Looking back over the history of humanity, there have been, both in business and in other pursuits, a history of well documented blunders. Stepping past the suspect stories of Julius Caesar’s wife telling him not to go to the center on the Ides of March, there are some documented mistakes that the UK newspaper called “The Telegraph” picked up some time ago. They reminded:

• The Coca Cola Company made a series of errors in the early 20th century, when its biggest rival, Pepsi, struggled to avoid bankruptcy. On at least three occasions Coca Cola was offered the chance to buy the company – but never did. The companies have vied for supremacy in the cola market ever since.

• It took 177 years to build, but the Pisa’s famous tower began to lean less than a decade after construction began. The enormous project was planned on unstable soil, and had a shallow three meter foundation which couldn’t support the structure’s weight. After extensive renovations, the tower has now stopped moving for the first time in its history.

• This image depicts a triumphant Christopher Columbus landing in America in 1492. However, the fortuitous discovery which allowed Spain to colonize America was little more than a mistake. Columbus had been hoping to reach China and India, and believed that they could be reached by sailing west across the Atlantic. This is why, of course, he called the indigenous population Indians.

• Captain George Custer had always wanted fame, but the disastrous Battle of Little Big Horn in 1876 ensured him a reputation only for arrogance and miscalculation. He had estimated only a small number of Native Americans would fight his troops, but his entire company was killed by an army of thousands.

• Remember the moment in ET when Elliot lures the little extra-terrestrial into his house with a sweet called Reese’s Pieces? Well, you may only know of that particular treat because of of it. Spielberg had tried to get Mars to let M&Ms be featured in the film, but was turned down. After the film was released, sales of Reese’s Pieces rocketed by more than 65 per cent.

• RMS Titanic, the largest passenger steamship in the world, was popularly believed to be unsinkable. The huge loss of life that occurred when it crashed into an iceberg in 1912 was due partly to an inadequate supply of lifeboats, and partly to design flaws – including an unreliable system of watertight compartments, and poor quality rivets in the ship’s hull. After the ship sank, a number of safety improvements were introduced to boat design.

• In 1961, Decca Records auditioned a small Liverpool band in their London studios. Eventually, however, they decided that the group wasn’t sellable. Not long after, they signed with EMI. The group’s name? The Beatles.

• His name is now synonymous with genius, but Albert Einstein was so unsuccessful at school that his teachers believed he had had learning difficulties.

• “This ‘telephone’ has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” So said Western Union, the company with a monopoly on the telegraph system, when offered the patent for Alexander Graham Bell’s new invention in 1876. Two years later, they offered $25 million for it, but were turned down.

• If only all our mistakes resulted in medical breakthroughs. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin when he mistakenly left a Petri dish open. The blue-green mould which grew in the dish had released a substance which killed the bacteria around it. It was the beginning of modern antibiotics.

-For the whole article: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatpicturegalleries/7079567/Historys-great-mistakes.html).

The history of the world is riddled with such blunders. When we open the last page of the Bible, we see that some errors have much more catastrophic consequences than the slanting of a “campanile” or bell tower, and certainly carry greater import than the loss of soda pop revenues. In fact, the Bible closes with a response to the very errors that began with the introduction of sin to the human race back in Genesis 3.

Key Principle: Truth can be eroded, obscured, theorized, postponed or even ignored.

The lies of sin have led men to errors by lack of trust in God’s Word, lack of clarity about God’s Word, lack of practical living in light of God’s Word, lack of urgent change because of God’s Word, and finally lack of heeding God’s Word out of a sense of personal entitlement. Before we read the final response, let’s remind ourselves of the initial problem from Genesis:

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, “Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden’?” 2 The woman said to the serpent, “From the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat; 3 but from the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat from it or touch it, or you will die.’” 4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die! 5 “For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.

If you look back at Genesis 2:25. Man was OK with himself. Woman was OK with herself. No advertisements made them feel inadequate. No self image marred – no need for better makeup or another exercise machine. The issue wasn’t whether they were beautiful enough or felt important enough – they were happy with who God made them.

Enter the tempter (3:1). A series of events led to a “domino falling failures”:

1)     The man was to guard the garden and failed – exposing his wife to the tempter and not governing the parameters of God (3:1b).
2)     The woman entertained the question of God’s authority over her and focused on the one thing God told them to leave alone (3:2-3).
3)     The serpent accused God of holding back on them and they succumbed to the idea that God wasn’t who He claimed to be (3:4-6).
4)     What came from the fall was a LOSS of INNOCENCE – “eyes were opened” (3:7a), DEATH of intrinsic positive SELF IMAGE – “knew they were naked” (3:7b), SHAME – “covered themselves” (3:7b); DISTANCE from God (3:8) and GUILT – the FEAR to be seen of God (3:10).

The bottom line is that man’s pain came from his rebellion – and so does YOURS. When we decide we know better than God, we forgo the benefits of trusting Him to meet our every need. We lose out on blessing. We gain shame, discontent, guilt and a host of problems. If you kept reading the familiar passage, you would see clearly the results from “The Fall” experience:

1)       BLAME: Man tried to blame the woman for his lack of guardianship and leadership (3:12) – the leader blames the followers! Woman blamed the tempter (3:13) – the shopper blames the advertiser for MAKING HER BUY the product!
2)       WAR: God promised to put a battle between the deceiver and man through the Messianic seed (3:15). Every believer that faces pains of the enemy and his warfare can trace the struggle of Ephesians 6 back to this moment – not to mention the PRICE of the Cross!
3)       PHYSICAL PAIN replaced the joy of the reproductive system. A collective groan may now raise from the females of the assembly! The pain of childbirth is not ALL there is to this!
4)       A REBELLION HELPER: Woman was made to AID man in his walk with God – and now she would COMPETE with him and help him by supplying her own rebellion (3:16b). She will want HIS JOB – and struggle with submission.
5)       STRUGGLE: Because of the lack of guardianship and leadership, God ends His dealings with their rebellion in words to Adam – the work I gave you will now be a struggle. The ground won’t cooperate (3:17b-19).

Why do I mention these in a study on Revelation? Because the last part of the story of God’s written and revealed Word is this: there have been some underlying errors that have plagued mankind since the Fall in the Garden of Eden. Five great errors have dogged man – and God calls on man to SEE them and RESPOND appropriately! What are the FIVE ERRORS? First, the text, then the implications:

They are found in Revelation 22:6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. 7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” 8 I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things. 9 But he said to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who heed the words of this book. Worship God.” 10 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. 11 “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” 12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. 16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book. 20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21 The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.

Remember the principle we noted earlier? Truth can be eroded, obscured, theorized, postponed or even ignored. In the final words of the Bible we can see the five lies men have believed – and the five delusions many have lived under:

Lack of trust in God’s Word (22:6,8,9):

In all three verses – 6,8 and 9 the issue is the faithfulness of God’s record. John says that the words were carefully and properly related to him in TRUTH. He claims his record is what he HEARD and SAW  – the things he described in the circular letter we now call the “book”. His personal witness to the events did not imply that he thought HE was infallible – since he bowed to the wrong guy and got corrected two times in glory (Revelation 19:10 and 22:9). The basis of John’s belief in the testimony was the REVELATION by God – not his abilities as an author. John didn’t think, based on his record, that HE was the reason we should believe the message at all.

Peter argued this very point in 2 Peter 1:16 “For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased”— 18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. 19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, 21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”

Peter and John both KNEW they SAW first hand a move of God. Yet, they also knew it wasn’t their VIEW of things that mattered, but the revealed truths accurately recorded because of God’s work in and through them. They saw themselves as flawed, but the Word as revealed.

Here is the truth of it. Satan questioned Eve and implied that God didn’t really mean the things that He said. “Has God really said?” he asked. Anyone that walks closely with God and daily in His Word knows the hearkening to selfish rationalization when they hear it. “Can you really trust that this is the truth?” our world cries out – echoing the voice of their dark master. What they are really saying is this: “Can you really try to tell me that I cannot do what I want?” Lack of trust in God’s Word leads to a lack of belief that any moral system can truly be placed over me. I end up being God in my life – making decisions that suit my own purposes and satiate my own desires. He who trusts in the Lord trusts in His Word- by which He has been made known.

Fundamentally, people have three choices in dealing with the Bible:

• First, we can believe that although God’s Word is revealed truth through imperfect men – its reliability is based on God’s power and ability to communicate – unhindered by the flaws of the men themselves.

• Second, we can see God as lacking the power (or will) to communicate effectively through flawed men. Some of its stories are made up by men, others show some truth of the Holy One. This is the curious modern “Christian” thinker who believes God can raise a lifeless body from a grave, but cannot both record the event flawlessly and preserve the event wholly in history. Power over life doesn’t seem to include power over the facts.

• Third, we can toss the Bible onto the stack of other ingenious, influential and curious fictions of the old world.

I believe the third has been widely adopted in the modern academic world – it is a piece of pure religious sage fiction, and the second in many Christian circles –it is a flawed record of well meaning followers of God. The idea that it is the unhindered revelation of truth is now held among only a handful of believers. I want to be counted among them. God is able to speak through a donkey if He chooses. He can sign His name and reveal His character in the lights of the heavens above. Fallen creation poses no particular obstacle to His ability to clearly show Himself. His Word is truth. Biblically speaking, His detractors are fools – plain and simple. Sometimes people fall for the oldest deception on the planet – contradiction to God’s Word. A knowledge of revealed truth can be steadily eroded by unending attacks – ask any modern university student that is trying to live for Christ on campus.

Lack of clarity about God’s Word (22:10,16-19):

Not all rejection of the Word in our day is because of simple hardheartedness, though indirectly that is at the core of our problem. Some of the rejection is due to the obscuring of the Bible’s true message. When someone turns the Bible into a prosperity manual – using the Holy Writ to encourage the hungers for a better life this side of Heaven – they obscure its real message. Many times when I have talked with someone who “left the faith” the issue wasn’t that God’s Word was insufficient – it is that promises made on God’s behalf by those who purported to teach His Word  – but were NOT Biblical  – were found to be untrue by the defector.

Look at God’s truth. In verse 10, John was told NOT TO SEAL UP the prophecy – not to block the flow of information – in contradistinction to a command issued long before to the prophet Daniel (Daniel 8:26 “The vision of the evenings and mornings Which has been told is true; But keep the vision secret, For it pertains to many days in the future.”). The words given to John were to be shared, unfiltered and unhindered. Such a good word should be given to preachers of our day.

We are not to create a church that is a stirring concert followed by a public therapy session. We are to make disciples by the careful and consistent sharing of the Word of God. Every other pursuit of the church must serve that purpose.

The verses that unfold this truth and drive it home to John appear to be 22:16-19:

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.” 17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. 18 I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues which are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the tree of life and from the holy city, which are written in this book.

The unmistakable message of the Bible is this: Come to Jesus. He is the Savior, and there is no other! Buddha’s enlightenment cannot ensure your eternal destiny. Mohammed’s rules cannot make you acceptable to God. Animism’s beckoning to the “circle of life” will leave you searching for truth on a fallen planet set for destruction. The message of the Bible is NOT that we have failed – but that He has prevailed! Jesus has CONQUERED death’s hold on us, and broken through the back of the tomb into the place of eternal blessing. We cannot by our sincere works chip through the tomb’s solid walls – only the Savior was able to break it open. The call of the Word is not to attempt a new strategy to attain blessing in the hereafter – but to open our heart to the victor over death and the grave.

Note that in Revelation’s great close the word is repeated… Come. Come. Come. It is the message of the Spirit of God. It is the message of the Bride of the Lamb. It is the message of anyone who CLEARLY hears what the revelation’s true testimony is.

• Prosperity theologians say “get”.
• Psychologists say “become”.
• Sociologists say “empower”.
• Educators say “enlighten”.
• Scientists say “investigate”.
• Religious teachers say “work”.

Jesus simply says – COME! If our message can be reduced to anything, it must be reduced to this… Man is lost without the Savior, and saved only by submitting to His Word and His Work. When the church fouls the message, we hinder the lost from hearing the truth. Sometimes people fall for Satan’s age old tactic of obscuring the truth… “Has God really said?” A clear and crisp presentation of Jesus can easily be obscured by worldly agendas that permeate even the church’s message. Ask anyone who invested in a teacher who put up billboards on the actual date of Christ’s return – and then it passed. Honest followers got sucker punched by well meaning but misguided teachers. 

Lack of practical living in light of God’s Word (22:11-15):

Look again at the words in verses 11-15:

11 “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.” 12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. 13 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. 15 Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.

This part of the Bible doesn’t sound BIBLICAL! Let bad guys be bad guys? Really? What is Jesus saying – Don’t try to change people with the Gospel? No! He is relating an essential truth – Time is running out people who follow Him will show their allegiance in their lives. They will take their dirty robes and wash them in the stain-cleansing flow from the blood at Calvary. They will trust His work as sufficient for their salvation, and call on God to wash them because of Jesus’ payment at the Cross. At the same time, and this is critical to understand – the changes in a true believer will be evident in the change of their moral choices, ethical selections and practical lifestyle. Jesus didn’t come to make people theologically superior. He isn’t a theory creator.

Many of us have to admit that we don’t change our stubborn and ungodly practices – we simply add the message of sin’s payment to our own stubborn self will. We too often live for self but add “God words” and “Bible verses”. We can talk theology while still comfortably living sinfully. We can expound on Biblical truths from our head, while caging and locking up our heart. That wasn’t God’s intent.

Let me say it clearly: We must stop acting like we know God’s Word if we choose to continue to live immorally. We must stop pretending to be knowledgeable about a God to Whom we simply refuse to submit. We must learn to drop the theology of the arrogant and begin to humble ourselves before the forgiving hand of God! These are hard words – but the time to play is running out! Jesus said that truth unpracticed is dead truth. James records that faith that doesn’t work itself out is dead theory. There are far too many who have fallen to this old error – that God wants a sharpened head and theologically educated tongue. What He wants is a surrendered heart that reshapes the mind, reforms the tongue and redresses the hands. Anything else is short of the goal. If we KNOW the truth – it must drive us to LIVE the truth – or we don’t truly BELIEVE the truth. Salvation is about surrender, not hedging bets on eternity. God wants practical believers – that live out truth. One of the five great errors is simply this: We can believe in our head but not surrender with our heart. It is time to choose, on every level, truth.

Lack of urgent change because of God’s Word (22:7,12,20):

With little fanfare, John closes the book with repeated warning. In 22:7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” In 22:12 he wrote: .” 12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done.”  In 22:20 he wrote it one last time: “20 He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.

One of the oldest errors that has afflicted mankind and duped many an intelligent man or woman is this – “I have more time”. I don’t need to accept Jesus today. I don’t need to surrender sin today. I can do it tomorrow, or perhaps next month. Maybe when I am older I will get more serious. Urgency isn’t there. We have been deceived into thinking we have more time. Read the word again.. quickly, quickly, quickly….

Look at your life. Seriously, I ask you this question: “Has time seemed to be moving faster and faster for you?” Are some of you thinking, “Wow, I am getting older a lot faster than I thought I would!” That should be a temporal warning for an eternal problem. We have only this life to make a decision – and the timing on this life is always short and never certain. Truth can be postponed when urgency is suppressed. It is an error many are making… is that YOU?

Lack of heeding God’s Word out of a sense of personal entitlement (22:21):

The final error that has plagued humanity is laying on the face of the passage, but may not be so obvious. It is found in the unpacking of the simple declaration in the final sentence of the written Scripture: Revelation 22:21 “The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”

The heart of rebellion manifests a sense of self destiny. When we think in rebellion, we do it OUR way. We believe we “master our own fate”. Grace is not like that. Grace is a gift – and it requires both a GIVER and one who opens their hand, and heart, to receive it. The Bible ends with a grace statement – because at the end of everything, there is a great future to those who open themselves to God’s grace.

• People who believe they deserve Heaven don’t want or need grace.
• People who feel entitled to Heaven in spite of their unrighteousness aren’t seeing things the God does.

They are evaluating themselves against other people, not against the HOLINESS of God. There is nothing fallen man can DO to overcome the gap placed in our path between us and God – and ultimately us and Heaven. The bridge that was built was one of GRACE built with the blood-stained wood of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Despite what anyone may tell you, the main problem on the planet IS rebellion against God – something the Bible calls simply “sin”. It isn’t primarily a political problem as Madison purported in his time – so it lacks a singular coherent political solution. It isn’t an economic issue at it core as Lenin espoused, and cannot be solved by any form of wealth redistribution he and his later comrades attempted. It isn’t an primarily social injustice issue as Roosevelt preached – so no dose of “New Deal” can solve the pains of it. It cannot be solved in Hoover’s austerity, or Nixon’s attempt at control. Politicians fall flat in the face of the problem, for they lack the power to deal with it. It is a SIN problem, a spiritual stain that marks the human heart, darkens the human mind, fouls the human spirit and weighs down human hope. The problem has a solution, but it will be found only in the power of One greater than the problem – a Savior. We do not vote for Him, we simply bow before Him.

Our world is in a SIN crisis, but it is a masked problem. We see the symptoms on every hand – but the underlying errors have become part of the thinking of our day – and profoundly affect every part of our lives. The lies of sin have led men to errors by:

• lack of trust in God’s Word,
• lack of clarity about God’s Word,
• lack of practical living in light of God’s Word,
• lack of urgent change because of God’s Word,
• lack of heeding God’s Word out of a sense of personal entitlement.

We must see these errors in our own thinking and untie their hold on our hearts. It will take deliberate trust in God’s Word and His Promises – and it will take conscious ungripping of strongly held deceptions…

A man went fishing along a rushing river in the floods of spring time. The water raged, so rather than rowing, he tied his small wooden rowboat to a tree and slowly slacked the rope so the boat could move away from shore. When the line unexpectedly untied from the tree, the little vessel was swiftly swept away, and in a flash was dashed to pieces on a rock. Clinging to the wreckage the fisherman cried for help as he was being swept along with the current. A farmer near the shore downstream saw his plight and raced ahead to a small bridge. Lying down, the rescuer hung his arm over the side of the bridge and yelled, “grab my hand.” The fisherman, with both arms wrapped around the wreckage, did not know if he trusted the unseen rescuer enough to let go. He was faced with a potentially perilous choice. Either he could let go of the wreckage and grab the hand above –or he could cling to what he knew and surely perish.

The fact is, we have the very same choice he had.

She got out of bed and pulled on the bathroom door – but the handle came off in her hand. Without her glasses (which were inside the bathroom on the back of the sink), she tried hard to get the long spine of the door handle back into the little hole so that she could turn the handle carefully, and get the door open. An impending sense of urgency welled up inside her, the kind that can only truly be understood by someone who has been urged to drink large amounts of water, and then found the nearby bathroom “out of order”. Without panic, she kept at her task until the door was opened, and she was safely inside. Looking down at her glasses, now no longer so desperately needed, she thought, “One of these days things are going to start out right for me, I just know it.” The funny thing is, she is right. As a believer, we are facing a WHOLE NEW DAY sometime soon! Human history began in a garden paradise – the Garden of Eden. Someday, time will stand still in a new paradise – a garden park of the New Jerusalem.

Key Principle: God didn’t just promise a new day – He explained what kind of future He has planned for us.

We have all seen way too much demise of morality. We have been fed fear on the news and despair in the movies. This generation seems transfixed with a “Zombie Apocalypse”, or some other form of destruction coming soon to a town near you. Facebook rages, day after day, with Obamacare and impending tax cliffs and the demise of the middle class. Politicians look for someone else to blame and another pot of gold to tap to keep themselves in office – so they have more time to blame and search for yet more cash. The country is run by millionaires that want to tell us why rich people are bad. None of it makes sense…. Aren’t you ready for something NEW? Don’t you really want to get this cleaned up and hit the RESET button? I know there are times I really do – and I LOVE life and have great and positive people that fill my days with laughter and joy!

The end of the Bible is about the NEW DAY that God has prepared for us. I love this story, and maybe it can help set the mood of this passage for us:

A Sunday School teacher asked her class of children, “Tell me what you think heaven will be like.” She got all kinds of answers, but I especially like this one from a third grade boy who said, “Heaven is going to be the happiest part of my dead life.”

Yes, it is true. The best of my life, and your life as a believer hasn’t even been seen yet. We need to spend time here, because our world is NEGATIVE but our future is VERY POSITIVE. The story that God began in a beautiful garden – the story that God pronounced “Redeemed” in another garden  – will, one day soon, be completed in yet a third garden. Revelation 21 sums it all up in words like: 21:5 “And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new” …and 21:6 “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end…”

I don’t usually like “The End” screens. They bring a story to conclusion, and then I feel let down. This one is different… really different! The Bible unfolds the tale: All judgment was past. All sin, with its deep and wretched stains, fades into mere memory. The Great White Throne was swept into the shadow of past things. Hades was swallowed in the Molten Lake of forever. Satan and His evil hoards were consumed and perpetually blocked out of God’s land of incessant celebration. God saw that it was time to tear it all away and rebuild the new land of Promise.  When the END comes, the beginning of the NEW DAY of ETERNITY will not bring sadness – but JOY. God describes exactly what the NEW DAY looks like, with no less than ten descriptions…

Our eternity is in a NEW place.

Revelation 21:1 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.”

On author wrote: “Most of my life I’ve lived in older houses where somebody else has lived before. They’ve been nice enough, I suppose, but I’ve always thought that it would be a lot nicer to live in a brand new house, my house, a special place that belongs to me. … this passage says is that a we’re going to have a new home in a new city, with a new heaven & a new earth. It’s all going to be brand new. Unfortunately, heaven has met with bad press by those who do not understand what God has prepared for those who love him. People see heaven as sitting on a cloud wearing a halo, while little angels play harps as they float through the heavens. Others see it as an unending church service, or singing hymns for all eternity. Some think of it as a sort of a celestial retirement city. It all seems like an apparition — so unreal. No wonder so many people see heaven as a place of numbing boredom, or secretly say to themselves, “Is that all there is?”

The fact found in the scriptural glimpse is this: Eternity is something NEW. There is nothing you have ever lived that compares to it. There are words that will completely lose their meaning – like  watches, like historians. There is no time and there is no story to tell – it has been told. God has spoken and we will all know Who He is – and that was the point of human history. We are living in a movie that illustrates to all the cosmos Who God is in all His glory and what God is like in all His nature.

Think about that place with me. Every stain of sin, every evidence of evil will be vanquished! The old order and the old earth will be completely obliterated! The physical quality of our planet will be profoundly changed; the bodies we experience it in will be unfailing! The unimpaired souls – no longer inflicted with sin nature – will shine. Our spiritual investments, stored up for us in this life will be opened for us to enjoy. God revealed it all, and you can’t make up stuff this good! John saw a new heaven and earth – the old atmospheric heaven was replaced. Terra firma was recreated and the physical properties of the new were very different than the old. In our time, we live on a planet dominated by the sea – but the new one is not like the old one. That one feature is a HINT of how different things are going to be in the future.

Even lost men have dreamed of an afterlife. The archaeology of ancient Egypt can demonstrate the reality that Egyptians spent years building the pyramids – a  monument to the afterlife. They used hundreds of thousands of slave laborers, and great families buried their loved ones beneath these ancient monuments with supplies of food, clothing, & other treasured articles  – all in the hope of life after this one. In every culture on the planet, men have shown they love life and thirst for more beyond the short 100 year stint on planet earth. Only recently has a shift been detected…

The unparalleled prosperity and relative security of our time has yielded in modernity a new phenomenon – those who want to make this life into a Heaven existence. The focus on the afterlife has waned in the prosperity of the modern western culture. Some have tried to focus life on the material – an “I want it all. I want it now. Grab for all the gusto you can get. He who has the most toys when he dies, wins” mentality. This gave rise to the need to fix all of life’s disappointments this side of heaven ideology. It has affected even the western church. People are increasingly walking in the door wanting answers to THIS LIFE – with less focus on the next life. They want more counsel on easing today’s pain than encouragement to look to tomorrow’s reward. We are thinking too short and too small – we are not thinking as those historic Christians who paved the road before our time thought.

When Jesus said that He came that we “might have life, and have it more abundantly”, He surely had the joy that I have experienced in my life in mind. He wanted us to see life as more than the medieval “veil of tears” through which one longed for Heaven to put a salve on the open wound of daily horrible life. A healthy view of Heaven isn’t about ignoring earth – it is about perspective. It nags us with the happy question: “What will all this mean in 100 billion years?” We cannot make all decisions based solely on that criteria, or we would not care for many mundane aspects of life in a godly way. Yet it is worth recalling to help put ourselves in perspective. Not everything we stress about is worth the anxiety we are putting into it. Old things will pass away… new things are coming. The same Jesus also reminded: “What profit is there to a man who gains the whole world but loses his own soul?” Christianity is about BOTH this world and the next – for they are tied together in the God that made both –and gave both as a gift to us!

Here’s the great news – eternity will be a NEW PLACE. No sense in asking too many questions about: “Will it be like this?” or “Will it be like that?” – since the newness implies we don’t have anything that can really compare to it. The food doesn’t taste like “chicken”. 🙂

Our eternity is in a PREPARED place.

Revelation 21:2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband…9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

When Jesus said in John 14: “I go to prepare a place for you.” He didn’t simply say He would prepare an IDEA – He said it was a PLACE that was being prepared. Look at the text for a description of the completion of the work, and you will find four incredible features:

First, it was HOLY. The term HOLY is the term DISTINCT. It is the word for “something that exists specifically for a purpose, and used properly only for that purpose. It is used in the Scripture for God – Who is absolutely unique and cannot be shaped to be anything other than what He is. It is used for the Sabbath of the Jewish people. It is used of sacrifices. It is used for the believer’s body and the believer’s use of sexuality. This is a city that was made for exactly one purpose – and its unveiling in the future has been foretold in elegant anticipation!

It was a CITY. It was built for cohabitation, relationship, sharing and activity. Eternity is not somber, still, passive and always serenely pastoral. There is a bustling city planned in the midst of the countryside. There will be beauty, but there will be activity. The story doesn’t end on the farm – but in the engaging place of a city.

It was carefully ADORNED. The description of the city was as an “adorned” bride. The gasp of the crowd that is familiar with the first appearance of the bride should be anticipated when God lowers the city into view. The sheer creative genius of the Almighty will again astound us. I remember seeing my bride in her beautiful dress at the back of the church – what a magnificent sight! She was adorned for the day – and so will that city be.

It was made IN ANTICIPATION. The bride dresses for a planned event – and the city is prepared in that same way. It came from the preparation bays of Heaven and was “launched” with every anticipation that those who gaze on it will be overwhelmed. Every part was hand chosen – in the mind of the preparing Savior.

Don’t feel badly about anticipating a new body and a new city. The Bible reminds us: “The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21). All creation is waiting for this – and we should be too! Remember to thank Jesus today for the preparations He is making for the world to come!

Our eternity is in a SHARED place.

Revelation 21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them,

I have some good news and bad news for you. Which do you want first? OK, the bad news – your place in eternity is a shared one. You won’t live alone! The good news – Jesus is your roommate!

The feature of eternity that will occupy us most fully is the company we will keep. It will be great to see, sit and chat with, discuss and inquire from great believers of the ages. Family, friends, and fellow worshipers will amaze us. We will laugh and we will love the ages together. We have never felt so accepted and so complete at any time on this earth. At the same time – we will be transfixed with the sight of the Creator, and the sight of the Redeemer.

At last we say, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade — kept in heaven for [us], who through faith are shielded by God’s power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).

• There is no need to scrape to gain what is needed – God has made, offered and protected it all.
• There is no need to protect what we have left over – to tuck it in “Heavenly Tupperware” and refrigerate – for there is no spoiling and no fermenting.
• There is no need to repaint – for the colors never fade.

At the end of the day, we will find a NEW DAY in which our Savior will dwell in our ranks, eat together with us, and share life. We were created for a day like this – and in such a day we will joy and revel without end. He will be there – that is all we need remember!

Our eternity is in a COMFORTING place.

Revelation 21:4 “and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”

Think of that place!

• We will live with no more crying, no more sighing, no more dying!
• Funding health care will be a moot point – there will be no hospitals and no grave yards!
• Death will not only lose its sting, but the word will lose its meaning!
• Satan will not be able to get a passport. He will be forever destroyed in the bottomless pit.
• The fallen and rebellious angels will be shattered.
• There will be no need for cosmetics beyond a single balm – words for aging, sagging, wrinkles and blemishes will slip from our vocabulary!
• The water of life will quench our thirst!
• Nothing will ruin, rot, or rust.
• There will be no itching, no blindness, no deafness, no diabetes, no cancer, no heart attacks, no pain.
• We will be together. There will be no divorce, no child abductions, no trgic accidents
• There will be no more bills!

One Pastor told me: There was a five year old girl who was on her first night away from home – she had never stayed the night at a friend’s house before. She found herself a bit nervous, but wanted to give the experience a try. In the daytime, she was fine. As night fell, she began to show her nervousness. Her friend’s mother saw what was happening and asked: “Honey, are you getting homesick?” With beautiful childlike innocence she replied, “No ma’am, I’m getting here sick!”

Do you ever feel that way? Do you ever get “earth sick”? It is a sign of the times if you know Jesus but really don’t think that way… and some of us need to grow to “long for His appearing” more than we long for another car or TV set.

I love the reminder of Paul in Romans 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.“

If you follow Jesus, there is coming a NEW DAY for you. Every wrong done to you in this life will be made right. Each injustice will meet face to face with absolute justice. Every sorrow will be reversed, and joy will wash over you like a thundering waterfall pressing against your deepest parts. Today seems so powerful, but it will fade away….Isaiah long ago foretold: “Behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind” (Isaiah 65:17). He goes on to say, “They will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune; for they will be a people blessed by the Lord, they and their descendants with them. Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox.” (Isaiah 65:23-25). Our eternity is a COMFORTING place.

Our eternity is in a FREE place.

Revelation 21:5 And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.

God built our future home for us, and invited us into it at His cost. His only requirement is that we trust that He is able to do exactly what He said. Failure to trust His Word about this leads to failure to live inside His Word in every other area. If I trust God about what I cannot see, I will learn to trust God about what I can see.

The old preacher, R.G. Lee, used to say: “Heaven is the most marvelous place the wisdom of God could conceive and that the power of God could prepare.”

Notice that verse 6 uses FREE WATER as the illustration of God meeting the need.. Have you ever been in a desert during the heat of the day. In the Near Eastern deserts, where I have spent considerable time – the mid day heat is so intense that an egg would quickly fry on a rock in the open sun. The sound of “sizzle” is all about. God will open up the water hydrant of refreshment – and it will all be FREE to us. It was expensive for Him – but offered freely to us. Our eternity is a FREE place.

Our eternity is in a FAMILY place.

Revelation 21:7 “He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. 8 “But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Look at the terms in the passage for the plans of our future experience. Terms like “inheritance” and “son” unmask the relationship of the future – we will be in a FAMILY place. It is worth noting that even today, being is a family is a daily choice. People choose to come together to build a family, and others make the choice to walk out on one another almost every day in our world – but God illustrated His relationship as one of family. We are related by a CHOICE we made.

Relationship is what makes Heaven… well, Heaven! If the streets were gravel and not gold, if the walls were particle board and not jasper, if mud was knee deep and weeds over our heads, it will still be heaven because we are SONS of the Creator and family with the Savior!

In 1991. British singer Eric Clapton lost his five-year-old son named Conner, after the boy fell from the window of their forty-ninth floor Manhattan apartment. Clapton sequestered himself in agony and finally poured out his grief in song and wrote “Tears in Heaven.” In the song he asks the question: “Would you know my name – If I saw you in heaven? Would it be the same – If I saw you in heaven?

That’s a good question! Will we KNOW one another? In the text there is every reason to believe that we will know ourselves and each other. Our relationships will not be lost, but rather renewed. As John wrote long ago: “Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2). Imagine that! Like Jesus! The stench of our fallen nature will be cleansed so thoroughly that we will be capable of intimacy in relationships without stain of selfishness. Even our love and commitment to God will cease to be compromised by ego and evil desire. Our relationships will be unspoiled – because our eternity is in a FAMILY place.

Our eternity is in a BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL place.

Revelation 21:11 having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. 12 It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall…. 18 The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; 20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Heaven is filled with beauty beyond our richest earthly experience! That reminds me of a story told by a Christian author:

“A wealthy Christian became obsessed with the notion of taking some accumulated earthly wealth to Heaven. He knew the Bible notes we “can’t take it with us”. He was so transfixed that he continually prayed that God would give him special permission to take some wealth to heaven. After a period of particularly persistent prayer, God said, “Fine, enough all ready! You can take one suitcase with you into heaven.” From that time on the man began to make plans. He began packing his most valuable things. It came about after some years that the man died. Now you know how these stories go… he went to Heaven and met the saint at the gate …. None other than St. Peter, who noted that he was dragging his suitcase behind him. Peter stopped him and said, “Wait a minute. What do you think you’re doing? You’re not allowed to take anything into heaven.” The man replied: “You don’t understand. I have special permission from God Himself to take this suitcase into heaven.” Peter rubbed his beard & said, “Well, that’s very unusual. I can’t imagine God letting you do that. Let me look inside your suitcase & see what’s there.” So the man dragged the suitcase over, and as Peter opened it he was quite puzzled to see that it was filled with gold bars, gold bricks and gold ingots. Peter said, “Well, all right. If God said so, I suppose you can take that in if you want. But why in the world did you go to all this trouble just to bring more pavement into heaven?” (sermon central illustrations, adapted).

Heaven’s wealth scale dwarfs whatever you are thinking! John does the best he can at describing heaven, but he is limited by language and experience. The richness of heaven is so great that they walk on gold, use precious jewels for foundations, and dwell in lavish buildings all made by the Creator of the universe! What a BRIGHT and BEAUTIFUL place this will be!

Our eternity is in a HUGE place.

Revelation 21:16 The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. 17 And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements.

Will there be room for everyone? The city alone (which nowhere says it will contain all the inhabitants of the future) was measured as 1,500 miles cubed… room for every human who has ever lived if they had all been saved. Our eternity is in a HUGE place.

Our eternity is in a COMPLETED place.

The record first unfolds what is MISSING in this place, then what the FEATURES of the place are. It is like the vacation brochure that first promises a “break from traffic” and a “place to relax”.

First, what ISN’T THERE? Revelation 21:22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Nothing needs to be renovated or restored. In fact, many of the things that took up our energy to provide in our old life will slip away – and we won’t need to work to keep it all together.

• We won’t need a temple – because God will live with us.
• We won’t need a celestial light – because God’s glory will shine for us.
• We won’t need a nightlight – for God’s glory never sets.
• We won’t need a key – for closed gates and locks will be meaningless.
• We won’t need a confessor – for sin will have no more place there.
• We won’t need defensiveness – for everyone we meet will be what God intended them to be.

We won’t need these things because God will complete everything He started at the beginning of the first book of the Bible….

• In Genesis 1:1 God created the heavens and the earth; in Revelation 21:1 God will create a new heaven and earth.
• In Genesis 1:16 God created the sun; in Revelation 21:23 there will be no more need for the sun.
• In Genesis 1:5 God established the night; In Revelation 22:5  God abolished night.
• In Genesis 1:10 God created the seas; In Revelation 21:1 God dispensed with the seas (which may have been a comfort to John who was exiled and separated by seas from his family and friends!)
• In Genesis 3:14-17 God announced the curse; In Revelation 22:3 God rescinded it forever. Satan would no longer touch the earth, let alone crawl its surface. The new earth would yield without question the fruits assigned to it.
• In Genesis 3:19 Death entered the world; in Revelation 21:4 death is dismissed forever.
• In Genesis 3:24 man was driven from paradise; In revelation 22:14 he stands in Paradise regained.
• IN Genesis 3:17 Sorrow and pain grew from the rebellion; in Revelation 21:4 Sorrow is cut off forever. Tears and pain are satisfied forever.

Next, what WILL BE THERE? Revelation 22:1 “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.”

• God’s life will flow as a river from His throne to His people – it will be clear, crisp and refreshing. All of life’s thirsts will be quenched!
• Spanning the river will be a tree of life – with its ever changing, always delicious fruit. All of life’s hungers will be satisfied!
• Covering its branches will be bountiful and beautiful leaves – whose oils will produce a healthy and comforting balm for all to partake. All of life’s discomforts will be settled!
• The ground will yield no weed – for the curse is forever broken. All of life’s disappointments will be contented!
• Distance from God will evaporate – for we will see Him face to face. All of life’s strain will be eased!
• There will be no need to read the story of redemption – for our very salvation will be revealed on the markers upon our heads. All of life’s insecurities will be erased!
• There will be no night for pain to increase and darkness to overcome – for God’s light will shine in unending power. All of life’s anxiousness will be calmed!
• There will be no need for rulers – for each will have his place to reign. All of life’s tension will be relieved!

Our eternity is in a PROMISED place.

Revelation 21:6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. 7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Our faith is not made up – it was revealed by the God that made us. Our destiny is not the stuff of dreams, but the uncovering of truths revealed by a Sovereign who is timeless and already exists in that place. His Word is His bond, and His Word has been made known. The one who believes His promises awaits His appearing. The one who truly trusts in God’s words concerning the hereafter carefully measures his life in the hear and now. Sloppy living comes from slipping belief. He has promised me a future home, and demanded only that I trust Him to provide it as He said! God didn’t just promise a new day – He explained what kind of future He has planned for us. Want to join in? He has paid your way!