NOTE: These notes are incomplete, but posted in their current form so as to help anyone who finds them.

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Take your Bibles with me and turn to Revelation for the penultimate time in our series.

Who knows what penultimate means? It means "next to last." Next week we are going to finish up this book and tonight we are going to look at chapter 21 and the first five verses of chapter 22 which are about one of the awesomest subjects we can think about - heaven.

The Bible says in Philippians 3:20:

For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Galatians 4:26 calls heaven

But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

Colossians 3:1 says

If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Christians are supposed to be heavenly minded. We are supposed to think often of heaven. To lay up treasure in heaven.

But a lot of Christians have an unbiblical view of heaven. For some reason a lot of Christians think heaven is going to be a bunch of clouds and angels and harps. That might be a cultural view of heaven but it's not a biblical view of heaven. The biblical view of heaven is that it is a city.

We'll get to that in a minute. Let's get started by reading verses 1-8

[Rev 21:1-8 KJV] 1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. 2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

I'm going to give you three points as we work through this tonight, all of them start with the letter C. The character of heaven, the capital of heaven and lastly the culture of heaven.

The first point I want to give you is...

1. The character of heaven

If I were to describe the character of heaven in one word it would be "new."

Verse 1 says

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea."

Now, that word "new" there doesn't mean new like a new car verses an old car. It means new as in a completely new kind. I think heaven as it's described here is so unique and so different from what we know and experience that we cannot even really understand it.

God's going to destroy this earth and make a whole new one and it's going to be totally different in kind from the world we live in now.

Now, let me talk about the word "heaven" for a minute. There are actually three ways people used that word in the Bible.

• The first heaven was the day sky - we'd call it the atmosphere today.
• The second heaven was the night sky - we'd call it the stars or the galaxy today.
• The third heaven, far beyond that, was where God lives.

When it says here that God created a new heaven, it doesn't mean the place where God lives get's remade, it's talking about the atmosphere. The earth is going to get a total makeover from the atmosphere down and it's going to be totally new.

And one way we know that is because of the last phrase there. It says:

and there was no more sea.

You could make the argument that the most important part of our planet is the water. We need water to survive. We know of no other planet in the galaxy that has water like our planet has that can support life.

Now listen, today, 71% of the earth is covered in water. The oceans are really, really big places.

And do you know what, our bodies are mostly water. We are made of about 90% water.

You can go a few weeks without food. It wouldn't be pleasant, but you could do it. You cannot go more than a few days without water. You absolutely need water to survive.

But here it says that the new earth won't have a sea. Chapter 22 talks about how it will have a river of life running through it, but it's not water in it, it's the water of life.

I think what this is teaching is that heaven is going to be completely different than the earth. It's going to be a completely different life principle than the earth. Instead of us relying on water, we will be reliant on the fountain of life that God gives to everyone freely.

So that's the first point, the character - it's new.

Now, there were a lot of details in there that I skipped over. I'm going to get to them under the next two points. I promise.

The second point I want to talk about it...

2. The capitol of heaven

Before I talk about this let's read the rest of the chapter...

9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light [was] like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12 And had a wall great and high, [and] had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are [the names] of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred [and] forty [and] four cubits, [according to] the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18 And the building of the wall of it was [of] jasper: and the city [was] pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city [were] garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation [was] jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city [was] pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, [was there] the tree of life, which bare twelve [manner of] fruits, [and] yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations. 3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And they shall see his face; and his name [shall be] in their foreheads. 5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

So in these verses an angel gives John an overview vision of the new Jerusalem.

Now, there are actually three Jersusalem's. There is the current Jersusalem - historical Jerusalem. There will be a different Jerusalem in the millennial reign and this Jerusalem is the third Jerusalem, it's sometimes called 'heavenly Jerusalem'.

And this city is going to be the capitol of heaven. Again, completely different from anything we can think of.

Now, one interesting thing about this city is that it's absolutely huge. The angel measured the city for John and said that it was a cube, so the same height, width and depth. And that each side was 12000 furlongs.

A furlong is an eight of a mile. So this city is going to be a cube that is 1,500 miles long, high and wide. 1,500 miles. Listen, from Chicago to Miami is only 1,400 miles. And this city is going to be a cube.

It's an unbelievably massive city. A city the size of the moon.

When Jesus said "in my father's house are many mansions." I don't think we understood how many "many" meant.

And this city is called "the Lamb's wife." Why is that? Well, because the Lamb's wife is the church and the church is going to live in this city. This is where we are going to live for eternity.

And the Bible says some neat things about this city:

• It's going to have huge ways around it with 12 gates.
• The walls will be made out of jasper.
• The walls will be 144 cubits. So the walls will be about 240 feet high.
• The city is going to be made out of pure gold like glass.
• The gates to the wall are going to be made out of pearls (the pearly gates.)
• The streets will be made out of gold like glass.
• In the middle of it there is going to be river of life
• It's also going to have the tree of life that bears fruit all year long.

Now, I'm going to be honest, I can't even imagine that in my mind. But it sounds awesome doesn't it. I know that God spoke this world into existence in six days - and I know how awesome this world is. Can you imagine how awesome heaven will be when God has had eternity to work on it.

So let me get to

3. The culture of heaven

1. It’s a city - a community.
2. It’s a city where God lives and interacts with people.
3. It’s a city where no crying will take place.
4. It’s a city where work will be done - we will serve God
5. It’s a city where food is abundant, where fruit is always in season.
6. It’s a city where there is no night and no need for light.
7. It’s a city where there is no sin and no curse.