I don't like that guy very much.
If you want to know the PJ thing, then you got to go to the pod, I guess.
So, but welcome. It's good to see you guys this morning. How are we?
Okay, not bad. Like half of you are here. That's good.
Half of you are still trying to figure out.
Wait a minute. This is service and we're starting and lights have already dimmed
and whatever that is online. Welcome to you. We're so glad you're with us.
I'm going to say hi to somebody. Elky, you're a Cleveland fan.
We'll still say hi to you today. So hi, Elky. How are you in Ohio?
And then Jeannie down in Phoenix. Welcome to you.
Baghdad, welcome to you. Paulden, I got to chat with Sue last night.
They are having new people showing up that God's just bringing in and that's amazing.
We're excited for you guys. Enjoy breakfast today. We're all jealous still,
but someday we will have breakfast and you won't. So there you go.
But welcome. If you're new to this space, welcome to you. We're glad you're with us.
We call ourselves family a lot. And this that we're doing right now,
you may be like, what's happening? Like I came to church.
Normally there's music first and we'll get there. We'll get there.
It's a journey today. And the hope is that we get to walk it together,
that we get to wherever that conclusion is that God leads us there
and that it's impactful to your life and helps transform.
I don't know. I don't know about you, but so we're at the end of the collection,
which means there's something new coming next week, which is a collection on Advent.
And so if you've been around, you know, our church calendar is we four weeks before Christmas,
we hit a collection about Advent and kind of gets us ready for the Christmas celebration.
So we start that next week. So what that means is this,
that between this week and next week, there's this thing called Thanksgiving.
Anyone excited for Thanksgiving?
Much better than the first service. First service was like golf clap for Thanksgiving.
I'm like, man, Thanksgiving's got to work on its promo. I'm just saying.
But okay, Thanksgiving, obviously food's a big deal. Right. So any, what kind of food?
What kind of food? Turkey. Turkey. You know, out of three services,
that's the first time I've heard Turkey. So there you go.
So Turkey, what else? Pie. What kind of pie? Pumpkin pie.
Okay. Any pumpkin pan? Pumpkin pan?
Pumpkin pie fans. Man, words are hard today. So, oh, mixed review.
I saw that mixed review. Okay. Another mixed. Wow.
We'll move on from pumpkin pie then I guess. What else? What other kind of food? Cheesecake.
Cheesecake. Okay. This is all just to make you hungry by the end of service.
This is what this is. We're just helping our community. Hopefully you stop and pick up food.
I'm just kidding. So also Thanksgiving, you got football.
Okay. Cowboys fans. Anybody? Wow. You're still admitting it, huh?
Well done. Well done. Still admitting. That's a true fan right there.
I mean, we got the Giants. Like who? The Giants don't, true story,
Giants fans don't even care about the Giants. And yet they're, they're things.
Don't look at me like that. Nobody cares about the Giants.
Then you got what? The Lions? Any Lions fans?
Okay. Hang on. Hang on. You're getting ahead. Chiefs are on Black Friday, people.
We're on Thanksgiving still. Right? Okay. So you got the Lions. They're great.
So here's the thing. If that's not your thing, then maybe, or maybe family, right?
And that whole dilemma that you have of like where you're going, who's coming,
who we're excluding, you know, that whole thing. You're trying to figure out what family
you actually want to be around, you know, or is it just that one, one time a year
we'll get in and get out, you know, and hopefully the food's okay.
And so you got family and then you got Black Friday and Black Friday's changed a ton.
Right? Like Black Friday used to be, man, you were out, you were still full from Thanksgiving
running out the door to hit sales. And you want to know that the curse is real.
You should have been at Black Friday back in the day. You know why?
Because you got people punching old ladies for a TV. That's what you got.
And so Black Friday's changed a ton. It's moved a lot.
But and then, yeah, you got football on Black Friday. They got the Chiefs. Right?
And we're anybody, anybody who's not a Chiefs fan, just so you know, is hoping the Chiefs lose.
I'm just saying anybody in the entire NFL is like, let them keep losing.
We're happy when they lose. So here's the thing with football. Right?
It's been an emotional week, you guys. As a Steelers fan, we prayed for the Raven game.
We won that. But in between, when I saw you last, we also went to Thursday and lost to the Browns.
Like I'm still emotionally in trouble. That's why we're doing this right now.
I'm just trying to recover. The Browns, really? Like, and God made it snow.
Like, come on. So I blame God for the loss personally. So something happened.
Anyways, speaking of football, something happened to me that's never happened before.
Is on Thursday for the Steeler game, this little guy showed up.
It's coming. I promise.
Train up a child is all I'm going to say. And they will not depart from it. Right?
What's fun about this picture is we have a picture of my daughter, my oldest daughter, same age, in a Steelers onesie.
So there you go. But my daughter came over and so I got to experience my first Steeler game with my grandson.
How amazing is that? And here's the best part. His dad's a Cowboys fan, but I know he's not.
Look at the next picture.
He's happy to be a Steeler fan. I'm just saying, just going to put that out into the into the universe.
So here's the thing. So get to watch the game with him. It's amazing.
And another time this week, before this happened, I texted my daughter and I'm like, I just I just need cuddles.
Right. Like, and so she's like, OK, well, why don't you guys come over Monday?
And so we watched football Monday and ate some food and I got to hold it.
And this is this is the image that was captured Monday.
I mean, come on. You talk about filling your heart and doing you good.
I get to hold him and he's asleep and then his mom is holding him and he's just at rest.
He's at peace.
You know what's amazing about that picture?
He doesn't know anything about inflation.
He doesn't know anything about that day.
There were rockets fired into another country and people lost their lives.
He doesn't know about election and people being chosen to run a country.
He doesn't know about pain.
He doesn't know about death. He's completely with all that going on.
He's completely at peace.
Here's what's amazing.
The book of Revelation, the revelation of Jesus Christ, is supposed to let you be at peace when the world is crazy.
It's a gift. We have been given a gift.
It was written to a church that was in persecution.
It was written to a church that they didn't know if they were going to walk out of the gathering and be alive.
Their businesses were being closed down by the outside culture because they didn't agree with them.
There was a cost to following Jesus. They were under immense oppression.
What happens? God gives them a gift, the book of Revelation, and he says, don't lose your purpose, but also know your future.
Here's what's amazing about endurance.
This idea of holding on to your faith when it's easier to give up.
Endurance is an interesting thing. It reminds me of being on a stationary bike.
When I work out, I've got this stationary bike at my house.
I've got this TV in front of me and there's this app I found that is from a German company.
What it does is anyone can go and take a real ride outside, video it, and then upload it.
Then what happens is I can jump on my stationary bike and the numbers from my bike will affect the app.
Now the video that might have taken the person two hours to ride, I can do it in whatever time I can crank out on the bike.
Some of the rides are really long. Some of them are over 30 miles.
That's a long way on a stationary bike. I'm just going to say it's too easy. It's too easy, people. It's too easy.
This idea that as you're going, 30 miles is a long way, and the idea of endurance kicks in.
But you know what helps endure in that moment? On the top of the TV, on the top of this app, there's a progress, a little dot that shows you how far you've gone.
It shows you elevation changes. It shows you how hard the ride is going to get in this part and how easy it's going to get over here.
It shows you where the end is. Endurance is built when you know the end.
What is Revelation, chapter 21? What is the whole thing of Revelation?
It's a gift to the church to go endure. You know the end. You know the outcome.
This isn't up for somebody to ride it differently.
God gives us a gift to go, this is where this whole thing is heading, and you can count on it.
And in Revelation 21, there's a specific context that comes from 20. In 20, there's this battle, right?
And everybody talks about, if you're around everybody, everybody in Christian circles talks about the battle of Gog and Magog, right?
Like, it's this big, like, all the people that are against God come and they're going to have a fight with God.
God gives one verse to the outcome. Fire fell from heaven. They're done.
Like, it's literally, that's what it says. And then it says that the one who'd rallied them, Satan himself, God's enemy, right?
And Satan gets so much press, right? That he's the one that is in control, you should be afraid of, all this press for Satan, right?
And one verse again, you know what God does? God takes Satan and throws him into the lake of fire.
And that's it. And then you get these books that are opened. It's judgment. It's this throne room.
And in the throne room, God, who is the judge, who is also surrounded by mercy from last week, God then goes,
you know what? I'm going to open these books and look at everything that has been done, good and bad, and I'm going to reward accordingly.
And then it says that there's another book, the book of life. And the book of life has names in it.
And it says anyone who is not in the book of life, they are removed and put in the same place, the lake of fire.
What is God doing in chapter 20? He is getting the hell out of earth, right?
He's getting everything that is the opposite of God, everything that is not of him, everything that is sinful, that is cursed.
Everybody who stands against him, shaking their fists, he removes all of that. Why? So that 21 then can happen.
I don't want to miss a moment though, because you may be here going, John, you just talked about a book of life.
How do I get in the book of life? Jesus is the center of the book of life.
You want to get in the book of life and the book of life becomes a big deal as we walk through this, right?
Like the book of life, the book of life, how do you know your eternal security?
How do you know where you're going future, where you will be? What have you done with Jesus?
Is Jesus the center of your trust? Is Jesus your savior?
Have I put my trust in his unfailing work to rescue me from sin?
Have I put my trust in him as my savior and Lord?
And that's where this book of life comes. What have you done with Jesus?
Those that have said yes to Jesus, their names are in the book of life. And then 21 starts.
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.
So John now has this vision, right? And in his vision, he goes, I see a new heaven and a new earth.
Now, depending on your church background, depending on how you come into this conversation,
when you hear the word new, you might have been told that there is annihilation that happens, right?
That this whole earth is just going to burn, right? Like God's just going to do away with it.
But here's the thing. This is why the narrative is so important.
Because if you follow the narrative, what you find in scripture is the word new.
It doesn't always mean completely replaced, annihilated, done away with.
And now this new shiny thing is here. How do I know that?
The Bible says that you, as followers of Jesus, are a new creation, yet you still look the same.
Why? Because God is transforming you. He is what? He has made you new where?
On the inside of you, and that flows to everything outward.
So the word new doesn't necessarily mean destroyed, gone away, completely annihilated, and now this is here.
Another example would be this, that Peter talks about in the flood.
So back to the story. We spent a week talking about Noah, the flood, the ark, right?
And he talks about how Peter references the flood waters, that they destroyed the earth.
Did the flood really destroy the earth?
Or did the flood through the water purify the earth, transform the earth?
And so you have all the way through scripture, you have this word new
that doesn't mean that it was completely done away with.
Why is this important? Because for a lot of us, what we got…
How many of you were here last week for the throne room?
Okay, some of you. Some of you need to go back and listen. Here's why.
Because the throne room, the throne room is majestic. It's who God is.
It's what he's about. But here's the problem.
Most people's version of heaven is the throne room.
Most people's version of heaven is, wait a minute, God's going to be on a throne,
and I'm going to be there, and we're going to be singing worship songs,
and then we're all going to fall down, and that's just what eternity is forever and ever and ever.
And most people go, is there another option?
Why? Because that's so foreign to us, because you weren't created for that.
You were created to exist where? On the earth.
And when you go back to the original intent of God, it was to dwell with God where?
On the earth without the curse of sin.
And so what you get at the end is you get God creating a new heavens and a new earth.
So when you think of heaven, when you think of forever, ever, this is forever, ever.
And he says, there's a new heavens and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
And there was no longer any sea. Verse two, I saw the holy city.
So there's a city, the New Jerusalem.
So there's that word new again, right? But if you think about it, we know what?
We know Jerusalem. That's familiar to us, right?
God's giving us reference points.
So we know Jerusalem is a literal city that we can wrap our minds around.
Now, Jerusalem also is connected to this whole story in a very vital way.
It says, I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband.
Here's what's fascinating to me over and over and over.
When you hear God talk about forever, ever for our eternal home, guess what language is used?
A bride and her husband.
What is the most intimate relationship on the planet? A marriage.
What is the purpose of God comparing and connecting the connection of our forever home to what?
To this city, but then compares it to a bride. Why?
Because your eternal home has to do with an intimate relationship with God.
Your eternal home is about being with God. It's not about a place.
It's not about the specifics of a place.
It's the idea that you and God would know separation forever.
And so he compares it to this intimate relationship.
Verse three, and I heard a loud voice from the throne.
So we know from last week, the throne, this is God's voice saying what?
Look, God's dwelling place, you could take the word dwelling and put home.
So God's home is now among the people and he will dwell his home.
He will be at home with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.
Okay. So, so what is declared by God?
That this is home. Where is home? Home is with the people.
Now, what we have to be careful of is that we don't go, okay, the word people means us.
No, the word is people's right. It's, it's a global gospel.
We've been talking about this. It is not an American gospel.
Jesus is not American. He's not for Americans. He's for what?
English people and Chinese and African, like all the way out.
Why? Because it's a global gospel. He is for all of humanity.
And what is represented here is all of humanity.
That God will be at home with who? His people.
Those that have said, I want to be with God for eternity.
How does that happen? Jesus at the center.
And so verse four says, he being God will wipe 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.
Okay, I know you're in church, but that at least deserves a smile.
I mean, come on, no more death, no more pain, no more mourning, no more sorrow, no more sickness.
Hey, think about it. If you're a doctor, we'll get better.
The longer we go, we'll get better. The longer we go.
But think about it. If you're a doctor, there is no hospital. You don't have a job.
You're out of a job in heaven. It's okay. So am I. You won't need a pastor in heaven.
I mean, that's the amazing part, right? Like all the things that we connect. Cancer wards, not in heaven.
You're eternal forever, ever. It's not there.
Surgery centers, diagnosis that is not good. It's not there.
There is no pain. There is no suffering. It's gone. Right. And so it carries on.
He who is seated on the throne says, I am making everything new.
Then he said, write this down for these words are trustworthy and true.
This is where it's so important for us because we live in a world of fake news.
We live in a world where you don't know what headline is actually real.
We live in a world where we don't know what we're being fed and by whom.
And what happens here is from the very throne of God who is trustworthy and true.
He says, he say, you can take these words and you can count on them.
Who was he writing to? A whole bunch of churches that did not know their future
and did not know who to believe and wasn't sure what was happening.
And he says, wait a minute, these are trustworthy and true that there will be no more pain, no more suffering to come.
Verse six, he says, he said to me, it is done. It is done. It is finished.
I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
This is why it's so important to understand the grand narrative of the Bible.
Go all the way back to the beginning.
Very first verse of the Bible that we started with all those weeks ago in February.
What did it say? In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
In the what? In the beginning. Wait a minute. What does Jesus, what does God tell us he is?
He is the beginning and the end.
So you could take that verse and go in the Jesus, because Jesus is the center of it all, in the Jesus, God created the heavens and the earth.
What do you get all the way at the end? A beginning.
And in that beginning, what is God doing? What God has always done?
He is creating and what is he creating for? For his people to have a home with him.
And so in the beginning, in Jesus, who is the center, it says, in that space to the thirsty,
I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
That sounds pretty good. He's going to provide without cost.
You're not going to have to worry about inflation. Just saying.
Those who are victorious will inherit all of this. Keyword.
Those who are victorious will inherit all of this and I will be their God and they will be my children.
Remember, he's writing to a group of people that want to give up.
He's writing to a group of people and the word that's used in Revelation over and over is to be an overcomer, right?
To be victorious. And what he's saying is to those who have stayed and clung on to Jesus,
those who have stayed anchored to Jesus at the center, those who still profess and go, Jesus is my Lord and Savior.
He goes to those people, to those people. They will be my children.
Verse eight, but the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral,
those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
This is the second death. He goes to all those. Remember the context?
Within one of the letters to the churches in Revelation that God talks about these apostles,
these people that showed up going, I'm an apostle. I have this new teaching. They were liars.
And so all these things that are represented here were part of the early church.
And what God is doing is going, hey, you need to be victorious clinging to Jesus and not let these other things be victorious.
Don't follow these things. Don't claim an allegiance to these things, but claim an allegiance to Jesus.
Why? Because you're playing for keeps in this life.
Verse nine says one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to him,
come, I will show you the bride. There's that intimate relational language again, the wife of the lamb.
And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem.
OK, so now, so now this holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. OK, where is it coming down to?
Earth. What is happening? What is the picture that you're being given? Heaven and earth are becoming what?
One, the way God always intended it to be, that God's dwelling place, that God would be with us.
And so you have this this melding, if you like, of heaven and earth.
And we're told we're told that in this space, it's earth. Why? Because you were made for what?
Earth, you were made to be disembodied. You were made to be flying around.
We can't even wrap our brains around that. What you were made for was what? Earth.
God designed you for this life.
Verse 11, it's Sean. So the city, Sean, with the glory of God and its brilliance was like that, a very precious jewel.
And it says, it's like a jasper, it's as clear as crystal.
If you were here last week, what was the what was the imagery given of God? He was like what?
Jasper, he goes, he was like Jasper.
And it says of the city that it's shining because of his glory, right, because of who God is.
It's shining as clear as crystal.
And so what we're given now is a description of this city, and we're told that there are 12 gates, three on each side.
And what we're told about these gates is above the gate is written the name of one of the tribes of Israel.
So you go around and now the 12 tribes are represented over the gates of this city.
And then it says that there's foundation. And on the foundation are the names of the 12 apostles, right?
So back to last week, what do we know about the 24 elders that represented all of God's people?
What do you have in the very city on the walls and on the foundation?
It's a declaration of who this city is for. Who is the city for? For all of God's people through the whole narrative.
Did this those that claim to follow God, those that claim allegiance to Jesus as a sinner, what what were we told that this city is designed for them?
That they belong. You want to know where you belong for all of eternity in the city of God with God.
And so the city comes down and then we're told that the angel in verse 15, the angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold.
I mean, what are tape measures made out in heaven?
It's not bad gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
The city was laid out like a square.
So he doesn't say it is a square. He goes, it's like a square. So the shape he wants you to have in mind is what?
A square. OK, so the city was like a square as long as it was wide.
He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length and as wide and high as it is long.
What just happened to our square? It just became a cube.
Well, that's fascinating. Why would the city, the New Jerusalem that's coming down that we're told the size of, by the way, maybe to put it in language we can understand.
This city stretches from New York to Houston. One city.
I don't know about you, that's pretty impressive to me.
Three point two five million square feet. Roughly is what you get.
This city that is a cube. Again, why is the story so important?
Because you go back in the story and you go, where have we seen a cube before?
Well, you guys remember the nation of Israel and you remember how God told them to build a temple and God told them inside of that temple,
there would be a back room that was called the Holy of Holies where God's presence would dwell.
You know what shape the Holy of Holies was where God's presence dwell? It's a cube.
All the way back in the story, what was God doing? Giving us a glimpse of what was to come.
That his presence would dwell. Now, what do we know about this moment with the temple?
That only one time a year one person could go into the presence of God.
So only one time once a year could somebody go into the cube where God's presence existed.
That was also covered with gold. And what do you get over here? You get a city.
And what is the city? It's a cube. Why? Because God is going to what? Be with his people.
And he will be their God. And then he begins to break out even further. He says, there's all kinds of precious stones that are put on it, right?
Verse 21, the 12 gates were made of 12 pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.
The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. I'm not a big gold connoisseur,
but I'm pretty sure if the planet could find gold as pure as glass, we would lose our minds.
How do I know? Because the impure version we have of gold, people lose their minds for it. They give their whole lives for it.
And we're told in heaven that what's going to happen with gold? Oh, that'll be the road.
Oh, that'll be the stucco on the walls. That God is going to make walls out of glass or walls out of gold.
That's like glass. There's going to be gems everywhere.
These precious stones that people fight and grind and keep in little boxes that we call safes.
That in heaven, they're just abundant. Why?
Because what the stones do is they enhance light. What do we know about God? God is light.
And so now in the city, everything that is made in the city is designed to enhance the light of what?
The very presence and nature of God.
That you cannot go anywhere on the new earth and be outside of what? God's very presence.
And you will be able to not only feel it, but see it.
I did not see verse 22. I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the lamb are its temple.
I got good news for you. You won't be going to a place of worship. You will be in a place of worship forever.
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light and the lamb is its lamp.
He keeps bringing the lamb back into it. The lamb that was slain from last week, Jesus, right, who is still the center of it all.
He goes, hey, he's the lamp of the city. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no more night.
Why is it important that the gates aren't shut? Why do you close gates on a city? To protect it.
To keep out what's there. Often, often in this context and culture, guess what happened? Nighttime would come.
Nighttime was seen as evil when people did bad things. And so nighttime would come. And what would happen?
You close the gates to the city. Why? To keep the night out. There is no night. There is no threat.
Your future is not waiting for the next enemy to show up or the next war or whatever. It's God going, hey, I've got this.
And there is no threat forever, ever.
Verse 26, the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
It's another opportunity. John's repeating, right? He's going, don't miss, don't miss who this is for.
It's for those that have said yes to Jesus. This is the future.
And I just wonder today, because you're playing for keeps in this life, some people think this life is a holding spot for eternity, right?
It's a holding spot for heaven. This life is not a holding spot for heaven.
What you do here matters for all of eternity. What you do with Jesus, who is the center of forever, matters for all of eternity.
And I just wonder for you today, where are you at with Jesus?
Verse 22 carries on. Then the angel showed me the river of water of life.
So this river that is the water of life, as clear as crystal flowing from really important from the throne of God and the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.
On each side of the river stood the tree of life bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.
And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. So now you've got this river. What is this river? It's a river of life.
Why is this important? Because what's being signified is coming from God is everything you will ever need for life, for all of eternity.
That he will provide that there is provision that he doesn't come up short. The tree of life, back to the narrative, all the way back to Genesis, we saw the tree of life.
What happened with that tree of life? People who'd made a sinful choice got put out of the garden. Why?
Because in our sinful state, if we would have reached out and taken the tree of life and eaten it, we'd be trapped like this forever.
And I don't know about you, but I don't want to be trapped like this forever because this is hell.
And what do you get all the way down in the end of the story? What are we told that the tree of life is where on either side of this river?
And what happens with the tree of life? It produces fruit every month for 12 months. That's weird because there's no sun and moon. So there is no calendar.
I don't know how you feel. That gives me life. Those of you that are planners, you might not like it too much. Right?
What's significant about the 12 months is this, that in our time, that covers all of our life.
It's 12 month cycles. And what are we being told that for all of eternity, God will provide?
How much? Abundantly that will cover every moment that you need.
Verse three, no longer, no longer will there be any curse.
The throne of God and the lamb will be in the city and his servants will serve him. No longer will there be any curse.
All right. We're going to read it again. No longer will there be any curse.
I mean, you, you get it right. You get why this is such a big deal.
Because everything you have ever struggled with in your life is from the curse.
Every single thing that sin that you keep doing that you don't want to do. Guess where that came from? The curse.
Right? The broken relationships. You're just like, I just can't get it right.
Because it always ends up being me selfish. That came from the curse.
All the things that you look at, like mental illness, all the brokenness, all the things we struggle with, all the things of torment.
They all came from the curse. And what we are told is in the forever, ever that God has for us, that he's intended for us.
What? There will be no more curse forever. You will not deal with it anymore.
This is why the good news is good news. This is why Jesus is worth it.
This is why Jesus at the center matters, because this is what God has always wanted for humans.
He says, there'll be no more curse. Verse four.
They will see his face.
They will see his face and his name will be on their forehead.
You know why this is such a big deal? This is bigger than the curse.
They will see his face. You know what a signal in scripture of God's face being towards you was?
Blessing. What's being declared here is that God's people for all of eternity will be blessed by God.
But it's greater than that because you remember Moses is great as Moses was.
Moses has a moment with God and God goes, no one can see my face or else I'll die.
And so he hides Moses in a cleft. He goes, Moses, I'll show you.
But then he passes by and only shows him his backside because you can't see the face of God.
But in forever, ever in our eternal home, we will see the very face of God for all of eternity.
There will be no more night. There will be no the need of a lamp, nor the light of the sun for the Lord.
God will give them light and they and they God's people will reign forever and ever.
How long? Forever, ever, forever, ever, forever, ever, ever, forever.
The angel said to me, these words are here it is again, trustworthy and true.
What does it mean for you today? You can bank on this for eternity.
It's already written and it's written by the only person that can write it. God himself.
And what does he say? These are trustworthy and true.
The Lord, the God who inspired the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.
Next verse is in red. If you have an old school Bible, words of Jesus, look, Jesus declares, I am coming soon.
Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy written in the scroll.
Verse 20, he who testifies to these things says, and then you have red words again, the words of Jesus.
Jesus declares, yes, I am coming soon. What is the response of Jesus coming soon?
John sees this whole revelation. He sees how great the future is.
And Jesus declares, I'm coming soon, John. And what does John say to him? Amen.
He goes, I'm with you. Amen. I agree.
And then catch what he says next. Come, Lord Jesus. Come, Lord, Lord.
He sees a glimpse of who God really is and what's on his lips. Honor and praise and worship.
You are Lord. That's what he's got.
This Jesus who is at the center forever. John goes, come, Lord Jesus. We can't wait.
We can't wait. Remember that baby sleeping at rest when everything else around?
That's how you should be. That whatever you brought in, God got it.
Whatever you wound up about, your future is not wound up. Your future is secure.
So endure. And while you endure, let's worship him for who he is.
Lord Jesus, who is the center of forever. Would you stand? We're going to worship together.