Bible Guys Classics: Revelation - All Made New

So, Jeff, have you ever heard the term new and improved? Yes, And it's wonderful, isn't it. It is because new and improved means wow, it's going to be even better than the last one. Yes, well, today we're talking about everything being made new and improved. That's amazing. So he's Chris and I'm Jeff, and we're the Bible guys. It's so Chris today. It's a segment I was waiting for. You usually introduce them. So today's the day man, Every Friday, it's gonna be a good one. It's either what made Chris mad this week, which is a delight, or what made Chris happy this week. And we just love the fact that you're passionate about well everything. We're passionate about well everything. Everything is. So today is what made Chris happy this week? Yeah, which I appreciate very much, kind of like Desiree. I think it is. I think it is. Yeah, Yeah, she did, she did. She's the one. By the way. As soon as I found out what a minute a minute ago that this was the segment, and I immediately said I have it because I woke up this morning with a text for my wife. So this story is about my wife. I keep it clean. So it also involves my kids. Oh so we're good. Okay. So she had a bad day at work. Uh, it just it doesn't matter. She just had a bad day. And so then she comes home and then and then she she she apparently had to buy this cake and she was draft traveling all around. I think they must have went to I'm not even kidding it has It was a specific like yellow cake, white frosting, whatever it was. And I think she went to seven. Or eight places. And so she was very, very frustrated after a bad day work. She was still in her scrubs, right, and then she comes home and she says, I don't want to talk about it. Don't ask about it. And she said, ann, we now have a membership to Costco And I said what and so And by the way, it wasn't even at Costco. Huh. So it ended up being somewhere else. So anyway, the point is is that she's overall just you know, having a stressful time and so. And this is what made you happy this week. So I'm leading up to it, Okay. So she goes up and goes to bed earlier than the rest of us. She's got to get up early, and so we're downstairs and my son, who's usually not tuned in to what she's going through, says, I think mom can use some cheering up. So Steven is the one that instigated it, and so it ends up within twenty minutes, all of us are not letting her sleep. She's in the bed, the lights are out, but we're all on the bed. And then the cats jump up, and so it's quite literally all of us are on the bed and we're just teasing her, laughing or tickling her. And then I ended up rubbing her feet, and then and then she and then and then Stephen said, let's all say something nice about Mom. What do you appreciate it? Because he's a mom. You had a bad day. So we go back downstairs and will play Super Mario Brothers and Liz texts us ten thirty five pm and this is the text. You guys gave me so much joy and happiness, and I'm just full of so much love. I can hardly go to sleep. Little teary dot dot dom but that's typical. I think I needed all that you gave me. Thank you three hearts. Wow and so right, wow, So it was just a really great moment. Oh that's so nice. Yeah, okay, and she's crying listening to this, yes, because. She well, congratulations, Liz, you deserved it. Yeah. She listens to the Bible guys every morning. Yeah, that's fantastic. Isn't that sweet? So we get to see this saying I think I prefer that what made Chris mads though. They're more fun. Yeah that was a little too sappy. Yeah, it's more fun when you're when you're mad about something that's so funny. Desire a take note, this isn't working for us. Cut the segment I hate sappy. Chris happy Chris doesn't work for me. We want to go back to med Chris. Okay, Chris doesn't. Work for me. That's great. Okay, So hey, we are going to kind of we're going to deal with what it's all about in the end when Jesus talks about eternity. This is what we're going to talk about today. So this kind of flips some of our traditional beliefs about heaven upside down, right, the naked babies bouncing from cloud to cloud, playing harps and you know that kind of stuff. It's very, very different. So let's just talk about it. We're going to read a lot of verses, but it's because the Bible does a better job explaining itself than we do sometimes. So yeah, all the time, even though we are the Bible guys. So here you go. In Revelation chapter twenty one, we're going to read all of twenty one and then into twenty two because it's all the same thing. I don't know they put the chapter break there. Here you go. It says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the old heaven, and the old Earth had disappeared, and the sea was also gone. And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully distressed, addressed for her husband. I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, look, God's home is now among his people. He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever. And the one sitting on the throne said, look, I'm making everything new. And then he said to me, write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. And he also said it is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning in the end, to all who are thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children. But coward's unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practiced witchcraft, idle worshippers, and all liars. Their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last legs, came and said to me, come with me. I'll show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. So he took me in the spirit to a great high mountain, and he showed me the Holy City Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone, like jasper, as clear as crystal. The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. There were three gates on each side, east, north, south, and west. The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. When he measured it, he found it was a square as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each fourteen hundred miles. Then he measured the walls and found them to be two hundred and sixteen feet thick, according to the human standard used by the angel. The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth Carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth burl, the ninth topaz, the tenth crystal praise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelve amethysts. The twelve gates were made of pearls, each gate from a single pearl, and the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass. I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord, God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city and all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of the day, because there is no night there, and all the nations will bring their glory and honor to the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful, idolatry and dishonesty, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Then the Angel showed me a river with the water of life, crystal, clearest crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And it flowed down the center of the main street, and on each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations no longer will there be a curse upon anything, for the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him, and they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads, and there'll be no night, there no need for lamps or sun, for the Lord God will shine on them, and they will rain forever and ever. And then the Angel said to me, everything you've heard and seen is trustworthy and true. The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen? Happen soon? Dude. So, out of all the things we've read these past two weeks, either this is the most awesome thing that we could ever read or John was high on something. Yes, the Bostle job. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, it's just incredible. Yeah. We because right because this was after he was bold and old and exiled to the outers. I'm making a joke, and he was one hundred and something. He was old at this point. But the things that he saw, we believe are literal. Yeah, And we believe that this is the description for the new Jerusalem. We believe it's the new Heaven, which which may be a little different than when people think of Yeah. Right, So it's a place. It's a place with trees, right, and you know in crops gates, which means people are collecting crops. They're not just floating around on some ethereal cloudy place. Right. It'll look very much probably like the earth that we are in now. Yeah, it's a new heaven and a new Earth. Right, and then so can I'll give you my theory. Let me give you my theory on this. So the Bible describes this city as fifteen hundred miles cubed, fourteen hundred miles cubed wide, fourteen hundred miles long, fourteen hundred miles high. And he says, the Angel says, let me show you the bride. Who's the bride. The bride is the church. The bride is all those people who are at the marriage stop of the lamb. This is like the Limo bringing the whole church. And they they are contained in this fourteen hundred mile cubed city on a spiritual realm, and God is bringing them to the new Earth, the physical realm. And do you remember, at the very beginning in the garden, Adam and Eve walked with God every day, every day, every day in the cool of the evening. The Bible says, so Adam and Eve, that's right. So Adam and Eve were able to live in both the spiritual realm and the physical realm as one realm. And then they died. And when they died, they died spiritually right when they sinned, and so then they lost the spiritual realm. That didn't destroy the spirit realm. We read about the dragon fighting against the woman and her child and all these things, all the spirits. There was war in heaven. All this stuff happens in the spiritual but as humans, we only live in the physical realm right now. But what he's doing is he's bringing the Bride, the Church in the spiritual realm down and blending it into this new Earth. He's bringing us back to the paradise that he always planned. But he had to make it new because we broke the old one. Right, he's bringing it back together. And I think the reason why it's called New Jerusalem is Jerusalem is where Jesus died. Just outside of Jerusalem is where Abraham was about to sacrifice the son when God stopped him to depict the fact that the Father would sacrifice the son, and that God would provide himself a lamb. I personally believe that probably somewhere around there was where Adam and Eve originally sinned, and then it all comes back to He fixed it there, and then he's bringing it all back there. He's bringing the church back to that place, and then we have the new Heaven of the New Earth combined. Because you can't just smash a fourteen hundred mid cubed city into a planet. It causes problems, I heard, you know, the physics, So that's difficult. So what he's doing is he's blending the spiritual and the physical, and he brought us back to what he always planned. The garden was what he always planned, and that's what he's bringing us back to. Yeah, well it's pretty cool. Yeah, and that's all my opinion. But that's what I believe is happening. Yeah. Well, I was just gonna say it fits regardless. That does fit, regardless of the details of that, right, because I think those details are cool to think about, but they're sort of unimportant because well. Thank you, sorry to waste your time. That's nothing. I got something more important. Waste time with my nothing story. I know, my opinions don't matter in this class. Too, is the thinking out that's nothing I had before. So uh no, no, I just met in the end. Uh it will not matter for you and for me, is. What I mean. No, no, Right. So in other words, the information is not what I'm saying is unimportant because it's important information. What I'm saying is our experience of being there, regardless of how it plays out. I mean, how's that going to matter? Yeah, so. We're experiencing a new heaven, we're experiencing a new Earth. However that plays out, it's a good day, right, that's right. But what you have is you have this holy city coming down from heaven and melding with this earth. And then what we know is that there's there's commerce, there's kingdoms, there's people coming and going, there's all of the things of human society are represented or referenced or hinted at in these things. He's taken what was and he's making them all brand new. It doesn't say that it's different, it's renewed. Right, And so when we get to heaven, it's not just going to be a perpetual worship service, is what I'm trying to say, no, worship is perpetually going to be going on, but there's all of the things necessary for human society will apparently be going It's what the nations represent. Nations represent commerce, nations represent, collective work, collective responsibility. God made humans to work all those things. They're coming and going in and out of this capital city, and so it's not going to be this boring life. It's going to be the life you are dreaming for. It's the utopia everybody wishes they could make on this earth. But this earth is going to be destroyed, and he's bringing us back to the full expression of humanity. With God, I'll be with them and they'll be my people. Well, just the simple fact that it says there's twelve trees, or there's two trees bearing twelve crops of fruit once each month, and then it says the leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. Yeah, right, Then he says, of course, there's no longer be a crist upon anything. But the fact that there's leaves being used for something indicates that there has to be a harvest, there has to be a gathering, then there has to be that application for apparently something. Yeah right, So so. Horses there, Jesus comes back on it, which means somebody's got to clean up after the horses. Right right, or or hopefully that will all be eliminated. Yeah right, No more. Well there's leaves, so that's sure. There's eating yeah, yeah, yeah. I think that it's I genuinely believe it's not that it's a different Uh, it's not going to be a different experience. It's going to be a seamless experience. I think it's going to be life. Right. It's not that God went, oh, you know what, I screwed up making humanity and the society that they were supposed to build. Let me invent something else. He's not inventing something else. He's making it new, he's renewing it. And I think that he's bringing us back to this so all the things that are necessary for human society. And so what I'm trying to say is Heaven's not gonna be boring. It's not going to be just a big long church service. It's gonna you will fulfill your eternal purpose doing and being who you were always supposed to be and do. Right, That's great, Yeah, I love it. And then the description is phenomenal. Yeah so then and walking on gold. Right, as clear as glass, which is scared pure gold. Yeah, what's underneath? Yeah sou so. Then Revelation twenty two seven through twenty one. I want to read this. These are sort of the final words, and it reminds us that Jesus is coming soon. Yeah, right, So this is of course John's still writing, and he's not high. By the way, we. Believe that he's John the Revelator. That's right, right, He's getting revelations, that's what that's right. That's why. That's why it's called revelation, by the way, because there's revealing information, right, and so it's a revelation. So here's how it reads. It says, look, I am coming soon. Blessed are those who obey the words of the prophecy written in this book. I John am the one who heard and saw all these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the Angel who showed them to me. But he said, no, don't worship me. I am a servant of God, just like you and your brothers and the prophets, as well as all of them who obey. What is written in the book Worship only God. Then he instructed me, do not seal up the prophetic words in this book, for the time is near. Let the one who is doing harm continue to do harm. And let the one who is viole continue to be vile. And let the one who is righteous continue to live righteously. And let the one who is holy continue to live holy. Look. I'm coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all the people according to their deeds. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. Blessed are those who wash their robes. They'll be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat from the fruit of the tree of life. Outside the city are the dogs, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idle worshipers, to all who live a life of a lie. I Jesus have sent my angel to give you this message for the churches. I am both the source of David and the heir to his throne. I am the bright morning Star, the Spirit and the Bride. Say come. Let anyone who hears this, say come, Let anyone who is thirsty come. Let anyone who drinks freely from the water of life. And I solemnly declare to everyone who hears the words of prophecy written in this book, if anyone adds anything to what is written here, God will add that person the plagues described. In this book. And if anyone removes the words from this book of the Prophecy, God will remove that person's share in the Tree of life and in the holy city that has described in this book. He was faithful witnesses to all these things. Yes, I am coming soon. Amen, Come, Lord Jesus. May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's holy people. Yeah, you know the King James end that says, even so come quickly, Lord Jesus. Right, what a great it's a it's a great ending, and it's a reminder to us, you know, And I think that it's just an exclamation point be reminded. Revelation there's a lot of details, there's a lot of discussion. There's a lot of things that are you know, physical, literal, metaphorical. Right, there's all these different things that are mixed in with the Book of Revelation, and it never gives any indication when it's talking about you know, literal or metaphorical or symbolic. It doesn't give any indication. So we're left to discuss all these things that are all important. But keep in. Mind that it really comes down to just a few things, right, It points to a few things. Number one, Jesus is in charge of history. God's God's in control. Right, It's who God is. It's who God is. He's in control of all things in history. Number Two, he wins, Yes, he wins. That is it like, there's no question, there's victory, victory, victory. And then number three, we. Live like Jesus is coming. He's coming again. So he's coming soon, and so you know, regardless of when that happens on the timeline, you know, Jesus tells us, you know, just he's coming soon, and live like it. Today. We're on mission. We're telling people, we're living it out, we're living by example, and we look forward to the day of the new Heaven and the new Earth. We started this series saying Jesus doesn't tell us these things that scare us. He's telling us these things because he's coming to save us. That's right, right, it's gonna be amazing. I'm looking forward to the day. I really am for sure, So you know, I don't like the negative sides of these things, but He's given us a mission between here and there to prevent it for as many people as possible by going and telling everybody we know about Jesus. So that's it. We're on mission between here and there and he'll come back on his good time. Well that about wraps it up and hopefully we'll see you on Monday on the Bible Gush