It's wonderful to be here with all of you today.
We have several of our number that are missing either, and
prayerfully they're not too ill. But maybe some folks are sick
and unable to be with us, and perhaps others are traveling.
But we have a wonderful crowd because you are here and it is a
pleasure and a privilege on my part to speak concerning the
word of God. I want to tell you in advance, I
have a huge task before me. The subject that I want to talk
about this this morning is a very big subject.
So my huge task is this number one, to make everything sound
very simple. So that's very understandable,
like Jesus did so many times. But I'll just tell you, as you
know, and you already know this, I'm not Jesus, but I want to
talk about a very big subject and make it very presentable in
a way that's understandable and edifying and encouraging and
also in a way that doesn't have me talk too long.
We're continuing our series on the great Sermon on the Mount,
and our text now has come now down to Matthew or Matthew,
Chapter 6 and verse 10. We left off in verse nine last
time. So the title of our lesson as on
the screen is This Your Kingdom Come, Your Will Be Done.
Now in verse nine it begins words that are commonly referred
to as the Lord's Prayer. But in the Bible, there's
nowhere that it says that these are the words called the Lord's
Prayer. The Lord never called it His
prayer. In fact, if you want to know
what the Lord's Prayer is, you have to go look at a prayer the
Lord prayed. That would be his prayer.
A great example of that is John chapter 17.
So contrary to met perhaps what some people might say, this is
the Lord's Prayer. I'm just saying in advance.
Nowhere in the Bible is it called the Lord's Prayer.
What this is, is as follows. Jesus was giving his disciples
while they were still living under the law of Moses, a model
prayer or an example on things to pray for before the Kingdom
would come. And I'm just going to tell you
right now, some of the things that are found in this model
prayer are very appropriate to pray for today.
My question is, and we're going to do our very best to prove
this, the answer to this, and I'll give you the answer in just
a moment later on, but what I want to know is, is it
appropriate then for the child of God today to pray your
Kingdom come? And just by the way, when the
phrase says your Kingdom come, it means this.
Jesus was saying you pray this when the Kingdom comes, then
your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
So whatever he was talking about, he was talking about
something that was going to happen in the lifetime of now.
So is that appropriate? Back to that in just a moment.
Similar words were given by Jesus here to his disciples.
You remember in Luke Chapter 11, the disciples came to Jesus and
they said, Lord teach us how to pray like John, meaning John the
baptizer, like John taught his disciples.
So Jesus says, OK, here's a model prayer, here's how you
pray. Pray like this Our Father which
art in heaven. Hallow it be your name, your
Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, and
so on and so forth. These were not.
And please get this. These were not words to be
memorized and recited over and over and over again.
Why? What did we learn last time
about prayer? Prayer has got to be two things,
right? #1 Spontaneous not memorized #2
It's got to come from the heart. We also learned too.
There's a difference between repetition in prayer and a vain
repetition. You could actually say the same
words from prayer to prayer virtually.
It's not a vain repetition if it comes from the heart.
A vain repetition is mindless, meaningless feeling less words
that you've just memorized, and you say them over and over and
over and over and over again. That's a vain repetition.
Jesus was not saying memorize these words and recite them.
OK, so let's go back to the Sermon on the Mount.
In the context on the case of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus
just taught his lesson about praying and he gave things like
this. He said, here's how you don't
pray. I don't want you to pray like
the heathen. In other words, to pray for the
wrong motives, praying to be seen of men.
Don't do it for that reason. And then he said, when you pray,
go into your closets. In other words, your private
place. And when you pray to God, what's
God going to do? He's going to reward you openly.
When you pray in secret. Now, does that mean you can't
pray publicly? No.
It's just a manner of the motive.
That you're praying is what's under consideration.
So when you go into a restaurant, for example, and you
pray for your food, wonderful. Do that, somebody may even see
you. That's not a problem either.
The problem is when you do things like that only to be seen
by men for the praise and glory that comes to you.
Jesus says don't do that, OK? After he did that, he gave some
principles of proper prayer and he gave 8 examples in this model
prayer. We left off on verse 99 last
time, and I want to go back to verse 9 very briefly because
this sets the tone and I'll tell you I think about this.
I thought about it for two weeks after I preached it.
I've been thinking about this morning.
This is amazing and I love this and it's the concept about our
relationship with God, Jesus says in verse 9 In this manner,
therefore pray our Father. The word Father there represents
God's paternity, but it represents God's paternal aspect
in two ways. So number one, God is the
almighty Creator of everything He is.
He is the Father. We know that, but Jesus says
when you pray, he is not just the father.
Please get this He's your father.
That gets me. He's our father, Paul said.
In Galatians 4 and verse six, we cry ABBA, father.
And the word ABBA is an Aramaic term of endearment used by
children for their father. I use this example.
Last time I said I am a father and everybody knows me.
I'm a father because I have kids, and this would apply to
anybody that's got kids, right? You got kids.
You're a father if you're a man, OK, But to Taylor and Tanner,
I'm dead. The word ABBA in Galatians 4 and
six is an Aramaic term of endearment.
It actually means daddy. That's the relationship you have
with your father. So when you pray to him,
recognize him in his paternal aspect, recognize him as the
almighty Father, but also recognize him as your father
when you speak to him. But keep all that in reverence
and respect, because where is he?
He's in the lofty position of heaven, and when God is in that
lofty position of heaven, we treat him as such.
Therefore, hallowed be of your name, even the name of God is to
be praised. Even his name.
Not just God himself, but even his name.
That's the relationship that we have with God.
OK? Now in verse 10, Jesus gives
examples of things to pray for while they were living under the
law of Moses and before the Kingdom would come.
And the first thing he says is your Kingdom come, In other
words, when your Kingdom comes. A couple of historical things
here. Jewish people were very, very
much understood the Kingdom concept.
In fact, their heritage was rich in messianic expectation.
Absolutely. And by the way, you know, it's
really sad to me. What's really sad to me is the
Jewish faith has always believed in a Messiah.
They always believed in a Messiah.
They misunderstood the Messianic Kingdom and then they rejected
the one that God sent. God sent Jesus, and they
rejected him as a whole. Many Jewish people by blood
though, came to Jesus. I'm not talking about every
Jewish person. I'm talking about, as a whole,
the Jewish faith rejecting Jesus.
They misunderstood the Messiah that was given by God and they
misunderstood the Messianic Kingdom.
But their heritage was rich in Messianic expectations.
Do you remember in Matthew Chapter 11 and verse three?
I think. I think John's question depicted
their longing desire for two things, a king and a Kingdom.
Here was the problem, their misunderstanding.
They look for a king and a Kingdom that would dispel the
darkness of Roman occupation. I don't have time to go into
that. We've already preached on that.
We're talking about the triumphal entry into Jerusalem
and all that. When they said hosanna to the
highest in the word, Hosanna means is from from the Hebrew
Hoshaya Nah, meaning God save us, right?
They were saying God save us, but they thought they were
saving us from Roman oppression and Jesus came to save him from
sin. You remember the mother of
Zebedee? Sons remember her.
She comes to Jesus, and she kneels down before him, and she
asks him this Grant that these two sons, still misunderstanding
the messianic Kingdom, grant that these two sons of mine may
sit one on your right hand and the other on the left in your
Kingdom. By the way, those two sons were
James and John. They were those two sons of
Zebedee. You remember when they came to
Jesus too? And they asked Jesus, they said
we want you. And I don't know, I've tried to
wrap my head around this. The way that they phrased it.
Tell us, they said, we want you, Lord, to do for us whatever we
ask, OK. And.
And here's Jesus, the master, so patient, he says, what do you
want me to do for you then? This grant us that we may sit
one on your right hand and the other on the left in your glory.
OK, here's the problem. Unfortunately, the Jewish people
as a whole misunderstood the nature of the Messiah's reign
because they thought it was going to be physical.
And I'm going to make a statement now and I don't want
you to forget it. Please get this next statement.
The Kingdom is not physical. The Kingdom is spiritual.
Bold statement #3 And the reign of Jesus Christ is in US.
It's in us. It's in our hearts.
How do I know that? Let's just look at what Jesus
said. Nor will they say see here or
see. Therefore, indeed, get this.
The Kingdom of God is within you.
It is a spiritual Kingdom. It is in US.
Furthermore, you remember when Jesus stood before Pilate and
Jesus said this. He said, my Kingdom is not of
this world. He said this.
If my Kingdom were of this world, my servants would fight
so that I should not be delivered to the Jews.
But now my Kingdom is not from here.
OK, so let's go back both. John the Baptizer, who, by the
way, was the forerunner of Jesus.
He was six months older than Jesus.
He was Jesus. Cousin John the Baptizer went
ahead of Jesus and he said what he said.
The Kingdom is at hand. I remember my father-in-law used
to sit right there. My father-in-law used to teach
it like this. He used to say it at hand means
it was so close. You could see it, you can touch
it. It's there.
That's what at hand means. You know what Jesus said.
Not only did Jesus also say the Kingdom is at hand, he took it a
step further. He said this that the Kingdom
was going to come. Very important.
Please stay with me. The Kingdom was going to come in
the lifetime of the apostles. That's number one Notice he said
to them. Assuredly I say to you that
there are some standing here who will not taste death till they
see the Kingdom of God present with power, the Kingdom of God
present with power. OK, In Matthew chapter 16, a
very familiar passage, we know that verses 13 through 20 we
find that the Kingdom is going to manifest itself on earth
through the establishment of the church.
Two things are are appropriate here.
Two things are significant. It's going to happen in the
lifetime of the apostles and through the establishment of the
church. Hang on to that thought.
Much more on that. Let's back up though.
It's going to come with power, as Jesus said.
So let's back up after Jesus died on the cross, after he was
buried, after he rose from the dead, he spends 40 days with his
disciples, right? Guess what?
During that 40 day period, the Kingdom had not yet come yet in
Luke chapter 24 and verse 49, Behold, I send the promise of my
father upon you, but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you
are endued with power from on high.
Let's go to Acts chapter one, beginning in verse 6.
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked him,
saying, Lord, will you at this time restore the Kingdom to
Israel? Do you know why the Kingdom is
not yet come? And he said to them, it is not
for you to know the times of the seasons which the Father has put
in his own authority, But you shall receive power when the
Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be witnesses to me
in Jerusalem, and in Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the
earth. OK.
Jesus speaks these words, right? He ascends to his Father in
heaven. He goes up in the clouds.
They're standing there and they and the words were spoken.
Why do you stand up gazing up into the heavens?
Jesus is going to come back in the same manner that you see Him
go in the clouds. And then in Acts 2.
The Kingdom has come with power, with the baptism of the Holy
Spirit. And do you know what happens in
Acts 2? Now Jesus is in heaven.
Where is he? Acts 2 And 30.
Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with
an oath to him that of the fruit of his body according to the
flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne.
Acts 2. Where's Jesus sitting on the
throne now? What else?
Verse 33 Where is he? Therefore, being exalted to the
right hand of God, and having received from the Father the
promise of the Holy Spirit, he poured out this which you now
see and hear. Where's Jesus?
He's with the Father. He's at the right hand of God.
He is on his throne. OK?
Since the day of Pentecost in Acts 2 inaugurates the Kingdom,
it's no longer Please hear me. And then I'm going to make a
qualifying statement. And in study of this, I think
that there needs to be a qualifying statement.
And I'm going to make that. But I'm going to, I'm going to
be very clear. The Kingdom has come.
Jesus is reigning now in the Kingdom.
Now, since Acts Chapter 2 on inaugurates the Kingdom, it is
inappropriate to pray for a Kingdom to come.
There's not going to be another Kingdom on the earth.
Why? He's reigning now over the
Kingdom. The Kingdom is the church.
Who's the church? The people, Christians,
Christians, are the church. Jesus already said my Kingdom is
not a fleshly Kingdom. It's not a physical Kingdom.
His reign is where Where's the Kingdom?
It's within you. Jesus said baptized believers.
So here's the qualifying statement, since the word
actually Kingdom actually means reign.
The only future reign of Jesus where he's reigning now over the
Kingdom, the only future reign of Jesus.
Please hear this as I'm trying to say it is in the hearts of
believe of unbelievers now that may someday come to Jesus.
That's it. The only future reign of Christ
is in the heart of someone that's not a Christian today,
but someday may become one, and then Jesus will reign in their
hearts too. That is the only future reign of
Jesus. Somebody might say, what about
heaven? No, not heaven.
What's going to happen at the end with heaven?
Jesus is going to hand the rule over to his Father.
He's not going to be reigning in heaven.
He's going to hand it over to his Father that God may be All
in all. So we know it's not talking
about that, but there is the Kingdom and it exists today and
Jesus is reigning today and we don't pray for the Kingdom.
So all that being said, what about the millennial theories?
In spite of all the millennial theories, there's not going to
be another Kingdom on the earth. I'm going to make a very bold
statement here and I'm going to do my absolute best to
respectfully and clearly prove my point.
Jesus is also not going to restore, refurbish or redeem
creation or the earth. It's all going to be destroyed.
More on that in just a moment. You know, the Bible speaks of a
new heaven and a new earth, and we're going to talk about what
all that means. Let's not be confused.
I got to tell you, we couldn't pick better songs that we sang
today about what I want to talk about.
We sang Beulah Land. We sang a song of praise that
one day we're going to have perfect praise.
Where? Not here, not this place.
It's the new heaven and the new earth.
But I'm going to explain that I'm going to get.
We'll get that. But there is a new heaven and a
new earth. What about the existence?
What about creation? What about the earth?
What about all that? What about the universe?
What about that? Well, first of all, in
Revelation 21 and one John the Revelator said this.
Now I saw a new heaven and new earth back to that in a moment
and the 1st heaven and 1st earth had passed away.
Let's just establish that first, what does the word in this
passage mean? The word heaven, The word
heaven. Here the root meaning is to
cover or encompass. It is the vaulted expanse of the
sky, the 1st heaven. The vaulted expanse of the sky.
What's going to happen to it? It's part of the universe by the
way, right? Going to pass away.
OK, more passages. Second Peter, chapter 3, verse
five. This They willfully forget that
by the word of God, the heavens that were of old and the earth
standing out of the water and in the water.
Let's go down to verses verse 7. But the heavens and the earth
which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire
until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
We're going to get very specific and break it down, but here's
the general idea here. The 1st heaven, the aerial
heavens is going to pass away. The heavens plural it says is
going to be reserved for fire. Why does it say heavens plural?
The reason it says heavens, plural is because guess what?
There's three heavens. The Bible talks about 3 heavens.
What is Heaven? #1, the aerial expanse of the
sky that we noticed. It is the region where the
clouds and Tempest gather and where Thunder and lightning are
produced. You look up in the clouds, you
see the clouds. Guess what that is?
That is the 1st heaven. That's the 1st heaven.
What about this James 518? Here's a Bible passage
describing that. And he prayed again.
And the heaven, that's this heaven gave rain and the earth
produced its fruit. That's the 1st heaven.
OK What about the second one? That's the sidereal or the
starry heavens? That's the place where the stars
are. It's the place, by the way,
where the sun, the moon, and the planets and all that stuff,
right? Hebrews 11 and 12.
Therefore from one man and him as good as dead were born as
many as the stars of the sky and multitude innumerable as the
sand. By the seashore mark 1325 the
stars of heaven will fall, and the powers in the heavens will
be shaken. That's the place where the stars
are. OK, What about the one that I
care about? How about the 3rd heaven?
You know, after Paul was baptized in Acts Chapter 9, he
spent time as a Christian, like everybody does growing in
Christ. And then there was a very
special event, and the very special event was this.
He was going to get a view into the 3rd heaven.
We're going to find out where that is and what that looks
like. Into the 3rd heaven. 14 years
after he saw that view into heaven he said this.
I knew a man in Christ who 14 years ago, by the way, he's
Speaking of himself. I knew a man in Christ, me who
14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know or whether
out of the body I do not know. God knows such a one was caught
up into the 3rd heaven. What's the 3rd heaven?
Here it is the region above the stars, by the way.
The seat of order, of things, eternal and consummately
perfect. It is the place where God dwells
with other heavenly beings. That is the 3rd heaven.
I'm going to tell you, that's the only one that matters.
That's Beulah Land by the way that we sang.
That's the place that we're going to give God perfect
praise. It's the 3rd heaven.
Paul the Apostle Paul who's speaking about Jesus.
Notice he said the following to those at Ephesus in Ephesians
chapter 4 and verse 10. He said he who ascended
descended. That's Jesus.
He's descended from heaven, is also the one who ascended far
above all the heavens. Who did that?
Jesus. He ascended above, by the way,
the aerial expanse of the sky. He ascended above the stars and
he is now fulfilling all things in the 3rd heaven.
So the place we all want to go is the place where Jesus is
sitting on the right hand of the throne of God, reigning over his
Kingdom. So what's going to happen to the
entire universe, including the Earth where we now live?
What's going to happen? Please go with me to do a study
of these words, folks, to understand exactly what's going
to happen and that this Earth is not going to be inhabited by
anyone. Please second Peter 3 and verse
10. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief from the night in the which the heavens will
pass away. What's pass away mean?
Well, you might say well, pass away.
It means pass away. Well, let's look at the actual
word. What it actually means means
this. It means to perish or pass away,
to vanish, disappear out of sight.
Does that sound anything at all like a refurbishing?
Disappear out of sight. That's the first two.
Heavens. What else?
And the elements will melt with fervent heat.
So you got the universe. By the way, God spoke the
universe into existence. You know what he used?
He used elements that make up the universe.
What's the word elements mean? The elements from which all
things come. The material causes of the
universe. What does the Bible say here?
Peter's saying the heavens are going to pass away, meaning
disappear. The elements that made-up
everything are going to melt with fervent heat.
So what's the word melt mean? It comes from 2 Greek words,
tico and Luo. 2 words actually Luo first, then tico.
This is what melt means. Melt means to dissolve something
coherent so the universe is coherent.
Melt means to dissolve something coherent into parts and destroy.
It means to make liquid to destroy or be destroyed by
melting. Gone.
Even the elements that made-up the universe will be gone and
something else, the earth and the works that are in it will be
burned up. OK, what about fire?
You know, fire does two things #1.
Fire purifies. For example, if you take
something like gold and you subject it to fire, it purifies
the gold. Some people think what God's
going to do is just purify the earth and then restore it and
redeem it and all of that. Careful with that, all we got to
do is look at the word this word burned.
This word burned is the other aspect of what happens when you
subject something to a flame. And that's the word here.
Burned is to burn up and consume by fire.
That's what this word burn means, not purify.
Burn it up. So what do we know?
The heavens and all the universe is going to be gone.
The elements that made it up will melt with fervent heat.
And the works and the and the earth and the works that are in
it will be burned up and consumed by fire.
So OK, what's the new heaven and the new earth?
What is it? Second Peter, chapter 3 and
verse 13. Nevertheless, we, according to
his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which
righteousness dwells. First of all, the word new means
this as respects to form recently made, fresh, recent,
unused, unworn. That which is recently made is
superior to what it succeeds. Folks, that's not a
refurbishing. And guess what?
It has nothing to do with the Earth that we've ever been on.
It's not a refixing. It is something that we're going
to a place that is unused. That's the new Earth, all right.
New heavens and New Earth give you a passage.
I'm going to get back to that phrase Earth and why Earth is
actually being used. Where is the new heavens and the
new earth and what's it referring to?
First Peter chapter one, beginning in verse three.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
according to his abundant mercy has begotten us again to a
living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ and
the dead, to an inheritance, incorruptible and undefiled,
that does not fade away. Please get this reserved in
heaven for you. Didn't it excite you?
Jesus going to talk about this too, by the way, Didn't excite
you to know that there's a reservation in heaven for you.
Man, that's pretty neat stuff. There's a reservation.
Where in heaven, new heavens and new earth is simply referring to
the 3rd heaven. A place that is unworn, unused,
uninhabited and greater than the earth that we've ever known.
So why does the word earth be used here?
You know what earth is. Earth is a dwelling place.
Where are we now? We are on earth, our dwelling
place. What he was saying is we're
going to have a new dwelling place.
The dwelling place is heaven really fast and I don't have
time. Remember when Jesus actually
used an Old Testament literal example to show a New Testament
or future spiritual application? He did it many times.
He's going to do it again in John 14.
Going to get to that, He did it when he gave the Beatitudes in
the 1st 12 verses of Matthew 5. And he said blessed are the
meek, for they will inherit the earth, right?
The word earth there actually means land.
Think of it this way, everything he was giving was a spiritual
application. So he wasn't talking about this
earth. He wasn't talking about this
land. The word inherit means to
receive your allotted portion. What he was saying is the meek
are going to receive their allotted portion of land or what
land? Well, the illusion is back to
the Old Testament when the children of Israel were given a
promise of the land of Canaan literal Canaan, the promised
land, the land that flowed with milk and honey.
Jesus was using that example to make a future spiritual
application. What's our promised land?
It's heaven Jesus is using and the Bible is using here.
Earth in a metaphorical spot or metaphorical idea.
Not the literal earth, but our new dwelling place.
And guess what Peter said? There's a reservation for God's
people there. For Christians there Jesus said
the same thing. John 14, beginning in verse one.
Let your heart, let not your heart be troubled.
You believe in God. Believe also in me.
In my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.
That where I am, there you may be also.
All right. It's true.
The word mansions here. There's a better rendering of
what this word actually is, and it's what it actually means.
The word mansions actually means a staying, abiding, dwelling or
abode. OK, no problem.
What did we say the new earth is?
We said it's going to be a new dwelling place.
No problem here. You could say it like this.
In my father's house are many dwelling places.
You know what Jesus is doing here?
He's doing it again. He's referring back to an Old
Testament literal thing that they would have understood.
And what was that? The many dwelling places in the
House of God. In the Old Testament, what was
the dwelling place in the House of God?
First of all, what was the House of God?
In the Old Testament, it was the temple.
And in the temple in the Old Testament called the House of
God, there were many dwelling places.
You know what they're called? They were called chambers.
OK 2 Old Testament passages against the wall of the temple.
This is first kings six and five.
He built chambers all around against the walls of the temple,
all around the sanctuary and the inner sanctuary.
Thus he made side chambers all around it.
One more passage in Ezra 8 and 29.
Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the leaders of
the priests and the Levites and the heads of the Father's houses
of Israel in Jerusalem. Where?
In the chambers of the House of the Lord.
Folks, I'll tell you, I don't know.
I I saw a YouTube video where somebody got on there and said
because the word mansions doesn't doesn't actually mean
mansions and it means dwelling places, that it can't mean
heaven. Nope, it's heaven.
Jesus was going back again to an Old Testament literal example.
Why did he do that? Because that's what they would
have understood. They would have understood that
concept. And he's making a spiritual
application for the future. Remember, where did Jesus say he
was going? He said this, Let not your heart
be troubled believing God believe also in me, my father's
house are many dwelling places. We're not.
So I would have told you Jesus said it already is there.
And then he said this. Peter said I'm going to there is
a reservation there. Jesus says I'm going to go
prepare a place. And I got to tell you something.
If you look at that, he said, In my father's house are many
mansions or dwelling places. That means they already existed.
OK, when Jesus says I'm going to go prepare a place, he was not
saying I'm going to go build your room.
They already existed. The illusion of the Old
Testament, just like in the House of God, they had many
chambers. What he's saying is in the New
Testament time, we're in the future time spiritual
application. There's many dwelling places in
the House of God. Where's that where he said he
was going, Where's that? That's heaven.
It's heaven. So what's prepare mean if it
doesn't mean build? This is great stuff.
He was going to heaven to make reservations for his disciples.
So there's a reservation there. Who makes the reservation?
Jesus for his. It's one thing to have a
reservation. It's nothing for Jesus to make
it for you. When I go and get a reservation
at a hotel, they don't build me a room.
They get it ready. They put my name down.
Hey, that's mine. That's Frank.
Brad Collins coming in. That's his room.
That's what Jesus was saying in this passage.
It is heaven. And he was getting it ready for
them. I can't fathom wanting to go
anywhere else. John the Revelator describe
heaven like this. I hope I can remember it all.
He said there were foundations of heaven and they were massive.
He said there were 12 foundations and written on the
12 foundations were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.
He said there were 12 gates and standing on every gate was an
Angel. He said the gates were
identical. I think there's a picture there,
don't you? The gates of heaven to get in
are equal, meaning there's only one way and that's Jesus.
I'm going to give you the Bible for that in a minute.
But there's only one way and it's Jesus.
John said it was a city Foursquare.
It was massive. And he said that means this
Foursquare. That means the the length, the
breadth and the height were equal.
He said the distance was 12,000 furlongs on each one.
A furlong is 1/8 of a mile. For all you racehorse fans, 1/8
of a mile, 12,000 furlongs is 1500 miles.
We don't know how big heaven is. That's one side.
That's the distance, by the way, between Dallas, TX and New York
City from New York City to Bismarck, ND, from Bismarck, ND
to San Francisco, CA and from San Francisco, CA back down to
Dallas, TX. Pretty big, right?
And ain't even a half of it. It's a city 4 square.
So guess what? Now you got to go up 1500 miles
straight up and do it again. Wow.
He described it as a city of pure gold.
He said there was a wall of Jasper.
There were gates of Pearl and a street of gold.
It's going to be inhabited with real people, real people with
immortal, strong bodies, bodies that will be as recognizable as
Moses and Elijah were on the Mount of Transfiguration, who
had been dead for many, many years, and Peter, James and
John. When they appeared as visitors
that day, they knew exactly who they were.
Beautiful, strong, immortal bodies.
I got to tell you something. I got to tell you something.
I don't know how it's all going to be, but the Bible says when
we shall see Jesus, we will know for we shall be like him.
So however these spiritual bodies are, it's going to be
like Jesus. Interesting, Interesting point.
You know what a Christian is? One of the definitions of
Christian is Christ. Like John says, when we get
there, we're going to be Christ. Like when you're Christ, like
here, you get to be Christ. Like they're Christians.
Isn't that great? And even though our bodies are
going to be like Jesus, somehow, some way we're going to be
recognizable. And I'm going to tell you
something I have to tell you. Of all the joys that I think
about in my heart, when I think about heaven, I think about
friends and loved ones and family that I'm going to be
there for eternity with. I think about that, but there's
something that always comes to my mind.
There's a little boy who didn't get to live past four months,
who died in my arms on April 19th, 1994.
Somehow he's going to go off as his dad, and that's all.
If this is not heaven, we better quit praying and we better quit
singing about the Day of Reunions.
If it's not personal, it is personal.
Well, what's the point? What's the point?
If we talk about and pray about hope, if we don't have each
other there, and it's not personal, then what's the point?
I know that Jesus said we're not, there's no marriage, we're
not giving a marriage. We're as the Angel of God in
heaven. So don't misunderstand me.
But somehow, someway, we're going to know as we were known.
Somehow I want to go there. That's all that matters, Thomas
said. By the way, so how do you get
there? Thomas said this, and I'm
concluding, Thomas said, when Jesus said this, Thomas said,
Lord, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the
way. Remember when I said the gates
in heaven are 12 gates in heaven and they're identical.
Showing you can't do it your own way, You have to do through
Jesus. The only one way to heaven is
Jesus. Here it is.
Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
That's it. That's heaven.
No future Kingdom on the earth. This thing's out of here and I'm
glad. Let's get it out.
Get on to something greater and better than we can ever possibly
fathom Place of. No more sadness.
No more sickness. Yeah, me and you.
No more Crohn's. No more cancer.
No more Done. How about that?
Forever. How do you get there?
Here's the invitation. You got to hear the word of God.
Romans 10/17. So faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word of God. Upon hearing the word of God, we
have a choice. You got to believe with all your
heart. Hebrews 11 and six.
Without faith, it's impossible to please him.
For he who comes to God must believe that he is and that he
is a rewarder of those who diligently seek him.
You got to believe with all your heart.
But that's not enough. Jesus said you got to repent of
your sins. Acts 17 and 30 Truly these times
of ignorance, God overlooked, but now commands all men
everywhere to repent. Got to change my life.
Then what? I've got to be willing to say
the greatest thing I will ever say, confessing Jesus Christ as
the Son of God Acts. 837 Then Philip said, if you believe with
all your heart you may, And he answered and said, I believe
that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
Upon taking those steps of obedience, you are now a fit
candidate to go to the point of salvation, and that's baptism
for the remission of sins. Mark 1616 He who believes and is
baptized will be saved, but he who does not believe will be
condemned. If you've never taken those
steps of obedience, we would love to assist you in that.
Today, we're ready to go. Maybe you have.
Maybe there's something in your life that's on your heart that
you would like to confess that you would like to have prayers
for. We would love to assist you in
that too. If you want to be the class,
come forward while we stand and while we say.
We thank you for listening to our podcast put on by The Church
of Christ at 2215 Plans Rd. in Bakersfield.
If you would like any additional information or you would like to
receive a free Bible correspondence course by mail,
please e-mail us at info@churchofchristbakersfield.com.
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Wednesdays at 7:30 PM. Please make plans to join us.
We would love for you to be our honored guest.