Sermon Tone Analysis

Revelation 21-22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Stephen Caswell © 2003

Our Move Into Our New Home

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As you would probably know we moved into our new home last Monday.

I want to tell you that we were excited.

But the welcome we received was unexpected.

So many came to help unload.

Everyone was so kind and friendly.

At once we could see just how much thought and hard work went into preparing our new home for us.

And we want to thank everyone here for their kindness and generosity.

Our home is beautiful and the view across the valley is wonderful.

But it got me thinking.

If arriving at our home in Tent Hill is this wonderful, how much more so will be our arrival to our heavenly home.

Just imagine how glorious our Lord will be when we see Him for the first time.

Just imagine how beautiful New Jerusalem will be.

An eternal city whose Builder and Maker is God.

A city untainted by sin.

*Marco Polo*, the famous Venetian traveler of the thirteenth century, when he lay dying, was urged by his priest to recant - to withdraw the stories he had told about China and the lands of the Far East.

But he said, /I have not told half what I saw./* *I am sure that's the way John felt after he saw the glory of heaven.*

Today we will look at /life in heaven./*

The Apostle John describes heaven as a place where eight things won't be present.

There will be /no more sea, no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain, no more night, no more curse and no temple.

/The Lord will remove the things that plagued the first creation.

/Firstly, /    No More Sea/ /

/ /

*21:1-3: */Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

Also there was *no more sea*.

Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, *the tabernacle of God is with men,* and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people.

God Himself will be with them and be their God./

/ /

/What is really significant about the new earth having no seas?

/A number of things.

*/Firstly,/* the seas separate people.

The seas like sin separate us from God and from each other.

*/Secondly,/* they are uninhabitable.

More than Three quarters of the earth's surface is covered by the oceans.

*/Thirdly/*/,/ they remind us of God's judgment upon sin.

God overflowed the earth with water to destroy man from the face of the earth.

Therefore the */seas/* speak of */sin, separation, and judgment/*.

The new creation won’t be spoiled by these.

A divine pronouncement is made in verse 3 that from now on /God will dwell with men./

For God to dwell with mankind He must first remove all sin for God will not fellowship with sin.

All Singing In Harmony

 

This is a true story from the American Civil War.

The rival armies were camped on the opposite banks of the Potomac River.

At evening the Union's band began to play one of its patriotic tunes.

The Confederate army responded with one of their own favorite tunes.

Then one of the band's started to play /Home, Sweet Home/.

The musical competition ceased, and the musicians from the other army joined in.

Soon voices from both sides of the river could be heard singing, */There is no place like home/*.

In a similar way the Church with its many divisions is bound together by one strong link.

We’re all going home, to the place where our Father is waiting.

Everyone who has been born again of the Spirit longs to go home.

*/Separation, sin /*and*/ disunity/* between people will be replaced by perfect fellowship.*

Revelation 21:24-27:* /And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.

And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are *written* in the *Lamb’s Book of Life.*/

The Lambs Book of Life contains the names of the saints from all the ages.

These are the citizens of heaven.

No unrepentant sinner will enter into heaven.

*Revelation 20:15:* says, /Anyone not found in the Book of Life was cast into the fake of fire./

Only the saved are welcome there.

For believers, sin and separation from God will be replaced */by perfect fellowship./*

God intended to share His glory with man from the beginning but sin spoiled it.

*/Have you been saved from your sin?

Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book Of Life?

Have you received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour?/* */Do you long to be in your heavenly home with its perfect fellowship?/*

 

/Secondly, /No More Death

 

*Revelation 21:4a: */And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be *no more death*, *nor sorrow*, *nor crying*.

There shall be* no more pain*.

/

 

The first consequence Adam and Eve suffered after the fall was */death./*

The day that they ate of the forbidden tree they died spiritually.

930 years later Adam died physically.

Spiritual death inevitably leads to physical death.

This shouldn't surprise us because God told them it would happen.

But praise God, Jesus Christ has conquered this cruel enemy.

*Romans 6:23:* /For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

/The amazing thing is that God planned to save man even before the world began.

That's grace./

/*2 Timothy 1:9-10:* /God has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began, but has now been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who *has abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.*/

Moody More Alive

 

Realizing that he would soon be gone from this world, Moody said to a friend, Someday you will read in the papers that D. L. Moody of Northfield is dead.

Don’t you believe a word of it.

At that moment I shall be more alive than I am now.

I shall have gone higher, that is all - out of this old clay tent into a house that is immortal, a body that sin cannot touch, that sin cannot taint, a body fashioned into His glorious body.

I was born in the flesh in 1837; I was born of the Spirit in 1856.

That which is born of the flesh may die; that which is born of the Spirit will live forever.

Christ conquered death by dying and rising again.

*1 Corinthians 15:22* *says:* /For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

/In verses 25 & 26 Paul goes on to say that Christ will conquer all His enemies, the last enemy is death.

/Death will be swallowed up in victory./

Eternal life is the order of this new creation because /God makes everything new./

The old corrupt world will be replaced by a new incorruptible world.

God will sustain us for all eternity.

Perhaps the river of life and tree of life will assist in this.

Both seem to possess life giving characteristics.

*Revelation 22:1-2: */And he showed me a *pure river of water of life*, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore *twelve fruits*, each tree yielding its fruit every month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations./

Arrived!

There are Christians of a certain tribe in Africa who never say of their dead who die in the Lord that */they have departed!/*