of Ezekiel 47. Look at verse one. Then he brought me back to the door of the house and behold, water was flowing from under the threshold of the house toward the east and the house faced the east. So here you see in the millennial Jerusalem, there will be water flowing from out of the sanctuary. In the New Jerusalem, there won't be a sanctuary because the whole city is the sanctuary. There are differences, but there are similarities. In the New Earth, there'll be no sea. But we have the sea talked about in chapter 47 in the millennium. Verse 10, in fact, the end of verse 10 talks about the fish of the great sea, what we saw in Revelation 21, one in the new earth, there'll be no sea. Look at verse 12 of Ezekiel 47 and by the river on its bank on one side and on the other will grow all kinds of trees or literally all trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, their fruit will not fail, they will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary. Now we're told the water of life coming from the sanctuary or in the New Jerusalem from the throne of God is what feeds the trees and causes this great productivity every month. Their fruit will be for food, their leaves for healing. A very similar description. You can understand that the thousand years of the first phase of the eternal kingdom. It completes God's plan in completing his dealing with sin, but now after that, we have a new earth and a new heaven. We have a similar picture, but it's greatly multiplied. The one thing we have here is these trees now are the tree of life. Provided in abundance for all to partake of the tree of life. That goes back to the book of Genesis. Maybe I'll go back to Genesis chapter two. Those of you who are in our adult school of the Bible have been studying the book of Genesis. It's in Genesis two, we find a tree of life. Genesis two, we're in the Garden of Eden. Look at verse nine. Out of the ground, the Lord God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food. The tree of life also in the midst of the garden and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. No, verse 10, and a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. And from there it divided. So you see, again, you have that river that we referred to earlier. Verse nine, you have the tree of life as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You know the account. God forbid Adam and Eve to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. When they ate of that tree, it was an act of rebellion against God, they experienced spiritual death and the process of physical death began. Adam became a mortal being. Mortality is not an essential part of our humanity. Death came into the world by sin. Adam wasn't created as a mortal being. Adam became a mortal being by sinning against the God who created him. As a result of his sin, we come over to chapter 3 of Genesis, verse 22. Then the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil. Now, lest he stretch out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat and live forever. Therefore, the Lord God sent him out from the Garden of Eden. You might read this and say, oh, God's afraid that Adam's going to become a god. No, this is an act of mercy because of Adam in his fallen state had eaten of the tree of life. He would have lived forever as a fallen being. And it's God's intention to redeem him. So to assure that he would not eat of the tree of life, he's closed out from the garden, verse 24. So he drove the man out. And at the east of the garden of Eden, he stationed the cherry of him, the flaming sword, which turned in every direction to guard the way to the tree of life. Man is cut off from the tree of life. But now we come to Revelation 22. And what do we have? We have the tree of life lining both sides of the river of life. The gates of this city are open and you can come and partake freely. Depicts the life that man now has in abundance as the gracious provision of the God that he now walks together with in perfect harmony. Come back to Revelation. We could keep going back and forth in Genesis to Revelation. Some of it I'll just refer to. It says at the end of verse 2 of Revelation 22, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Now, this raises the question of something as far as I said, why do we need to be healed? If we're in eternity, I thought there wasn't gonna be any death, any sickness, any sorrow. Now we need to be healed. Well, we get the word, the English word therapeutic from this Greek word. Therapeutic means healing or health. I think the leaves here are for the healing or perhaps better for understanding for the health of the nations, for the well-being of the nations. In other words, the freedom of access to this tree of life simply depicts that there will be no suffering. There will be no sickness. There will be no pain. That's visibly displayed by the provision in abundance of the tree of life. For the health and well-being of the nations. So even those that are not in glorified bodies, the nations around the New Jerusalem filling the new earth. They will be in non glorified bodies, but they will have no sickness, no pain, no suffering, no death. I think that women will be bearing children if this scenario is correct, but there'll be no pain in childbirth, remember. Adam and Eve were told to be fruitful, multiply and fill the earth in Genesis one. It was not till the fall in Genesis three that God said to Eve in pain, you will now bring forth children. That's an addition because of sin that was not a necessary part of the original creation, the pain associated with childbirth. The picture here is of the abundant health and well-being that all will enjoy on that new earth that comes out in verse three. There shall no longer be any curse. That's the other side of it. They have free access to the leaves of the tree of life. There'll be no curse. Remember what happened in Genesis chapter three, verses 14 to 19. God comes and confronts those involved in rebellion against him. And what do you say? Cursed shall you be. He begins his address to the serpent. Cursed shall you be. Then we move down to the woman, you'll bear children in pain. The man, you'll make a living by the sweat of your brow. You know what? There's no curse now. So see the picture of the tree of life and the health that it gives. There's no curse there. Just abundant life and blessing, a picture that almost goes beyond what we can imagine. The throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it. This is repeated in this closing section several times. We saw it back in chapter 21, verse 3. God's going to dwell there. God's throne is going to be in this city. That's why we say this is heaven come to earth. This is where heaven will be for all eternity on the new earth. To go to heaven, you will go up to Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem. The nations will come to heaven, if you will. The New Jerusalem, where God resides on his throne and manifest his presence. Again, it's the throne of God and of the Lamb. There is one God, one throne, not three thrones, but three persons comprising the one God. I don't know how that all works out, but I will when I'm there. That's it. Boy, I could have explained it maybe if I had known then, but I couldn't have. Why? Because with our finite minds, we can't at this point. His bondservants shall serve him. Now, some people get concerned. You know, the last thing I want to do is go to heaven. Now, take this. I mean, I want to go to heaven. But, you know, it doesn't excite me a whole lot to think now I'm going to play my harp every day. And as we've learned here, 12 months a year for all eternity. Wouldn't it get boring? Well, you know, maybe you like to play harps and you don't think it's boring, but you know, some of the rest of us like to do other things. I like to sing. One thing we know here, if you're visiting you, I'll give you an audition afterwards. His bond servants shall serve him. We are going to be active in busy about the work of the Lord. So his servants will be doing his work. Serving him, carrying out his will, there will be things to do, things to be accomplished, work, quote, to be done, but not toilsome, burdensome, painful work. That dimension is all gone, but this doesn't mean now heaven is inactivity or meaningless activity. No, we will be still busy about serving. His bondservants shall serve him. They shall see his face. You know what happened in the garden? Genesis 3, 8, God came as his practice was in the cool of the evening to walk with Adam and Eve. What happened? They hid from God. I thought it was interesting in Exodus chapter 30, verse 20 and verse 23. We won't turn there, but you remember Moses asked God, allow me to see your face. What did God say? No man can see my face and live. John's Gospel, chapter 1, says, No man has seen God at any time. The only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father. He has explained Him. Now I read Revelation 22, 4, And they shall see His face. Who? His bondservants shall see His face. We will behold God in the fullness of his glory, the fullness of his splendor and majesty. We would not be able to do that now in our present condition. Moses, just dwelling in the presence of God, not beholding the face of God, came out and his face glowed. We would be consumed by that glory, but not in eternity. So, again, what will that mean? That we will behold the fullness of the glory of God? That face-to-face kind of beholding? I can't conceive of it. We're talking about a glory that goes beyond what you and I are able to get a handle on. In Matthew, chapter 5, verse 8, Jesus gave a promise. He said, blessed are the pure in heart, For they shall see God. Here is the ultimate realization and fulfillment of that. They shall see God. His name shall be on their foreheads. This promise has been given three times already in Revelation, and here it's repeated for the fourth time. His name, it's indelibly written on their forehead. Remember what the with the worshipers of the Antichrist in the tribulation, his name or his number is on their forehead. They belong to him. They're his servants. They're his worshipers. But we have the name of our God on our forehead for all eternity. We belong to him. We're his servants, we're his worshipers. Some commentators also pick up on the fact that the name of God contains his glory. His name is a revelation of His glory. And see here, the name of our God also conveying the idea that the fullness of His glory will be manifest in us, which is why we will be privileged to enjoy His presence. Moses' experience was just a touch of that glory and the result of it. Verse 5, there shall no longer be any night. They shall not have any need of the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God shall illumine them." And again, they talk about 12 months and so on, and think, well, we have the sun and the moon, we have to have that. But who says we have to have that? God did, because he created it that way. But in the new heavens and the new earth, we'll operate on a new system. And you don't need the sun. You don't need to turn on the light, because the radiance of the glory of God Himself fills the place. God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all. And now we come to the full realization of that with His glorious, light-giving presence illumining the new Jerusalem and the new earth. Look at the end of verse 5. And they shall reign forever and ever. Now, again, back in Revelation, chapter 20, verse four and verse six, we were told that the saints of God, glorified saints, would reign for a thousand years. That's the first phase of the eternal kingdom. But we will reign and rule and reign for a thousand years. But that does not mean that's the end of our reign. We will rule and reign forever and ever. They talked about why we have the first thousand years marked off in this eternal kingdom. That's why I think that we've got to be careful about making too radical a disjuncture between the first thousand years and eternity to be sure there are some radical major changes. But there are some very real similarities. And one of those similarities is you and I, as glorified believers, are going to reign forever and ever. Who are we going to reign over? Well, I take it the nations of the earth. For all eternity, we'll be multiplying us. And what will be the size of that new earth? Well, now we start to get some conception of why the New Jerusalem is 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles by 1,500 miles. For all eternity, we're going to be going on. and carrying out the will of God in a beautiful world that is perfect in every way. A world in which God Himself dwells in a city. And all the people of that world have access to that God. And you and I, glorified saints, will rule and reign from the New Jerusalem over the New Earth. That's the picture that is presented here. So there's much that we connect to what we can identify with. But it's presented in a setting and in a way that the glory and splendor and beauty of it, in its own way, defies description. In future studies, we're going to tie this together by looking at what is called the epilogue to the book, but I think it's important you see what is the impact of this to be on us. Well, first thing John says in verse 6 is, He said to me, these words are faithful and true. So you have any questions that there's so much here? I don't understand. I don't know. I wonder. But I know everything here is true. And you have any doubt God puts his seal on it. These words are faithful and true. Someday the gaps will be filled in. Someday you and I will stand before the throne of God, beholding the face of God with the fullness of the glory. We'll see the river of life. We'll see the tree of life. We'll see the gates of pearl. We'll look out on the new earth and it will all come together. But be sure, it is true. These words are faithful and true. The character of God stands behind them. Look down further in chapter 22 to verse 14. Blessed are those who wash their robes that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city. Special blessing and happiness to the redeemed. You see, the book's going to close with urgent exhortation for you to believe in Jesus Christ so that you might be one of those who are privileged to come and partake of the tree of life. to go in and out of this city through the pearly gates, because there'll be those excluded in verse 15, the unredeemed, those who have not been washed from their sins by the blood of Christ. So verse 17 says, and the spirit and the bride say come and let the one who hears say come, let the one who is thirsty come, let the one who wishes take of the water of life without cost. You see, you can have the water of life today. You can have the life that the Son of God died to give you today, recognizing that you are a sinner, lost and without hope, recognizing that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died to pay the penalty for your sin, casting yourself upon the mercy of God, believing that Jesus Christ died for you. When you do that, Jesus says, I give you water of life. The Spirit of God comes and takes residence in your life, makes you a new person to prepare you for God's new world. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things become new. We, the redeemed today, are here for what? Preparing for glory, doing what we will do for eternity. His bondservants shall serve Him, living for ourselves, Trying to get all we can. Trying to live life to the fullest. No. Desirous of faithfully serving our God. Storing up treasure in heaven. What an opportunity. What a privilege. What a destiny. Does anything here have any appeal? Isn't it tragic that we are attracted by the tinsel of this world worthless, of no value in light of what we've been considering. May God help us focus on that which matters for eternity. And above all, may God, by his grace, enable you to get ready for eternity so that you might have the joy of coming to this city on this new earth. The alternative? the lake which burns with fire and brimstone forever and ever. Let's pray together. Thank you, God, for the greatness of your grace. Lord, so much of what we've considered goes beyond what our minds are able to grasp and conceive. As we attempt to picture it, it's overwhelming. But, Lord, that just impresses upon us the greatness of the glory of the God who has redeemed us. Lord, we are so small in our thinking even about eternal issues. Thank you that you have not discarded fallen humanity. What a tragedy that sin entered the world and marred the beauty of your creation, brought death to what you had brought into life. Lord, thank you for your plan of redemption. Thank you for your Son who died on the cross and was raised from the dead. Lord, thank you that someday you will create a new earth and a new heaven And you will dwell on that earth in all your glory, and we will dwell there with you as the redeemed. Lord, may the glory of that event put everything in this life in perspective. Death, suffering, pain, sorrow, separation. May, Lord, we look at it all through the filter of your word and the eternal glory that you have promised to those that are redeemed. Father, for those who are not redeemed who have joined us today, perhaps regular in their attendance at this church, perhaps visiting, you know our hearts, you know us as we are. There is no hiding from you. Lord, I pray that we might not deceive ourselves. We might not be deluded into thinking that we can get to heaven by our own works, by our own actions, by what the church would do for us. May we see ourselves as you have said we are. hopeless, on our way to hell. May we turn to you and your mercy and grace, believing in your Son, in whose name we pray. Amen.