"Thou my great Father and I Thy true son." by Paul W. Martin
Scripture: Revelation 21:1-8
Please take your Bible again and open to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. Before we look to God's Word let's pray again and ask for His help.
Father as we come to You we acknowledge that we need You. We confess that our thoughts of You are so small. We pray that You would push back the boundaries of our thinking, and stretch our minds to see more of You, You must do the work. Spirit of God, You Who delights to honor Jesus, You Who delights to draw attention to the Son of God, won't You do that very thing now as we open the Book, teach us we pray, in Jesus name, Amen.
Why did God make you?
Did He need You?
No, not at all.
God that was in perfect fellowship with Himself, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, lacking no thing, He needed nothing.
But God created you and God created me so that we could enjoy Him forever.
Ponder that.
God in the goodness of His love, and mercy and greatness and splendor and majesty, as the one true Good in the universe created you so that you could enjoy Him.
And our first parents He placed in that temple garden that we call Eden. He made man and He made woman and He placed them there.
The whole earth, everything God made, the earth, all of creation, the universe, He said it was good.
But out of all that goodness God formed a small, little temple garden, a place of communion between God and man called Eden.
Eden was not the whole earth. Eden was just a tiny part of the earth, we're even given geographical locations, rivers that crossed there, to give us an idea of where Eden was.
It was a relatively small garden. It had boundaries. There was an ending point to Eden.
Man would be evicted eventually out of Eden and a flaming sword and angel would stand guard so that no one would return.
Man had to learn how to tend the garden. It was an organized, cultivated place.
"Man was called to make earth an Eden."
An in the doing of this, in the expansion of this, in the extending of the boundaries of Eden to include the whole earth, he is growing in his knowledge of God and in his fellowship with God.
The picture we have in Genesis 2:
God speaks face to face with man but only intermittently, it's not every moment!
Wouldn't it be wonderful to be in Eden and to be full of perplexing questions and to know that God is coming tonight and I can ask Him my questions. (In Christ we can do that)
"How did You make a kiwi taste so good God?"
"How did You make the shell of a coconut so hard God?"
"Wouldn't it be glorious, wouldn't it be wonderful to just be walking with God and attending with God and having all your questions answered and as you grow in your knowledge and also as you grow in your fellowship with God you are getting closer to God and your joy in God is increasing!"
(in Christ we have this!)
And that was the plan.
Until Adam sinned.
(We who are in Christ have the pre-fall Eden privileges with God but we can forfeit the privileges when we sin)
He fell victim to temptation.
(when we fall victim)
He listened to the serpent who whispered to him that he could bypass God to get what God was offering.
(we believe the lie that we can bypass God to get joy)
"Adam, you can bypass God to get happiness.
There's other ways to get joy.
God's keeping joy to Himself.
He can't be trusted."
He convinced Adam and Eve that there is another way to joy.
And sin entered the world.
When sin came in, God cursed.
He cursed what?
All creation.
So now what man has to do in extending the boundaries of Eden, he is going to face constant opposition.
All creation is now enslaved to destruction and to decay.
All that God created is immediately reprogrammed to function against man.
You will throw your seed in the ground but weeds are coming up.
All creation reprogrammed to push back against man in his endeavor to extend the boundaries of Eden.
Worse than that, the relationship.
The freedom of the relationship that man had with God is gone. It is severed.
And that growing closeness, and that growing joy, is shattered.
Man is cast out from the temple garden, the place of God.
He is removed.
Where once man walked the garden with God, now God has become invisible, and distant.
God's holiness a constant reminder of man's sin and moral failure.
There is a continental drift that begins when Adam sins and there is a growing sea of separation between God and man.
God curses man. God curses Satan.
But even in that curse, what does He say?
A promise.
I will put enmity between you Satan and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.
He will bruise your head Satan, but you will bruise his heel.
This is all kind of cryptic, poetic language that's pointing to Jesus isn't it?
We know the end of the story, at least part way through the story when Christ comes, Who is the fulfillment of this "protoevangelion", this "first gospel."
And now Jesus when He comes, He lives these things out, but right now for Adam and Eve it's all rather foggy.
But it's a hope-filled fog.
Even when He curses us, He promises:
some kind of restoration,
some return to Eden,
some return to fellowship with God
return to relationship with God.
Thus begins a long story progressing to the final chapter.
It is paradise lost to paradise restored.
God is going to come back, God is going to SPEAK and God begins to SPEAK with people.
God is going to have a relationship with people again.
First of all it's the patriarchs, the early fathers of the faith.
So God SPEAKS to Noah who by God's grace is righteous
Then God SPEAKS to Abraham and makes promises to Abraham
Then God SPEAKS to Joseph who is a picture of one who suffers to redeem a people
And then God SPEAKS to Moses who would bring people out of their slavery into a new land, a place where God is.
Then God says to Moses: set up a tent (Christian, set up your body)
Then God comes (in the pillar of cloud) and makes His presence known at the meeting place
Moses can go in and speak with God as a man speaks to another man
Aaron can go in if he offers sacrifices
Nobody else can go in there
God is saying I'm with you, come closer, but not too close
Then in the promised land Solomon builds the temple and through blood sacrifices certain humans can get close to God
One human, a high priest can get very close to God, but only once a year
After many sacrifices, after sprinkling blood, he can go into the holy of holies
He can represent the people before God, but only once a year
And yet like Eden, even that didn't last.
Man sinned, man rejected the terms of God's covenant arrangement with Him, man rejected God, and what happened?
The temple was destroyed.
But a man came.
From heaven to earth.
What is His name?
His name had been prophesied by a prophet long ago, Emmanuel.
What does it mean?
God WITH us.
Christ is the meaning for which the temple existed.
Jesus is the fulfillment of all that the tent, the meeting place, the temple was pointing to, God with us!
Our response to God being so close to us?
How did we respond to God being so close to us?
We killed Him!
Darkness cannot stand light.
But God being so full of grace, so full of love, used our rebellion to accomplish our salvation.
Ephesians 2
18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
God's presence was present in Eden and then it shrunk back.
Then it appeared in the tabernacle.
Then it appeared in the temple.
Then Christ came, it appeared bodily.
And now God gives His Spirit, and God Himself dwells in Christians!
As God dwells in Christians, God knits them together as the one temple, the place where God is.
Now there is a union between God's people and God that has never been seen before!
And yet even this falls short because we know our sins.
We know that we can grieve the Spirit.
We know that we can quench the Spirit.
Sin remains, the curse is not lifted, and although we are saved we still stumble, we still fall, and death awaits us all.
So we wait.
What are we waiting for?
We are waiting for more than Eden!
We are waiting for the end of pain, the end of suffering, the end of sorrow.
We are waiting for the day the veil is lifted and we see God!
Revelation 22:4
1 Corinthians 13:12
1 John 3:2
We are waiting for the day of the revealing of the sons of God!
Romans 8:19
When the entire creation is released and set free!
Set free from the bondage to decay, no more crying, no more tears, no more lies, no more compromise, no more devil, no more sin, no more corrupt political leaders, no more corrupt religious leaders.
We are waiting for the day of consummation.
It comes in Revelation chapter 21, let us look there.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
The first heaven and the first earth passes away.
We saw that in chapter 21 verse 11
I saw a great white throne and Him Who was seated on it. From His presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.
Earth and sky are destroyed.
He also tells us in verse 1 in chapter 20 that the sea was no more.
Heaven and earth will be recreated, but the sea will not.
As we go through Revelation we see that the sea represents unbelievers.
The beast comes out of the sea
Revelation 13:1
The sea is the place of the dead
Revelation 20:13
The sea is the part of the old creation that the revelation uses to speak of the whole
When it says the sea is no longer, it means there is no longer evil.
All the threats of the old world are gone.
All the chaos and temptation and separation is all removed.
There are other things that are no longer.
Death is no longer.
Mourning is no longer.
Crying is no longer.
Pain is no longer.
Revelation 21:4
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
Curse is no longer.
Night is no longer.
Revelation 22:3, 5
No longer will there be anything accursed
And night will be no more
All of these things that constitute no longer means they make no return.
They are done with forever.
Revelation 21:3
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
For the first time, we will have full contact with God.
Revelation 21:5
And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new."
Revelation 21:6
And he said to me, "It is done! To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life.
We drink now but we are waiting for the full draught of God's goodness.
Revelation 21:7
The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
God and His people together forever.
World without end.
Forever satisfied, forever happy in God.
Until that day comes you will be constantly tempted by the offer of a competing paradise.
The devil will come and tempt with sensuality: food, drugs, sexual immorality. "Just let these things bring you happiness."
The devil will tempt with power, position, influence. "Let these things make you feel significant."
The devil will temp with supposed security: possessions, money. "These things will make you feel secure."
It is the same temptations the devil used against Jesus in the wilderness.
He said, Jesus feel happy, command these stones to become bread.
Jesus feel significant, worship me and all these nations will be yours.
Jesus feel secure, if you're the son of God throw yourself down from the temple, exercise your self-reliance and your power.
Every temptation aimed at Jesus and every temptation aimed at you is aimed at your compromise.
But the only true happiness, the only true significance, and the only true security is in God, and ultimately in the true paradise that is yet to come.
So hold out Christian!
Hold out when temptation comes and say, I'm living for that paradise.
It's better to die here and be found there then to sell out here and to spend eternity away from God.
Christian, stand and you will conquer as the Saviour stood and conquered in His cross.