“Heaven” – Part 2 – Rev. 21:1-5

What I have here is the top ten lies that people tell (according to the internet, so it must be true). The top ten lies are as follows:

·         “I’m fine.”

·         “I Have Read & Agreed to the Above Terms and Conditions.”

·         “Wow! You Look Great In That Dress.” (Similar to: “No. You don’t look fat in that dress.”)

·         “Don’t Worry! It Will Be Okay!”

·         “I’m almost there.”

·         “LOL”

·         “It’s not mine.”

·         “No problem.”

·         Last one: “I understand.”

I’m tired of being lied to. How about you?  Are you? Because I just lied to you when I gave you my top ten list with only nine lies. Yep. It’s easy to do but we all hate to be lied to. We all know somebody that it seems like they would rather climb a tree to tell you a lie than to stay on the ground and tell you the truth.

Satan most definitely falls into that category. He is called the father of lies (John 8:44). He is good at it and he should be. He has been doing it for a very long time. Satan is referred to as the prince of this world in John 12:31 and he has completely brainwashed this world into thinking that tearing down monuments will solve racism.

He makes it sound like common sense that we should abort the little unwanted fetuses before they become “real babies”.  He has lived up to his name as the father of lies by convincing this world that what the Bible calls abomination is just an alternative lifestyle.  Satan has this world convinced that when marriage gets really difficult, just leave.  When life gets really difficult, just end it.  When you have to suffer the consequences for your bad behavior, it’s somebody else’s fault.

All of this has led to a world that is less happy, more stressed, more diseased, more hateful, busier and less fulfilled than ever before and we can expect it to get worse until Jesus comes again.  Are you bummed out yet?  Well, you ought to be.  Sin ought to bum you out.  Sin ought to make you mad.  Sin is our worst enemy and as I have said before, it is the worst thing in this world that can happen to us as believers.

Having sin in our lives is the root cause of all our problems, even death.  Romans 6:23 says that what we get for our sin, “the wages of sin” is death.  But for a Christian, even death is better than living in sin because sin puts a barrier between us and God.  Paul said to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21) For a Christian, death means being with Jesus where there is no more sin; no more abortion or racism or guilt or even crying.  Did you know that?

We joke about this being “Cries Fellowship” because it happens so often around here.  Not me, of course. 😊   But for most people, it will be so nice not to cry anymore, won’t it?  Well, that time is coming soon.  I promise you.  Let’s look at the passage that tells us that in Revelation 21:1-5.  We looked at it last week but there is so much to this passage that I want to revisit it and really understand what we can about what Heaven will be like.

Last week was supposed to be the end of our sermon series on the end times but there is way too much about Heaven to only preach one sermon. I may do it again next week, too.  We have seen what happens at the Rapture and the difference in the Rapture and the Second Coming.  We have seen how wonderful the Millennium is going to be and we talked last week about how, with God there, all our wants, needs and desires will be fulfilled in Heaven.

But we are so used to crying.  We are so used to pain; some more than others, but death, mourning, crying and pain are such a way of life for us in this sin-infused world that it is hard to imagine living without it.  We come into this world with crying and pain and we usually leave with crying and pain.  I heard the joke about a man who said when it came his time to die, he wanted to go like his father did, in peaceful sleep…not screaming and crying like the passengers in his dad’s car.

Let’s turn to Revelation 21:1-5 and see what it says about crying and pain.

Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. ²I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." ⁵He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

A preacher was preaching one day and he asked the congregation if they were ready to go to Heaven.  Everybody in the place raised their hands except one little boy.  The preacher asked, “Son, don’t you want to go to Heaven?”  The boy said, “Sure.  Someday.  But I thought you was getting up a load to go now.” That’s an old joke.

Well, I’m ready to go now.  I’m tired of this nasty old world with its old jokes.  I’m tired of the death, mourning, crying and pain.  I want to hear some new jokes.  I want to hear laughter.  I want to hear singing and whistling and humming.  But in this life and in this world it seems like what we usually hear is griping and complaining and passing blame and making excuses.  Then that all leads to crying and pain, doesn’t it?

Look at verse 4 again.  ⁴'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."  I looked up all those words – death, mourning, crying and pain – in my commentaries just to make sure I understood what was being said.  I’m happy to report that they mean just what you think they mean.  There will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain because there is no reason for them.

In this life, what are some of the causes of crying and pain?  You don’t have to mention what you are going through or what you are experiencing right now but, maybe, what you have seen other people cry about.  We cry about poor decisions we or others have made.  We cry about the guilt that comes from those decisions.  We cry when we see others make the same decisions because we love them and don’t want them to have to go through what we have gone through.  I think that’s why our children make us cry so much. 

We cry when things are hard or they don’t go our way.  We cry when people disappoint us.  We cry when we disappoint other people.  We cry when we disappoint God.  Of course, we cry when death comes to a loved one because we will miss them when they are gone.  We cry when we see death coming for us because we fear the unknown.

All of those are perfectly good reasons to cry but do you know why we have to go through that stuff?  Do you ever wonder why God doesn’t wave His hand and make this life easier for us, without all this crying and pain and death?  Well…it used to be that way, at least for a little while. 

Turn to Genesis chapter 3.  I want you to see for yourselves why we have to go through all of this.  It’s important.  Turn to the first book of the Bible, chapter 3 and verses 17-19 and verse 23.  "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. ¹⁸It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. ¹⁹By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return." ²³So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken.

This all happened as the consequence of sin and there are still consequences of sin and the consequences rarely affect only the sinner.  There will always be consequences for disobedience, just like there are benefits of obedience but with disobedience the consequences affect, not just us, but all those around us that we love the most.

In Genesis 3, God says there is now a curse on the ground.  This represents every aspect of their lives.  That’s all they knew.  It’s how they survived.  Now, everything for them and for every generation since has been cursed by sin.  Oh, it’s easy to get all upset at Adam and Eve for messing it all up for us, right?  But we do the same thing today and reap the same consequences, don’t we?  Sin curses everything. 

I heard a woman speaking at a women’s rally one time. She said, "Where would man be today if it were not for woman?" From the back of the room came a voice, "We'd be in the Garden of Eden, eating strawberries."  That may be funny to some of us but it’s not true.  We all mess up and we all have to suffer the consequences and the consequences are death, mourning, crying and pain.  That’s the curse of sin.

That’s also what is going to make Heaven so wonderful.  No more sin.  Now, somebody asked a great question one time. Since Satan was originally an angel in Heaven and he sinned, won’t we be tempted to sin in Heaven?  That’s a great question but the answer is “no”.

First, we know there won’t be sin in Heaven because the Bible says so.  At the end of this chapter, in verse 27, it says that nothing impure will ever enter into Heaven, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful.  In chapter 22, verse 3: ^3” No longer will there be any curse.”  No more curse means no more sin.

But we also read in Matthew 13:41 that “The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil.”  We will still have free will but there will be nothing there that even would cause us to sin.  We will have everything we could ever want, need or desire because as we read last week, God Himself will live with us.  He will meet and exceed all desires and for a lot of us, our biggest desire right now is for there to not be any more death or mourning or crying or pain.

I want you to see, though, that death, mourning, crying and pain…is the old order of things.  Look at verse 4 again.  ⁴'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."  Then look at verse 5.  ⁵He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!"

Everything new!  No more sin.  No more curse.  No more temptation or regret or guilt or shame.  No more having to ask for forgiveness.  Now, that sounds pretty heavenly to me right there!  I read about a woman who was a well-known secular humanist, which, from what I understand is just a smart atheist.  While on her death bed, she told a Christian friend, “What I envy most about you Christians is your forgiveness; I have nobody to forgive me." 

The psychologist, Sigmund Freud, said that the main source of all humanity’s woes are feelings of guilt. I heard another psychologist say that ¾ of all mental patients would be cured if they believed they were forgiven.  No more sin.  No more curse.  No more need for forgiveness.

Look, I am just as fascinated as you are about what Heaven is going to be like and if all dogs go there and what we are going to do and I can’t wait to see Aunt Bessie just like you.  But just knowing that I will never again disappoint my Savior; never again will I have to drag myself into His holy throne room in prayer with my head down and my tail between my legs and cry out in pain for forgiveness – that’s what I want Heaven to be like and I know you do too if you are a true believer. 

I’m not worried about what my mansion is going to be like or how my glorified body is going to work.  I trust Him with those details.  He said He is going to prepare a place for me and so I trust that He knows what paint color schemes I like best and what I like to eat and what I like to do.  I’m glad God has shared some of what that will be like, but if there is no more death, mourning, crying or pain, count me in.  That will be great but I just want to be with and please my Savior, Jesus Christ. 

I have one more passage I want you to turn to before we close.  In the Gospel of John, chapter 20, Jesus has been crucified and put in the tomb.  His disciples are beyond crushed.  Everything they had believed, trusted, wanted and needed was dead behind a rock in a graveyard.  They had no plan for the future.  They had no hope for this life or the next if Jesus was dead.

They buried Him on Friday.  Saturday was the Sabbath and so first thing Sunday morning, Mary Magdalene went to the graveyard to pay her respects.  Can you imagine the pain that must have felt like a lung being pulled out when she got to the tomb and saw that His body was gone?  This is just too much!

Now she’s just bawling.  It’s an ugly cry full of overwhelming pain.  Let’s pick it up in John 20:10-18.  ¹⁰Then the disciples went back to where they were staying. ¹¹Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb ¹²and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus' body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. ¹³They asked her, "Woman, why are you crying?" "They have taken my LORD away," she said, "and I don't know where they have put him." ¹⁴At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. ¹⁵He asked her, "Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?" Thinking he was the gardener, she said, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him." ¹⁶Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, "Rabboni!" (which means "Teacher"). ¹⁷Jesus said, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'" ¹⁸Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: "I have seen the LORD!"

She’s not crying now, is she?  Everything is okay now.  “I have seen the LORD!”  The presence of the Lord was enough; more than enough.  For Mary, there was no more mourning or crying or pain because she had seen the Lord.  Don’t you know that even when that day came, whenever it was, that Mary Magdalene’s earthly body gave out and she breathed her last that she could go in great peace, having seen, been with, worshipped and believed Jesus? She had seen with her own earthly eyes the power Jesus had to overcome death and if death is overcome then so is the mourning, crying and pain of sin for eternity.  "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" (1 Cor. 15)

Jesus has overcome death, sin, Satan and this world and that ought to be a great encouragement to all of us.  This life is hard but it’s short and the thought of spending eternity in Heaven with Him and without all the pain of this world should make us burn with desire to tell somebody else what little or much we know about it.

The thought of sin being the root cause of all our crying and pain ought to make us hate sin and Satan even more.  While there will always be something to mourn, cry or hurt over in this life, we can have forgiveness in this life and that brings peace.  It brings peace with God and when we have peace with God, we can have peace with men.  Knowing that God is in control and that he loves us and forgives us brings peace and joy even in the painful times.

Add to that the knowledge that we have that at the end of this short life we will see Jesus if we are true believers and we can have peace that passes all understanding. (Philippians 4:7) How does that sound today?  If you don’t have that all you have to do is believe that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and that nobody gets to the Father but through Him. (John 14:6) Repent of your sins and ask God for forgiveness and He will be faithful to forgive and to cleanse you from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) Don’t wait.  Do it today.

Prayer / Invitation

Adrian Rogers is one of my favorite preachers.  He went to Heaven several years ago but in a book he wrote, he mentioned that he had a son named Phillip who passed away.  He didn’t say how, just that it was a great tragedy.  Before that, he had regularly gone to the hospital to visit sick folks and to witness to them and in his rounds, he said he met a very cynical old man and had tried several times to lead him to Christ.

After his son’s death, Dr. Rogers went back to the hospital to visit that man and somehow the man had found out about his son.  “What are you doing here?” the old man asked.

“I came to see you” Rogers replied.

“Are you still serving God after what he did to you?”

“I’m not bitter at God” he said.  “I’m bitter at Satan.  He has a greater enemy in me today than ever before because I know that behind all the sickness, sorrow, pain, suffering and death is sin.”

“What’s Next? – Heaven” – Rev. 21:1-5

I want you to use your imagination with me for a few minutes and I want you to picture this meal.  You sit down to dinner, hungry as you can be, and on the big plate in front of you is a wonderful, healthy combination of raw cabbage, raw broccoli, brussels sprouts and cauliflower.  How’s that look?  To me it looks like I’m going hungry tonight but maybe you like raw veggies.  Good for you.



But then, before you can even decide whether you are going to eat those veggies or not, there is placed in front of you a big plate of my mother’s homemade chocolate chip cookies.  They are hot out of the oven.  The chocolate is melting.  The smell is mouth-watering.  I don’t know how she does it but they are incredible!



Now, imagine that nobody else is around.  Nobody will see.  Nobody will ever know.  What happens next?  If you are anything like me, those cookies are history.  I will eat those until I’m sick.  I may just stick my head down in them and eat them like an animal.  I might roll around in ‘em, just eating and rolling and loving life.  Mama knows I love those cookies.



I would have a hard time eating those vegetables if Mama’s cookies were sitting there.  I don’t know if I could do it.  Well, I think Heaven is sort of that way.  If we knew everything there is to know about Heaven, I think we would have a hard time concentrating on what we are supposed to do here in this life for thinking about what the next life had in store.  Also, I’m pretty sure Mama’s cookies will be in Heaven but that’s not the point.



There are lots of things we don’t know about Heaven but I believe God gives us enough to keep us motivated to do what needs to be done here but also to look forward to what lies in store for us as believers when we get there.  I have to admit I was encouraged a while back when I read a sermon by the late, great W.A. Criswell who said, and I quote, “Preaching on Heaven is hard.”  That made me feel a little bit better.  I feel the same way and that’s probably all that great expositor and I have in common when it comes to preaching.



It’s hard to preach on Heaven because there is a lot we don’t know and some of what we know is to be taken literally and some of it is symbolic.  Timing is also an issue.  Great theologians will argue over what happens when and what comes next and what happens after that.  Sometimes finding application for a sermon on Heaven can be difficult if you just lay out a bunch of facts but even though it can be difficult, I believe it is important.



Yes, I’m curious, as you probably are, about what Heaven is going to be like.  But we are told that all scripture is God-breathed and is useful. (2 Tim. 3:16) We are told to set our minds on things above. (Colossians 3:2) We are told to store up treasure in Heaven (Matt. 6) so we have to prepare for it.  Putting on our helmet of salvation means, in part, meditating on our eternal home in Heaven so we should at least know a little bit about this place where we are told to think about and prepare for.



So far, we have stayed away from an intensive eschatological study.  This isn’t everything you need to know about the end times.  My purpose is mainly to see what’s next in the future timeline that will affect us as Christians.  We have talked about the rapture and how that could happen at any minute. We know the Second Coming happens next and that it will be quite the spectacle. The Millennium is going to start after that and will last how long? That’s pretty easy. 1000 years. Then finally we get our first glimpse of Heaven as we will know it.



So, turn to the Book of the Revelation; the last book of the Bible, and let’s read chapter 21, verses 1-5.  The Apostle John wrote this book on the Isle of Patmos where he was exiled for preaching the Gospel.  Little did the authorities who put him there know that this is right where God wanted John so God could reveal some incredible things to him; things that have blessed and encouraged every generation since.



We saw in the previous chapter last week about the Millennium – the period after the Rapture and after the Second Coming of Jesus where we, as believers in Jesus, will reign and serve and live with Jesus on this earth as we know it but without the presence or influence of Satan.  Jesus called it a time of refreshing and it will last a literal 1,000 years and it will be wonderful and great as we live in our glorified bodies.



After that thousand years, Satan will be set free but quickly thrown into the lake of burning sulfur and all of us will then go up to Heaven and live with God for eternity in Heaven.  Right?  Well…not exactly.  Let’s read Revelation 21:1-5 and we will see exactly what happens.



Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4'He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." 5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."



Poor John!  Can you imagine Jesus telling you to “Write this down!”  I’d be a nervous wreck.  That would be just the time my pencil lead would break or my pen would run out of ink.  “Excuse me, Gabriel.  Can I borrow a pen?”  How embarrassing.



Anyway, hey, let me ask you a question.  Are you tired of this life and this world yet?  Especially after reading that passage, are you still in love with this nasty, old world and the problems caused by sin in this world?  Maybe you are young and in the prime of your life and this world still looks fun and exciting to you.  Well, enjoy your youth because it won’t last long.  Enjoy that flat stomach and that wavy hair.  Enjoy good sleep and the ability to work hard and play hard.  As some of us with a few years under our belts know, it’s not going to last forever.



These bodies, these relationships, these minds – they are all meant to wear out.  Yes, youth is wasted on the young but getting old stinks for a reason.  God created us with a longing for something more than this earth can provide and that longing grows stronger as our bodies grow weaker.  The older I get, the readier I am and the readier I want to be for eternity in Heaven.  The older I get and the more I study it, the more real Heaven becomes and the more I want to store up treasure there.



When we are young everything seems to take so long to happen but as we get older we look back and it seems like just yesterday that we were young.  How many of you know what I mean?  I remember when I was a kid and I would hear my dad make that grunting noise when he bent over to pick something up.  You know the sound.  I wondered why he did that.  Then I remember the first time I heard myself do it.  Oh no.  I’m old.



Old age is not for sissies, that’s for sure.  But we have been given in this passage something incredible to look forward to and after studying it carefully, I am surprised, excited and encouraged by what I read.  Maybe you will be too.  In fact, the first sentence has two ideas that may surprise you.  Look at verse 1 again. Then I saw "a new heaven and a new earth," for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.



"A new heaven and a new earth.”  What does that mean?  Well, we know from several other passages that this earth as we know it will be destroyed.  In Luke 21:33 Jesus says, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”  2 Peter 3:10 says, “But the day of the LORD will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.”  The psalmist says in Psalm 102 that the earth’s foundations will be discarded like clothing.



Now, this could get really complicated.  Whole sermons have been preached on this and complete books written about how earth will be destroyed but not completely and how “forever” doesn’t always mean forever.  But here is my simple explanation of it.  In Genesis, God used water to destroy the earth and everything on it except Noah and his family, right?  Well, similarly, after Satan is done away with, God will destroy the earth again, only this time with fire.



John Piper argues that God did not create matter to throw it away. He writes, “When Revelation 21:1 and 2 Peter 3:10 say that the present earth and heavens will pass away, it does not mean that they go out of existence, but may mean that there will be such a change in them that their present condition passes away.” (Heaven – Randy Alcorn, page 152) Then he compares them to a caterpillar and a butterfly.  The old is destroyed and the new emerges.  Think of it this way.  We will live in glorified bodies on a glorified earth in a glorified Heaven.



My point here is that so many people think of our eternal home in Heaven as being “up there” where God is now but really, Heaven will come down from “up there” and will forever be on this earth.  For most of us, I don’t think it will ultimately matter, but it’s good to see the truth. 



The other thing interesting about this verse is that it says there will no longer be any sea.  How many of you are like me and are bummed out about that?  I love the water.  I love being at the ocean or on the lake.  Well, I have, what I believe, is good news about this.  I have read literally dozens of commentaries about this because I wanted to know the truth.  I know this bothers people every time we read it and while I know we aren’t going to be disappointed with Heaven, there is something about this that bothers people.  I completely understand.



Now, this verse plainly says that there will no longer be any sea and I will always err on the side of taking the Bible literally BUT first we have to take it in context.  For John and everybody else in those days, the sea or the oceans were places of terror and separation.  They didn’t have compasses and if it was cloudy or they lost sight of land, they were lost.



They didn’t have scuba gear and all they knew about ocean creatures was what came up in their nets when they were fishing.  If you have ever been deep sea fishing or if you ever watched those Jacques Cousteau specials, you know that some of that stuff is just plain scary.  So, when they thought of the sea, they thought of cold, treacherous waters that separate nations, destroy ships and drowned loved ones in poisonous waters.



But also, we know that in other places like Isaiah 60, speaking of the New Jerusalem, it says, “the wealth on the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.”  (Verse 5) Then it says, “Surely the islands look to me; in the lead are the ships of Tarshish, bringing your children from afar, with their silver and gold, to the honor of the Lord your God.” (Verse 9)



Even if there are no more oceans and no more sea, we do know that there will be plenty of other water.  Revelation 22 tells of a great river that flows right through the capital city and flowing rivers go somewhere.  If not oceans, then large lakes, so, don’t worry.  If fishing and boating and snorkeling are part of your idea of what Heaven will include, I think you’ll be very happy.



Now, let’s get to something with a little more meat on it, if you will.  While it is going to be great to go fishing or swimming or boating on this new earth that we are going to be on for eternity, and while we hope that Heaven will have dogs and Mexican food and we can’t wait to see old Aunt Bessie again, I want to skip to verse 3 and let’s look at something that will fulfill all of our wants, needs and desires in Heaven.



"Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”  Let’s stop right there for a while.  What does it mean for God to dwell among the people?  Is that any different than it is right now?  Isn’t God everywhere and the Holy Spirit lives in our hearts?



Let me ask you something.  How do you know God exists?  Have you ever seen Him with your eyes?  Have you ever heard His voice audibly with your ears?  Have you ever touched Him with your fingers or even smelled Him with your nose?  No.  We only know that God exists because the Bible tells us and it has been proven to be true and we sense His presence with us and feel His guiding hand through the Holy Spirit that does live inside of us.



But John continually says, “I saw…” over and over again and so will we.  We will see God.  We will be with God; touching Him and knowing Him and spending time with Him and THAT is what makes Heaven heavenly.  I’m not just trying to be spiritual here either.  God is the Creator of all things including the Creator of our wants, needs and desires so it only makes sense that He will be the one to satisfy those as well. 



Since the beginning, man has wanted to see God.  In Exodus 33, Moses asks and is allowed to see the back side of God.  Job said, “I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand on the earth. 26And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; 27I myself will see him with my own eyes I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!” (Job 19:25-27) 



The psalmist says in Psalm 63:1, “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”  We may think we want lots of things but our real desire, our God-given desire is found only in God Himself.  That’s why acquiring stuff in this world never satisfies.  You can never get enough money or fame or power or anything else.  None of that will truly satisfy.



Our longing for Heaven is a longing for God.  (Heaven – Randy Alcorn, page 171) Being with God is what is what gives us satisfaction in this life.  Think how much more satisfied we will be when “God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.”



In Psalm 27:4 David says, “One thing I ask from the LORD, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the LORD and to seek him in his temple.”  Asaph understood when he wrote in Psalm 73:25, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”



Father J. Boudreau wrote something along these lines, “When we see the face of God we will become beautiful with His beauty, rich with His wealth, holy with His holiness and happy with His unutterable happiness.”



I can’t wait to get there like I can’t wait to eat Mama’s cookies.  Phooey on this life like phooey on raw vegetables.  I can’t wait to go swimming and running and riding motorcycles on golden streets and seeing my loved ones and having a perfect body but even all of that won’t satisfy forever if the One who provides it isn’t there.



As some of you know, I have a problem with most of these books and movies written by people who have supposedly died and gone to Heaven and seen Jesus because the focus of them always seems to be on seeing Uncle Jake or how beautiful the sky is or having their body healed.  When John saw Jesus in Heaven in Revelation 1:17 it says he “fell at His feet as though dead.”



Paul heard Jesus speak on the road to Damascus (Acts 9) and just hearing His voice made Paul fall down, go blind and nearly killed him for three days.  The problem is, as it says in Hebrews 12:14, “without holiness no one will see the LORD.”  But we don’t get to Heaven on our holiness, do we?  1 Corinthians 1:30 says, “It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God--that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.”  Philippians 3:9 says, “the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith.”



We ought to wake up every morning and go to sleep every night thanking God that one day, maybe today, but someday soon, we will see God face to face not because of anything we have done or ever will do but only because of what Jesus has done for us by dying on the cross to pay for our sins and all we have to do is have faith in Him.



Is that a good description of you?  Do you have faith?  Oh sure.  Everybody has faith, right?  But the proof of faith is a changed life.  The proof of repentance is a changed life.  The proof of thankfulness is a changed life and if that does not describe you, then I need to talk and pray with you right now as the music plays.

“What’s Next? – The Millennium” – Revelation 20:1-6

Well, it’s official.  I can’t watch the news anymore.  I just can’t.  I try sometimes and I know it’s important to keep up with what’s going on in the world but it has just gotten out of hand.  It used to be that you would turn on the news and just hear the facts and you would make up your own mind about it.  Now, left or right, both sides have their news stations and both sides give you their opinions and you have to decide if it’s really news, or maybe it’s just fake news.  

I usually grab a few headlines and try to weed out the junk and a lot of headlines lately are about Prince Harry and his wife Megan. I don’t get why everybody is so fascinated with every move those two make. Then it goes downhill from there. These are real headlines: “Dukes of Hazzard star arrested.”  “What Kim Kardashian is wearing today will shock you.”  “9 Ways Ice Cube Trays Can Help You Make Dinner Faster”  “The best video games for your phone.” “Study shows pets are significant cause of global warming.”  Those are real headlines. And I just saw this one the other day and it really is scary. “Local Pastor skips out on check at Pizza Hut.” What is this world coming to? 😊

It makes me physically and mentally tired to watch the news.  I’m pretty sure I lose brain cells; I get dumber by watching what people call news today.  When there is real news, it’s too horrible to watch.  Babies are being shot.  ISIS is still killing Christians.  The chubby little dictator in North Korea evidently wants to go to war and to top it off, Pizza Hut earnings are way down!  What are we gonna do?

Do you ever dream about what it must have been like in the Garden of Eden?  Can you imagine Adam coming home after working in the garden all day and kicking back in his La-Z-Boy and watching the 5:30 news?  “Not much to report today.  But it will be perfect weather for a stroll with God tomorrow.  Back to you, Bob.”

I heard that Cain and Abel were walking through the woods one day and came upon a wall.  They climbed up and looked over and then went running back to Adam and said, “Daddy, Daddy, you won’t believe what we saw!” Then they described all the beautiful flowers and trees and the different kinds of fruit and they said, “Daddy, do you think we could ever live in a place like that?”

Adam said, “We did once.  But that was before your mother ate us out of house and home.”

Well, I have good news for you.  YOU will see something very similar to the Garden of Eden but maybe even better.  Did you know that there will be what Jesus calls in Matthew 19:28 “the regeneration”?  Acts 3 describes this time as “times of refreshing” and “the period of restoration of all things.”  There are probably a dozen Old Testament passages that refer to it as well.

Imagine a time of no more poverty.  I could stop right there and it would be pretty incredible but not only do we, as Christians, have everything we need, there will be no more prisons.  Sorry, Billy, but you’ll have to find somebody else to minister to and you will!  There will be no more war.  You’ll have to go to a museum to see an army tank.  People will live to be hundreds of years old – like Troy.

It will be a time of great peace like we have never seen before.  Even the animals will all get along.  The wolf and the lamb and the calf and the lion and the little child and the serpent will all live and play together.  Some of you may be thinking this is probably the next time the Cowboys win a Super Bowl.  Others of you may be thinking I’ve been reading too many comic books.  But it’s true and it is all found in the Word of God in the Book of the Revelation.

Turn to the last book of the Bible and go to chapter 20 and verses 1-6 and let’s read about what we call the Millennium.  After the Rapture, the Tribulation will happen here on earth.  At the end of the Tribulation, which lasts twelve years, the Second Coming of Jesus happens and we all come back to earth and Jesus will separate the Christians from the unbelievers.  Then while we are still here on this earth, Jesus will set up His royal Kingdom.  Let’s read what happens in Revelation 20:1-6.

And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key to the Abyss and holding in his hand a great chain. 2He seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil, or Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. 3He threw him into the Abyss, and locked and sealed it over him, to keep him from deceiving the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After that, he must be set free for a short time. 4I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of their testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. They had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5(The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.) This is the first resurrection. 6Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.

A little boy asked his dad, “Daddy, what’s the Millennium?”  His dad said, “It’s just like a centennial except it has more legs.” (Mark Hitchcock) So, there you go.  Thanks for coming.  All your questions are answered.  Seriously, for as long as there have been records, man has dreamed of Heaven on earth or Utopia or Xanadu, whatever you want to call it.

Do you ever think this would be a great place to live if it weren’t for all these crazy people?  Well, the Millennium is for you.  Now, some people have a hard time believing all this and I understand because on this earth as we know it, if it sounds too good to be true, it usually is, right?  But this won’t be earth as we know it and we will talk about that some more in a minute. 

But some people will have a problem with this passage because it says it only lasts a thousand years and we know from many other passages that God’s reign will be eternal.  Well, both of those are true.  Think of the Millennium as being the front porch to the rest of eternity.  It’s a really nice place but it’s not the best part and not where we will live forever.

Now, if you remember from last week, we will either die or be raptured but either way we will have our cool and awesome, glorified bodies when we come back to earth with Jesus.  Jesus will separate the believers from the unbelievers and then we all look up and see an angel coming down from Heaven with a key in his hand.  What’s the key go to?  A brand-new car? No.  It is the key to the Abyss and with it a great chain.

The Abyss is not Hell but a temporary place of incarceration and torment.  Later on, Satan gets thrown into the Lake of Fire which is his eternal place of torment.  It’s like Satan goes from county jail to state jail.  Here he literally “catches chain” and is thrown into the Abyss.  Now, imagine this world as we know it…without Satan or his demons or any of his influence.  That is what we find in the first paragraph of our passage.  That is what this world will be like at the Millennium.

So, where is Satan right now? 1 Peter 5:8 says he’s prowling around like a roaring lion looking to see who he can devour.  This is not the Millennium and until it is, we have to be prepared, waiting and watching for the Lord to rapture us and making sure we have on the full armor of God (Eph. 6) and knowing that our battle in this world is not against flesh and blood. But one of these days, that old lion will be chunked into the Abyss for a thousand years.  So, then what’s going to happen?

Well, look at verse 4.  “I saw thrones on which were seated those who had been given authority to judge.”  What does that mean?  Who is going to be on those thrones and why do we care?  Well, I’ll tell you why you should care.  It’s because it may be you.  Seriously.  Now, look at this.  In Daniel 7:27 it says that the Old Testament saints will reign in the millennial kingdom.  Jesus promised His apostles that they would judge the twelve tribes of Israel in Matthew 19:28. New Testament believers are also promised that they will reign with Christ in 1 Corinthians 6:2 which says the saints will judge the world. 2 Timothy 2:12 declares that if we endure, we will reign and judge with Him and Revelation 2:26 and 5:10 have similar wording.

Have you ever wanted to be a judge?  Years ago, my neighbor had a new fence put up and, in the process, my dogs got out while I wasn’t home.  I found them at the city dog pound along with a summons to face the judge at the city court.  So, I went to the judge and he listened to my story for all of ten seconds and then interrupted me to proclaim, “The only good dog is a dead dog! $50 fine for each one!  Next!”  That’s a true story.  Not only did I have to pay to get my dogs out of the pound, I had to pay extra because this judge didn’t like dogs.  I wanted to tell him that my dogs said that the only good judge is a dead judge, but I didn’t.

But one of these days…I’ll be the judge.  I don’t know who or what I will judge.  It may be a city or a nation or a group.  Who knows? I may come back and be the judge of Lake Bridgeport and if I do, we will be able to pop firecrackers, walk our dogs without leashes and put up fences without a permit.  Don’t you worry!  Life will be good then!

According to scripture, we will all be judges over something.  In Matthew 25, we find the parable of the talents.  You remember the story.  The master is going to be gone for a while so he leaves his estate with three of his men and when he comes back, two of them did well and invested what they had and made more.  Do you remember what the master said?  “Well done, my good and faithful servant.  You have been faithful with a few things.  I will put you in charge of (or the KJV says ruler over) many things.”

God has placed within all of us the need and the desire to be in charge of something.  He told Adam and Eve in Genesis 1 to go and have dominion over the earth.  We were designed to work and designed to rule and we will be judges or rulers over something; a nation, a state, city or group of people.  Maybe if you haven’t been real faithful, you will just rule over, I don’t know, a preschool or something.  That’ll teach ya.  Then 1 Corinthians 6 tells us that some of us will even judge angels.

I mentioned something about us being judges a while back at Bible Study and somebody brought up something I hadn’t thought about.  They said they didn’t really want to judge because how could they judge people and sentence them for things that they themselves had gotten away with?  That’s a great question and I understand and appreciate that attitude but listen to what Isaiah said in Isaiah 2:2-4.

“In the last days, the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established as the highest of the mountains; it will be exalted above the hills, and all nations will stream to it. 3Many peoples will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the temple of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths." The law will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 4He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.”

That passage is talking about the Millennium and it says that Jesus will be Lord of all the earth and His throne will be in Jerusalem but we will learn from Him.  He will be in charge.  Satan won’t be around to tempt or distract and if we have questions or problems all we have to do is ask Jesus.  We will judge fairly and justly and with grace and mercy just like Jesus would.  How cool is that?

Something else that I noticed in that passage and just fascinates me is that verse that says, “They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks.”  Now, why will we need plowshares and pruning hooks?  Because there will still be work that needs to be done.  We will reign with Christ and be judges over things but there will still be manual labor that needs to be done as well.

That will be good, though, because that is what we are made to do and with our glorified bodies, it won’t hurt.  We won’t get tired like we do now.  The grass will still need to be mowed but the weather will be nice and we will have the best tools for the job and at the end of the day, what a great feeling of accomplishment we will get from a job well done.  Especially if Jesus swings by and says again, “Well done!  Good job, my good and faithful servant!”

Now, going back to Revelation 20, verse 5. It tells us that there will be a first resurrection at the Millennium.  This is not a resurrection of everybody.  The Bible gives us the analogy of a harvest with three steps to it.  The first step is the first fruits harvest.  This was Jesus at His resurrection.  1 Corinthians 15 calls Christ the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

Then comes the general harvest which happens at the rapture when the dead in Christ will rise first and then those Christians that are still alive.  We talked about that last week.  Then there is the gleanings part of the harvest.  The third and last phase of the harvest is spoken of in this passage, talking about the resurrection of the Tribulation saints – those that were left behind at the Rapture but came to know Jesus during the Tribulation.

1 Corinthians 6:2-3 says, “Or do you not know that the LORD's people will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases? 3Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!”

Those verses pertain to the Tribulation but also have application for us today.  If the church will have the future responsibility of judging angels, doesn’t it make sense that we can resolve problems in the church today? (Adrian Rogers) 

Satan thought he pulled a good one at our church some time ago and he almost got away with it.  He caught two people at just the right time and there was a misunderstanding which led to anger and it could have been a real problem in our little church.  But I saw both parties show great biblical wisdom and through prayer and biblical understanding, both parties met and talked like family members do and realized that their battle was not against flesh and blood.  So, they decided that instead of being angry, they would both ask and grant forgiveness and left praying for one another and loving each other like only wise disciples of Jesus can do.

I thought when they left that those will be great judges right there.  That’s what a great judge will do.  They see both sides.  Through biblical knowledge, they know what is truth and above all they show grace and mercy and love because they have been shown great grace and mercy and love. 

Romans 16:20 says, “The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.”  While today may or may not be that day, it will happen soon, oh glorious day, when the devil is in prison, the bride is with the bridegroom and the King is on His throne.  I may not know or understand every aspect of it, but from what I do know, I can’t wait and I am encouraged because I know that day is coming soon.  It makes me want to run out into the street and stop traffic to tell people about Jesus.  It makes me desperate for our neighbors to come to have a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus right now.

It’s not about coming to church.  It’s not about coming from a Christian home or being a Baptist or being a really good person.  None of that gets your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, only faith in Jesus can do that.  Faith in Jesus will always manifest itself in a changed life.  Jesus works every day to make us more like Him and if He is not working in your life everyday then maybe it is because you are not a true disciple of His.

If there is any question in your mind today, I want nothing more than to talk and pray with you right now.  Don’t take a chance on missing out on your inheritance which is every good thing Heaven has to offer.  It’s an eternal choice but you have to make here.  Do it right now as the music plays.