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Beyond The Door of Death: Heaven—Part 7
If you have your Bibles, please take them out and turn in them to the book of the Revelation and chapter number 22—Revelation, chapter 22, which is actually the very last chapter of the Bible. So, Revelation, chapter number 22.
You know, as a kid growing up, when I made plans to go to the movies, I always wanted to get to the movie theater very early. I always planned to be there early, and it was more than just the idea I wanted to get a good seat. Does anyone know another reason why I would want to make sure I got to the movies early? Someone said it out there: previews…the coming attractions. It was always exciting to be able to sit there and see what was coming to our town next and the kind of adventure that might be in that movie. And so, I would sit there and I’d watch those coming attractions, and I would have this attitude of anticipation and expectation that would come upon me, “I can’t wait till that one gets to town here!” And even today—even to this very day—when I go to the movie theater, I like to be there early. You can ask my wife that…I want to get there early. Now, the quality of the stories in the movies has gone down somewhat, but I still like to get there to see the previews and the coming attractions because I find them exciting.
Now, wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a preview of the coming attractions of heaven? And the reality is, we have that! We’ve been on that. We’ve been on a personal tour with the apostle John of heaven. It began in chapter 4, and the first couple of verses there, where it says a door in heaven opened up and God says to John, “Come up here.” And we believe that he was not only propelled up into heaven, but he was propelled ahead in time to the very end events of time on earth as we know it and even the beginning of eternity future. And we began to look at our tour of heaven in chapters 4 and 5, which we said those chapters focus more on the persons of heaven. And then, we’ve now moved to Revelation, chapter 21 and 22, which focus more on the place of heaven. And we’ve been involved, if you’ve been with us here at Wildwood, in a study that we have entitled, “Beyond The Door of Death: The Bible on Heaven and Hell.” And today, we’re looking at Heaven, Part number 7. And this is a look and a preview of eternity future.
Last time, when we were together in Revelation 21, we talked about this future abode of ours, the heavenly city of Jerusalem; and how it was a huge place. This is where we’re going to be living and residing. Fifteen hundred miles wide and fifteen hundred miles deep and fifteen hundred miles tall, covering half of the area of the United States of America. That’s just the city of the new Jerusalem. And we had calculated out that if you took twenty feet per story, there would be three hundred and ninety-six thousand stories in the city of the new Jerusalem. And someone had figured out and calculated that if we wanted to see what the size of our condo might be there; remember, it was a third of a mile by a third of a mile by a third of a mile. Now, that’s some kind of a retirement place…incredible condo! That’s what heaven is all about.
What we want to do, today, is continue on in our study and move into chapter number 22. Now, in chapter number 21 we view the new Jerusalem somewhat from a distance, but in chapter number 22 we move much closer into the city. And we’re going to see three different things. I want you to write these down. We’re going to see the presence of the river of life and the tree of life. We see that in chapter number 22, verses 1 and 2. And then, we’re going to see, secondly, the absence of the curse. We see that in verse 3a. And then, thirdly, we’re going to see us…us serving, seeing, and ruling in verses 3b to verse 5. Let me give those divisions, again. We’re going to see the presence of the river of life and the tree of life in the first two verses; we’re going to see the absence of the curse in verse 3a; and then, we’re going to see us serving and seeing and ruling in the second part of verse 3 down through verse 5.
So, let’s begin our tour, again—recommence in our study of heaven—by looking at the presence of the river of life and the tree of life. Notice verse 1 of chapter number 22. “And he…”—speaking of the angel—showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming [down] from the throne of God and of the Lamb.”
You know, if you take the Bible and you just step back from it, you’ll find that it is really a story of paradise lost—we have paradise in the beginning of the Bible in Genesis 1 to 3—and then it’s a story that ends, really, with paradise restored, in Revelation, chapter 21 and 22. And everything in the middle is just simply bringing us to that end. We have paradise that’s lost at the beginning of the book, and then we have paradise that is restored at the end of the book. And what’s interesting, when you think about that—we have paradise at the end; we have paradise at the beginning—when you go back to the beginning (the book of beginnings) in Genesis, chapter 2, it talks there about a river that was in the paradise before sin came into the world. And now, again, we come to paradise restored, and we have—there in verse 1—a river of the water of life. And you’ll notice it’s crystal clear. This is not the South Canadian River, you know, with its red clay colored water. This isn’t the muddy Mississippi River. This is totally different. This river is crystal clear. It is a river of joy, a fountainhead of blessing; it’s really a geyser of grace flowing to us. And I believe this river of life represents the divine flow into our hearts, in eternity future, of immeasurable joy and unlimited blessings and inexhaustible grace.
In Psalm 46, verse 4 it says this: “There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.” It’s interesting, when you look at this, that there’s no hydrology cycle involved in the new heaven. You know, we have that down here now, where you have the sun, and then you have evaporation, and then you have rain. No, here we have the river of the water of life, and it gushes out from the throne of God and the Lamb. It appears that what’s going on here is that we have water—a water flow—that is perpetually created by God throughout eternity. And this water flow of the river of life is something that will quench all of our hearts’ desires. It is a river of delight, a river of refreshment, a river of fulfillment, and that forever.
Now, keep your finger in chapter 22 and go over, with me, to chapter 7, because I love the very last verse of chapter 7. You have to picture the river of the water of life. It’s going to quench all of our hearts’ desires; it’s a river of delight and refreshment and fulfillment. And then, notice in verse 17, of Revelation 7, it says, “for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd…”. The little pronoun ‘their’ is referring to people like us who know Him. And then, notice what it says in verse 17: “…and [the Lamb] shall guide them to the springs of the water of life…”. There’s a lot of parallelism here with Psalm 23. Remember, the Lord is my Shepherd? And how He guides to the waters of refreshment? And here, we’ve got the Lamb whose going to take us, when we’re there in the new Jerusalem, and He’s going to guide us to the water of the river of life.
I mean, who wouldn’t have some anticipation and some expectation, when we look at the coming attractions? There is a river, here, that is going to be a river of delight and refreshment and fulfillment forever; provided by the Lamb for us. And so, when we look at coming attractions, the first thing we see is the presence of the river of life. But there’s a second thing that we see here, and that is the presence of the tree of life. Notice it says in verse 2, “in the middle of its street. And on either side of the river was the tree of life…”. And the little phrase where it says, “in the middle of the street;” literally, it…it says, in the middle of the street. We saw, in chapter number 21, that the street refers to the central thoroughfare of gold that’s in the new Jerusalem. And in the middle of the street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life. And as far as we can tell, this means that there’s one tree on either side of the river of life; there’s one tree, but it has multiple expressions. Maybe rows of the tree of life that are on either side of the river of life that flows down through the middle of the street.
Now, let me ask you a question—little theological question. Where else does the tree of life appear in the Bible? Where else does it appear? Genesis—at the beginning. Keep your finger in Revelation 22. Let’s go back and look at the book of Genesis—Genesis, chapter number 2. The tree of life appears in the book of Revelation at the end in paradise, and it appears in paradise in Genesis, chapter 2. And there are a few other uses of that phrase—the tree of life—but they’re used more figuratively as something that is a blessing to someone. But here we have the literal tree of life mentioned for us. Notice chapter 2 and verse 9 of the book of Genesis. “…out of the ground the LORD God caused to grow every tree that is pleasing to the sight and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” We have the tree of life in paradise before the rebellion of Adam and Eve. And then, what…notice what happens in chapter 3 after their disobedience of God. And remember, the…tree of the knowledge of good and evil was the only tree—He said, “You can eat of every tree, but don’t eat of that one.” And that’s what they did. And after they ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, notice what it says in chapter 3, verse 22: “…the LORD God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, lest he stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’—therefore [God] the LORD God sent him out of the garden…”. Verse 24: “…He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim…”—the angels—“…and the flaming sword which turned every direction, to guard the way to the tree of life.”
You see, when you eat of the tree of life, you live forever. And the problem was that Adam and Eve had fallen into a state of disobedience. They had become in a state of spiritual death. And God says, if they eat of the tree of life, they will be in a perpetuate state…perpetual state of spiritual death. And so, He says we’ve got to get them out of the garden; we’ve got to guard the way back to the tree of life. And, of course, the implication is, until My plan and My program to redeem man can happen.
And so, we see the tree of life in paradise—the beginning of paradise—in Genesis, and now it reappears in chapter number 22. Now…if you’ll go back there with me to the book of Revelation, the tree of life is something else that we see here. And notice what it says regarding the tree of life, there in verse 2. It says it’s “…bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month…”.
Now, ever since I was a little guy, I have always loved apples. I really like apples. I love to be able to go to the apple tree and pick those babies off. And I used to, when they were smaller, I maybe would take a dozen of them at a time, and I would eat them. You know, today…the kinds of apples I like the most would be Granny Smith apples and Braeburn apples. And you know, I like those kinds of apples, but I really like those kinds of apples when they are fresh and when they’re crisp and when they’re juicy. And, to me, there’s probably nothing that tastes any better than a very, very fresh, very, very crisp, very, very juicy—and a little bit tangy—apple. I’m a simple kind of guy, OK? That’s the kind of guy that I am. But I like that sort of thing.
And here we have twelve kinds of fruit that’s on the tree of life. And if you are like me and you like apples, and you like them fresh and crisp and juicy, I can tell you that this kind of fruit is going to taste far, far better than that. And you’ll notice that the tree yields its fruit every month. There are going to be no more growing seasons. That’s an apple frustration that I have. There’s only a certain time of the year you get them really fresh. Other than that, they paint a bunch of wax on them, and I don’t know what they do with them. And you pick them up, and you think, “Well, how long ago was this thing picked?”
Well, it’s not going to be like that. We’re going to have a fresh crop every month. And sometimes people say, “Is there going to be eating, is there going to be drinking in heaven?” And the answer to that is, “Yes!” And part of what we consume would be the fruit of the tree of life. And we will be drinking of the river of life, and it’s going to be sweeter than anything we’ve ever had before.
Notice it goes on to say, regarding the tree of life, there in verse 2; it says, “…the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” The word that is translated here ‘healing’ is the word ‘therapeia’ in the original. We get the word ‘therapeutic’ from it. The tree of life is health-giving, you see. It leads to perpetual well-being. That’s a pretty exciting coming attraction.
And so, as we look at the coming attractions of the new Jerusalem, we see the presence, first, of the river of life and the tree of life. But I want you to see there’s something else that we’re introduced to in–by way of a coming attraction–and that is the absence of the curse. You see it there, in verse 3? “And there shall no longer be any curse…”. You know, when I was studying this passage, I was just reading that verse, and I thought, “Can anything sound more simple, and almost simplistic and insignificant, than that?” There will no longer be any curse. You know, that sounds like it’s not a very significant statement, but, in reality, it is utterly profound! It is infinitely significant that there shall no longer be any curse. You see, the curse that fell upon this world and fell upon humanity explains so much of what’s going on in the world today. That’s why the book of beginnings is so important for someone’s theological outlook on life and understanding of life. The curse explains everything.
Let’s go back to Genesis for just a moment. Turn with me to Genesis, chapter 3, again—let’s go back there. The curse explains so much in the world. And in Genesis 3, after the rebellion of Adam and Eve, God talks about the staggering effects of the curse upon the world. It brought in decay; it brought in disease; it brought in death; it brought in separation from God. It introduced death and decay into the world and into humanity. But the curse was even more than that—far more than that. For example, notice in chapter 3 of Genesis, verse 16. “To the woman He said, ‘I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children…’ ”. In other words, part of the curse for women is, when it came to delivering children, their pain was going to go way up. Now, what it was before, I have no idea. But when God says He will greatly multiply it, that’s part of the curse. See, the curse explains so much in the world. And then, regarding women—and there’s a little bit for women and…and husbands, here; wives and husbands. Notice He says, “Your desire shall be for your husband…”. Part of the curse is that God placed inside of the female this tendency to desire to control her husband. It’s part of the curse; it really is, it’s there. There’s that desire that’s there. It’s part of the curse. And it doesn’t just stop with ladies. Guys, notice it goes on to say, “And he…”—your husband—“…shall rule over you.” Part of the innate tendency that God put inside of men, which is part of the curse, is this tendency to harshly dominate women and their wives. And all you have to do is look at human history, and you look at men harshly dominating women, and you go, “Why is that?” And the answer to that is the curse explains so much, you see.
And it goes on to talk about this. We’re not going to look at it in detail, but in verses 17 to 19 it talks about how the curse brought in great sweat and great difficulty into life. People say, “Why is life so hard?” The reason why is because the curse, you see. That’s what brought difficulty. That’s why life is hard for us.
And then, it talks about how thorns and thistles came from the curse. And I think you’d have to add things like chiggers and mosquitoes. All of this stuff, see. This is the explanation for all this. It all goes back to Genesis. And droughts and tornadoes and floods; it’s all part of the curse, you see. In fact, even in verse 15 of Genesis 3, it talks about how, as part of the curse, there will be hostility between Satan and the people of God. There’s a tremendous spiritual battle that goes on, and it’s all traced back to the curse. No wonder Paul says, in Romans, chapter 8 that the creation has been anxiously longing to be freed from the curse. And the creation includes us. There’s just been anxious longing to be freed from the conflict, to be freed from the pain, to be freed from the disease, to be freed from the death.
And so, when we’re back in Revelation 22 and verse 3; when it says, “…and there shall no longer be any curse…;” you see, there’s something to that! That is something to anticipate and get excited about. What a coming attraction! There’s going to be no more aging. That means you’re not going to get up one day and look into the mirror and go, “Oh, my goodness, who is that person…who is that person? That’s not the person I feel like on the inside.” There’s going to be no more forgetting where you put things. Do I hear an ‘amen’ to that? Alright!…Oh, yes! Man, you get to be fifty, and it’s just amazing the things that you lose. No more of that; there shall no longer be any curse. There’s going to be no more contending with Satan and temptation. There’s going to be no more tyranny that comes from ruthless leaders who want to feed their own lusts and step on other people. There’s going to be no more of that. There’s going to be no more pain and sorrow. There’s going to be no more disease and illness, because there shall no longer be any curse. There will only be health and comfort and peace and pleasure for those who know Jesus Christ personally.
Now, this…this is a coming attraction. This ought to build our anticipation and our excitement. But, you know what? It gets better. We not only see the presence of the river of life and the tree of life, we not only see the absence of the curse, but, thirdly, we see us here in the new Jerusalem serving, seeing, and ruling. Let’s look at that. Notice verse 3: “…there shall no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and…the Lamb shall be in it, and His bond-servants shall serve Him…”. You know, when God designed us, He designed us with a drive to be productive. He designed inside of us—He wired us—to accomplish something meaningful. He really put that in us as human beings. That’s why you sometimes feel that way. Sometimes you’re thinking, “You know, I would just like to do something meaningful.” Well, that’s something that God put inside of you. And there’s going to come a time when that is going to be really unleashed fully to serve Him without being impeded by sin. Listen to this: all of us who are there in the new Jerusalem are going to do great things for God. All of us are going to be able to see fulfilled that drive to accomplish something meaningful. We’re never going to mess up! We’re not going to mess up. We’re never going to tire; we’re never going to burn out.
You know, it’s kind of interesting to think about when God created Adam. He said, I really want you to serve Me; I want you to have dominion over the earth. And we’re going to be there in the new Jerusalem serving Him. What does that really mean? I’m not sure. Does that mean we get our own planet? Adam had his. Are each of us going to have our own planet? Are each of us going to have our own galaxy where we are free to serve God? In some way we are going to be serving Him.
We see us serving. And then, we see us seeing. Notice that in verse 4. “and they shall see His face…”. They would be the bond-servants; the people of God who are there in the new Jerusalem—“and they shall see His face.”
I read, this week the story about William Dyke—William Dyke, a very interesting guy—stricken with blindness at the tender age of ten. And, of course, his life was severely limited. Despite his handicap, though, this young man distinguished himself. He was intelligent and witty and he excelled in the classroom. And because of his academic achievements, he won a scholarship to a prestigious graduate school in England. So, you’ve got a young man, turns blind at ten, he gets a scholarship to a very prestigious school in England, and he goes over there. Listen to the rest of the story. “As if scripted by Hollywood, there William met the beautiful daughter of the British admiral…”—now this is a blind guy—“…and a courtship soon kindled and flamed into a romance. Though having never seen her, William fell in love with the beauty of her soul, and the two became engaged. Shortly before the wedding, at the insistence of his future father-in-law, the admiral, William agreed to submit to a newly discovered eye surgery for his blindness. With no assurance that the surgery would restore his sight, the doctors delicately cut optic tissue and bandaged William’s eyes. He was then confined to bed with his eyes tightly covered until the time of the wedding. Hoping against hope that the surgery would be a success, William wanted the first sight to be his bride’s face coming down the aisle in her flowing white wedding dress. After years of torturing darkness, William requested that the gauze be removed from his eyes during the wedding ceremony. William was escorted out to the front of the church by his father who served as his best man. His eyes and head were still fully bandaged and the dramatic moment was now here; and every eye in the church was on William. The back doors of the church swung open, and she proceeded in escorted on the arm of her admiral father. Every heart waited with anxious anticipation to see what would happen. As his bride came down the center aisle, William’s father began carefully unwrapping the long strips of gauze from around his head and eyes, still not knowing if the operation would be a success. As his wife-to-be stood at the front of the church in all her glory, the last circumference of the bandage was unwrapped, and William’s eyelids opened. And light began to flood in; and slowly William focused ahead, then he looked intently into the radiant face of his precious bride. For the very first time, he could see, and tears burst out of his freshly healed eyes. And he beheld her beauty, and overcome with emotion, all William could do was whisper, ‘You are more beautiful than I ever imagined.’ ”
Now, think about being in the new Jerusalem, and look again at verse 4, where it says, “and they…”—we could translate this, really, we—“…shall see His face.” We’re going to see Jesus up close, and I believe that when we do, we’re going to say, “You’re more than I ever imagined…more than I ever imagined!”
John, when he wrote his first letter, said we will see Him just as He is. You know, not as He was. Not as some obscure person that got lost in humanity when He was here; not some obscure Galilean who suffered humiliation on the cross and was spat upon. No! We’re going to see Him as He is in His ruling majesty. As Paul wrote in 1 Timothy 6:15, we’re going to see the blessed only sovereign, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We’re going to see Him, and when we do, I’m sure our response will be it’s, “Jesus, You’re more than I ever imagined…more than I ever imagined!”
And then, you notice it says, “…and His name shall be on their foreheads.”
There’s an old joke that has been told for many years about two Texans who wanted to impress one another with the size of their ranches. And the first one said to the second one, “What’s the name of your ranch?” The Texan said, “Well, it’s the Rocking J, Flying W, Rolling S, Circle A, Bar 9, Slanted 8, Rising Star, Silver Spur Ranch. And the first guy said, “Well, how many cattle do you have?” Second guy says, “Not very many. Very few survive the branding.” (laughter)…. Well, His name is going to be on our foreheads, but it’s not going to be that kind of branding at all. His name is going to be on us—listen—because we are His personal treasures…His personal treasures. And we’re going to be face to face with Jesus Christ intimately forever…forever.
You see, we see us serving and seeing, and then, lastly, ruling. We see that in verse 5. “…there shall no longer be any night; and there shall be no one who has need of the lamp or
the light of a lamp [or] the light of the sun…”. There’s going to be no more electric bills! Cool, huh? No more electric bills; they’re gone. And then, notice it says that God is going to illumine them, and then it says, “…and they…”—again, who are the ‘they’? Well, that’s going to include us. It includes God the Father, Jesus, and it includes us as the bond-servants—“…and they shall reign forever and ever.”
Again, you know, in Psalm 8, verse 6 it tells us that man was designed (quote) “to rule over the works of God’s hand.” You know, it’s amazing how sometimes we think, “What significance do we really have?” God designed us, as human beings, to rule over the works of His hand. And finally, you see, in the new Jerusalem we’re going to experience the divine design. We’re going to be ruling. We know from the Bible that we’re going to be ruling over the angels. What else are we going to be ruling over? I don’t know. Again, we’re back to the planets; we’re back to the galaxies. We know, in the parables, Jesus taught about that…we’re going to have the opportunity to rule cities. We’re going to be ruling in some way. We’re going to be experiencing the divine design to the max.
What’s really interesting is when you step away from the Bible, you’ll find out that the book of Genesis is really the foundation stone to the plan of God and the book of Revelation is really the capstone to the plan of God. And I really love the way Steven Lawson, in his book on heaven, summarizes all this. He says, “In Genesis we see the first paradise closed; in Revelation we see the new paradise opened. In Genesis we find the entrance of human sin; in Revelation we see the exclusion of human sin. In Genesis the curse was imposed; in Revelation the curse is removed. In Genesis access to the tree of life was disinherited; in Revelation access to the tree of life is re-inherited. In Genesis we see the beginning of sorrow and death; in Revelation we see the end of sorrow and death. In Genesis man’s dominion—his ruling—is broken; in Revelation we see man’s dominion restored. In Genesis we see the evil triumph of Satan; in Revelation we see the ultimate triumph of the Lamb. In Genesis we see paradise lost; in Revelation we see paradise regained.”
I mean, this is some kind of coming attraction. What could be better than heaven? Could you imagine something? Can you imagine free, beautiful homes to be given away in a perfect city with one hundred percent pure water…free…no light bills, perpetual lighting, permanent pavement, nothing undesirable, everything new, perfect health, immunity from accident, the best of society, beautiful music? Neighbors? How about the living God, the creator and ruler of the universe? We’re talking about a perfect place created by a perfect God, indwelt by perfect people. And, you know, all I can say is, “Wowza!”—again, you know. This is some coming attraction!
And then, it’s interesting. The author adds verse 6. It’s almost as if we begin to say, “You know, can this really be true? I mean, can this really be true? This has got to be an exaggeration.” And so, in verse 6, John says, “…he said to me, ‘These words are faithful and true…’. ” This isn’t just a theoretical coming attraction on some screen; this is something you can count on. “…and the Lord the God of the spirits of prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants…”—that includes us!—“…to show to His bond-servants the things which must shortly take place.” You can count on it! It’s true! It’s not theory; it’s faithful and true. Incredible coming attraction that we have before us.
Now, as we always do, we want to talk a little bit about some life application that we can take away from our time together. And I want to suggest two life applications—want you to write these down. Life application number one: don’t miss the trees…don’t miss the trees. Life application number two: keep an eye on heaven…keep an eye on heaven.
Let’s look at those two life applications. The first one: don’t miss the trees…don’t miss the trees. You know what’s interesting is, when you pull back and you look at the panorama of human history, you’ll find that human history revolves around three trees. All of human history revolves around three trees. The first tree was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. As we stated at the beginning of God’s creation in paradise, He said you can eat of any tree that you want. There’s only one tree that you cannot eat from; it’s the only one that’s forbidden, and that is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And we know the story, that Adam and Eve ate from it. And because they ate from it, sin entered into the world, and death and decay entered into the world, and separation from God entered into the human race.
But when you look at all of human history, it all revolves around three trees. The first one is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The second tree is the tree of life. We see the tree of life in Eden—in paradise there. Then, paradise is lost, and then paradise is regained and restored, and we see the tree of life, again, in the new Jerusalem. And the tree of life is the source of life forever. And we’re in the era of human history where we can’t get to that tree, but one day we will have access to it in the new Jerusalem.
But all of human history revolves around three trees. The first one is the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the second one is the tree of life. The third one is the tree that is represented by some wood behind me. It’s the tree of Calvary. See, it’s the most important tree, in one sense, in that it’s what gets you from the rebellion at the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to the tree of life in the future. This is the tree that we must ponder the most because this is the tree—the tree of Calvary—where Christ gave Himself for you and for me. It made possible us having the opportunity to have our sin forgiven. It is the tree of Calvary that makes it possible for us to have our spiritual life restored. It is the tree of Calvary that can guarantee you a place in the new Jerusalem.
What’s happening with human beings is they all think they’re going to have some way of somehow compensating for their failure of being someone who has sinned and rebelled and ignored God—done their own thing; done what was wrong, when they knew they shouldn’t have. And they think, “If I can just get religious enough, or just sort of balance it out, I’ll make it.” Well, it doesn’t work that way. Christ on the cross, on that tree of Calvary, did the whole thing. He bled and died and paid the price for what you had done wrong and what I had done wrong and every failure we ever had. But, you see, then we have to respond to that. We have to decide that we’re going to count on that. We have to trust in that. We have to believe in that. We have to put that into the bank account of what we’re going to count on to get us, one day, into the new Jerusalem.
Isn’t it interesting how you can summarize all of human history around those three trees? And the thing that’s amazing to me is that someone would know about the tree of Calvary, and that it leads to the tree of life, and they would ignore it and walk away from it. Don’t do that…don’t do that! You don’t ever want to be facing God and Him saying, “You knew about Calvary, and you never trusted in it.” You need to do that. So, don’t miss the trees.
Second life application is we need to keep our eye on heaven. Now, I want you to stay with me for a moment, here. This is important. We need to keep our eye on heaven. Anticipation and expectation of heaven will make a difference in your life.
Dr. Harry Rimmer was well-known throughout the Christian world in the late 40’s and the early 50’s because he had written a number of books on the Bible and science. And in 1953 Dr. Rimmer was dying. And Dr. Charles Fuller, a Bible teacher, was scheduled to speak about heaven on one particular Sunday. And during the week before he was to speak on heaven, he received a letter from Dr. Rimmer, and I would like to read to you part of what Dr. Rimmer wrote. “Dear Dr. Fuller. Next Sunday you are to talk about heaven. I’m interested in that land because I have held a clear title to a bit of property there for more than fifty-five years. I did not buy it. It was given to me without money and without price, but the donor purchased it for me at a tremendous sacrifice. The great architect and builder of the universe has been building a home for me; a home which will never be remodeled nor repaired, because it will suit me perfectly, individually, and will never grow old. Termites can never undermine its foundations for they rest upon the rock of ages. Fire cannot destroy it, floods cannot wash it away; no locks or bolts will ever be placed on its door, for no vicious person can ever enter that land where my dwelling stands now ready for me to enter in and abide in peace, eternally, without fear of being rejected. There is a valley of deep shadows between the place where I live in California and that to which I shall journey in a very short time. I cannot reach my home in that city of gold without passing through this dark valley of shadows, but I am not afraid because the best friend I ever had went through the same valley long, long ago and drove away all of its gloom. He has stuck by me through thick and thin, since we first became acquainted fifty-five years ago, and I hold His promise in printed form that He will never forsake me nor leave me alone. He will be with me as long as I walk through the valley of shadows, and I shall not lose my way when He is with me. Dr. Fuller, I hope to hear your sermon on heaven next Sunday, but I have no assurance that I shall be able to do so. My ticket to heaven has no date marked for the journey, no return coupon, and no permit for baggage. Yes, I am all ready to go, and I may not be here while you are talking next Sunday, but I shall meet you over there some day.” Dr. Rimmer went home to his heavenly home before that Sunday.
You see, we need to keep our eye on heaven. Anticipation of it and expectation of it will make a difference in our life. I want you to just listen. If it helps you to close your eyes, listen to the words of Paul—2 Corinthians, chapter 4, verse 16 and following: that is why we never give up. Though our bodies are dying our spirits are being renewed every day. For our present troubles are quite small and won’t last very long, yet they produce for us an immeasurable great glory that will last forever. So, we don’t look at the troubles we can see right now. Rather, we look forward to what we have not seen; for the troubles we see will soon be over, but the joys to come will last forever.
Let’s pray together. Father, we thank You for this amazing book that is just pulsating with the life of God. And, Lord, there’s a lot of things in this world that really are nothing more than a mirage. And we’re so grateful that there is a place called the new Jerusalem that is the farthest thing there ever could be from a mirage. And, Father, we would pray, as men and women, You would take us to a new level of understanding the importance of looking at coming attractions and how the anticipation and expectation can make a difference. And, Father, my greatest concern of all goes to those who have heard about Calvary; they’ve heard about the Savior that loved them—who loved them even before they were ever conceived by their parents—who heard about Jesus Christ who bled and died and gave His life for them; and yet they have never made the life decision to trust in Jesus Christ; to throw off all the other things they’re counting on to somehow make it with God, and to count on what Jesus Christ has done. Father, show them the utter, the utter tragedy of knowing about Christ and not trusting in Him. And if there’s any who hear my voice, may You give them no peace and no rest until they trust in Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.