The Church is Closed Christ's Final Words - - Dr. Fred K Price - June 11th, 2023
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00:00 Revelation chapter 3. We have two more lessons and then we're done with this
00:10 series and then the lesson that follows is of most importance. It's a critical
00:23 one that I really, really want everyone to be present for. Thank God for our
00:31 online though. It'll still go forth and be heard. But we have two more churches
00:36 before we close out this lesson. Come on y'all, pay attention to the lesson. Seven
00:44 churches of Asia. Church number six, Church of Philadelphia, which is one of
00:56 the two, two churches of the seven that the Lord did not rebuke. Philadelphia is
01:03 one of them. He does not rebuke Philadelphia and it begins here in this
01:11 seventh verse, Revelation 3:7, "And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia," right?
01:18 And Philadelphia means brotherly love, which is why the city of Philadelphia in
01:24 the state of Pennsylvania is known as the city of brotherly love. But the city
01:33 of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania did not come up with their own name, as we can
01:40 see in antiquity there was a Philadelphia. Now what the city of
01:44 Philadelphia did come up with was a Philly cheesesteak. They did. And it has
01:50 been said the only way to try or experience a true one is in Philadelphia.
01:58 Anywhere else is a mockery. Philly folk will tell you that and I believe them.
02:08 But it is the city of brotherly love because Phileo is just that brotherly
02:14 love. Love, we see in both the scriptures and the Greek language, there are four
02:22 types. There's the eros, which is marital love. Eros can mean lust. Usually when we
02:30 hear the word lust we think of it negatively and in most contexts,
02:34 especially for those of us walking out this Christian life, it is in a negative
02:40 context. But the word itself isn't wrong or right, it just depends on what you're
02:45 applying it to. But like I said, for us as believers, eros would be most
02:50 appropriate in a marriage setting only. And then you have storge, which is family
02:57 love. You love your brother, you love your sister, you love your parents, you love
03:01 your children. That's family love. Phileo, like we see here in
03:09 Philadelphia, brotherly love. How do we love our brother? And I don't just mean
03:14 the one that came out of the same womb as you. Once again, that's storge. But for
03:20 our brothers, and think of it in the same way we think of sons and kings.
03:26 No male or female when we become identified with Christ. So brotherly
03:30 love, the love we have for our brother, which would include our sister in the
03:34 Lord. And then of course, unconditional love is agape love. I'm not
03:39 loving you because of, in spite of. I don't care what you do to me or say to
03:44 me. Now I may not want to hang out with you, but I still love you. Maybe you don't
03:51 want to hang out with me and that's fine, but you better still love me. Because
03:57 that is the way and the walk of the true believer, to walk in agape, unconditional
04:03 love. So there's nothing that anyone can do to me to get me to stop loving you.
04:08 And it takes faith, because it's not easy to love everyone.
04:17 Bible tells us about faith working by love or through love. Well guess what? As
04:25 long as we are in this life, some love has to go forth by faith. It truly does.
04:33 But he writes here, he says, once again, to the church of brotherly love, the angel
04:39 of the church in Philadelphia. He says, "These things says he who is holy, he who
04:44 is true, he who has the key." Everyone say "key." "The key of David, he who has the
04:51 key of David, he who opens and no one shuts and shuts and no one opens." This is
04:56 what I love about God, because not every open door is a good door. Whatever door
05:07 God opens, no man can shut. But simultaneously, whatever door God shuts,
05:18 no man can open. Some doors need to be shut. Same God in the Old Covenant, we see
05:26 it in the book of Psalm, we see it in the book of Isaiah. We know that God can make
05:32 the crooked ways or places straight. But did you know the same God can make the
05:39 straight way crooked? And some ways need to be made crooked. So just like that, God
05:51 can open doors and he can shut them. And when he opens them, no man can shut them.
05:55 When he shuts them, no man can open them. He who has the key of David, that is. And
06:04 who is David? Well, we know David was the son of Jesse. We also know David was the,
06:13 in the line of Abraham, was a line of peoples that brought forth our
06:20 Messiah. We know our Messiah is the son of David. So if you have the son of David,
06:27 then it would be safe to assume that you also have the key of David, as a matter
06:32 of fact, because he's writing to a church and he says, "He who is holy, he who is
06:42 true, he who has the key of David," watch what verse 8 says, "he who opens and no
06:48 one shuts and shuts and no one opens, I know your works." We're familiar with this
06:53 language. He says, "See, I have set before you an open door and no one can shut it.
07:00 For you have little strength, have kept my word, and have not denied my name." Now, we
07:08 know that Jesus has the key, or keys, to death and hell. When this key of David is
07:17 first mentioned in the book of Isaiah, it's actually referring to a man by the
07:22 name of Eliakim, but in a New Testament context or a New Testament setting, he
07:28 who has the key, or the keys, enables us to also utilize those keys. Remember, he
07:37 told Peter, "I give you the keys to the kingdom." Having keys, or a key, in
07:44 Scripture means to have authority. So when Jesus told Peter, "I give you the
07:50 keys to the kingdom," he told Peter, "I give you kingdom authority." But he didn't
07:56 just tell Peter that, he told all believers that. Anyone who would believe
08:01 on the name of the Lord would receive a set of keys. We all have kingdom
08:07 authority, not just a select group. If you profess the name of Christ, if you
08:15 proclaim him as Savior and Lord, you have keys, meaning you have Christ's
08:20 authority. You have a legal authority to operate in his authority, and we know
08:27 what his authority can do. He said in Matthew's recording of the Great
08:35 Commission, "All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth," and then he
08:39 says, "Go." That word "go" literally translates into "authority transfer." When he said, "Go,"
08:46 that was him transferring his authority to the church in the earth realm to
08:51 operate in it. We know what he told the 70. Remember, the 70 came back rejoicing.
08:57 He gave them the same authority he gave the 12. And that authority, exousia,
09:03 that authority that he gave them, the 70 and the 12, enabled them to do
09:09 things like what? To lay hands on the sick, to heal all types and manner of
09:16 sickness and disease, and to also cast out what? Demons or devils or unclean
09:22 spirits. If you are in covenant with Jesus, you have authority over demons.
09:30 You don't need a priest, you don't need a pastor, you don't need a ministry gift
09:35 to get rid of some demons. You have the authority to do so yourself. As a
09:42 ministry gift, I have no more power than you. So remember the 70, they came back
09:49 rejoicing, saying what? "Lord, even..." Guess what, Lord? Because you know all that stuff
09:55 you told us to go out and do? We've been doing it. And not only have we done
10:00 things like speak to the sick and speak to the deaf and speak to the blind and
10:05 we saw results. Not only that, but guess what, Lord? Even the demons... And I get
10:14 excited every time I read these passages because of what it doesn't say. Oh my
10:20 goodness, of what it doesn't say. The 70 did not come back to Jesus saying, "Lord,
10:24 even the demons are subject to you." Even though they are. But that's not what they
10:31 said. They said, "Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name." In his name,
10:40 they are subject to us. They are subject to you in his name. Now later on he says,
10:46 "Don't rejoice for that. Rejoice rather because your names are written in the
10:51 registry in heaven." Because your names are written in heaven. But that same
10:55 authority translates into what? Us having keys. So he says here, once again,
11:03 verse 8, "I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door and no one
11:10 can shut it." No one can shut the open door set before you. No one can shut it.
11:16 If the open door is set before you, no one can shut it. No man can shut the
11:23 doors that God opens. He says, "For you have a little strength. You've kept my
11:29 word and you haven't denied my name." See, this is what's going to happen as we get
11:34 closer to his appearing. Sadly, there will be those that begin to deny his name.
11:38 They begin to stray away and then they will depart. But we will overcome. Look at
11:48 verse 9, "Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan." He mentioned this
11:52 earlier in the second chapter, the synagogue of Satan. We established
11:56 exactly who the synagogue of Satan was. These are not some group of Jews that
12:01 would later on in life try to adopt an identity that did not belong to them.
12:05 That's not what the Bible is talking about. The Bible is talking about Jews who claim
12:10 to be just that, and yet they're persecuting the church of the Lord Jesus
12:14 Christ. Jesus says they're of Satan. We already have an example in the book of
12:20 John where Jesus is actually talking to Jews and tells them they are of their
12:26 father, the devil. He says, "Indeed, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who
12:32 say they are Jews and are not." Remember also the book of Romans says he, or makes
12:38 a difference between the outward Jew and the inward Jew. If you believe in the
12:42 Lord Jesus Christ, inwardly you're a Jew, identification-wise. He says, "Who say
12:50 they're Jews but they're not. They lie." He says, "Indeed, I will make them come and
12:54 worship before your feet and to know that I have loved you." This speaks of
12:58 prophetic language that we see in the book of Isaiah. Just two verses quickly
13:03 that I want you to read with me. Look at Isaiah, firstly, 45. Isaiah 45, verse 14.
13:17 Isaiah 45, 14. Remember, the Old Testament prophets knew of the coming of the Lord.
13:27 They didn't know anything about the appearing of the Lord because they didn't
13:31 know anything about the church because the church was hidden in a mystery and
13:34 that mystery was not revealed to them. The reason why God hid certain things in
13:40 mysteries is so that the devil would not catch wind of it. Now, interestingly, once
13:45 certain mysteries were revealed, like the mystery of the church, and it's Paul the
13:49 apostle that does most of that revealing, the devil who mimics, who copies and
13:54 perverts, starts coming up with his own mysteries, like the mystery of
13:57 lawlessness or the mystery of sin. But how many of us know there's no sin to
14:03 mystery or mystery to sin? We know what sin is. We know what lawlessness is. Here
14:12 in Isaiah 45, 14. So the Old Testament prophets, anytime they're talking about
14:17 the end, they're talking about the very end. And it says, "Thus says the Lord, the
14:22 labor of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush and of the Sabaeans." And the
14:30 Sabaeans and Cush both came out of Ham, and then Egypt as well, by way of Mizraim.
14:37 So these are Gentiles. And it says, "These men of stature shall come over to you and
14:44 they shall be yours. They shall walk behind you. They shall come over in
14:47 chains and they shall bow down to you. They will make supplication to you,
14:51 saying, 'Surely God is in you and there is no other. There is no other God.'" So during
14:56 the Tribulation, there will be nations bowing before the Jews and having to
15:00 admit and acknowledge the true God. Christ is saying to the church at
15:06 Philadelphia, he's likening their labor and their commitment and the fact
15:10 that they have not given up, the fact that they haven't denied him, he's
15:15 liking their position with the future position of Israel, saying, "And I will
15:20 cause those to bow before you." In other words, they will recognize the God in you.
15:24 They will not be able to deny him. One more here in chapter 49 of Isaiah. Look
15:31 at the 23rd verse, and we'll see it here as well. Once again, these are the prophets
15:39 referring to Israel. And Isaiah 49, 23 says, "Kings shall be your foster fathers
15:45 and their queens your nursing mothers. They shall bow down to you with their
15:49 faces to the earth and lick up the dust of your feet. Then you will know that I
15:54 am the Lord, for they shall not be ashamed who wait for me." So what's
15:59 happening here in Revelation, God is saying or using the same kind of
16:04 language when he has John write to the church at Philadelphia. So coming back to
16:12 Revelation 3, we'll spend the rest of our time in the book of Revelation. Verse 9
16:22 again, "Indeed I'll make those of the synagogue of Satan who say they are Jews
16:25 and are not but lie. Indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet
16:30 and to know that I have loved you." They will know, God says, that I have loved you.
16:34 And then he says this in verse 10, "Because you have kept my command to
16:39 persevere." You've kept my command to persevere. Many believers start but they
16:47 don't finish because they lack perseverance. And see, perseverance is
16:57 what? Perseverance is endurance, also known as patience. And the Bible tells us
17:04 in the book of James chapter 1 verse 2 to "Count it all joy when you come
17:10 against or when you fall into divers or different kinds of..." Oh, there are
17:17 different kinds of trials, so every trial is not the same. Now, there's no trial
17:22 uncommon to man, but not every trial is the same. Many of us come against or come
17:31 into or fall into various trials at various times. So he says, "Count it all
17:38 joy when," not if, not if you come, when you come against. It is inevitable that
17:46 we as believers are going to fall into some things or come against some things.
17:51 If you don't want to come against anything, I've given you the solution
17:56 before. Just go on and go and be with the Lord. But if you're remaining here on the
18:02 earth, you are going to come against persecution, and the devil will bombard
18:10 you with sickness and disease and attacks on your finances and your peace
18:15 of mind. It's a part of existing in this world. Now, we don't have to receive it. We
18:22 don't have to accept it, but we can't be foolish enough to where we're caught off
18:27 guard when these things come. They will come. So, "Count it all joy when you fall
18:34 into or when you come against divers or different kinds of tests, trials,
18:41 tribulations, temptations. Count it all joy when knowing this..." Oh, so I wonder if I
18:51 must have to know whatever this is in order to count it all joy. If I don't
18:59 know what this is, then it'll be very difficult for me to count it all joy.
19:04 Liken it to joy. Reckon it joy. Consider it joy. And what am I, what am I, what's
19:12 what's really the joyful part? Because there's nothing joyful about pain.
19:17 There's nothing joyful about lack. Nothing joyful about it. But what I can
19:23 count joy, or the reason that in this situation that should cause me to be
19:29 distraught, the reason I can reckon it joy is because I know that the testing
19:34 of my faith produces perseverance. It produces endurance. It produces patience.
19:47 We can also say it produces long-suffering. It produces forbearance.
19:54 It makes us tougher. It makes us stronger. Now, once again, I'm talking to those who
20:03 don't give up. And mind you, while we're in whatever the thing is, we're thanking
20:12 God in it, not for it. I don't thank God for headaches. I thank him in headaches.
20:25 I thank him during headaches, but I don't thank him for headaches. I don't thank
20:31 God for pain. I don't thank God for lack. I don't thank God for struggle, but I
20:36 thank God in pain, in lack, and in struggle. That's the perseverance of the
20:44 saints, because the devil wants to steal your faith, and God wants to prove you to
20:51 you. And when he proves you to you, the devil watches God prove you to you.
21:01 He says here, he says, "You've kept my command to persevere." Come on, family.
21:07 Come on, saints. We're going to persevere. We're not quitting. We're not giving up.
21:12 We're holding fast to our confession of faith. We are not of those who draw back.
21:19 We are the just, the declared righteous, and we live by faith, and we're going to
21:22 speak faith. We're going to do faith. That's who we are. So listen, look here,
21:34 verse 10. He says, "Because you have kept my command to persevere, I'll also keep
21:38 you from the hour of trial, which shall come upon the whole world to test those
21:44 who dwell on the earth." Now, some scholars believe this is referring to the
21:48 end, but I believe this is referring to the latter days of the church before he
21:52 appears to receive us. As you all know, you can just watch the news and see how
21:59 the world is getting worse. And so as the world gets worse, there are going to be
22:04 those who stray and who depart, but we who overcome and continue to persevere,
22:09 we will be protected from the hour of trial, which will come upon the earth
22:14 before the Lord appears to receive us. Yeah, listen, I don't care how bad it
22:25 gets, I am not going to worship Baal. I'm not going to do it. So put a gun to my
22:33 head, put a knife to my throat, bullet's going to bounce off the side of my head
22:38 anyway, sword's going to break, it's not going to work. We're going to be like those
22:44 Hebrew boys in that fiery furnace. Sorry, Nebuchadnezzar, I'm not bowing down to
22:50 your gods, I'm not doing it. You want to put me in the fire? No problem. Let me
22:55 tell you the two scenarios that will be the result of you doing that to me. We
22:59 die and we go be with the Lord. That's still a win, but I wager we won't die, the
23:05 fire's not going to touch us, and then you're going to have to change your mind about
23:07 some things. We are not of those who draw back. That's not us. We don't quit. We
23:17 don't cower. We don't deny Christ before men. We don't
23:25 try to make God's Word so palatable because we don't want
23:31 to offend people. Sorry, the gospel is an offensive message. It's offensive to
23:36 lawlessness. It's offensive to those who don't want right, who aren't seeking
23:43 right. I told you all this before. You know, if you don't believe in the Lord
23:48 Jesus Christ, it means you're not a part of the kingdom of God, which means you're
23:53 only a part of one other kingdom, and that's the kingdom of darkness. But know
23:58 that there are those who are in darkness not because they've necessarily chosen
24:05 darkness for the sake of darkness, but they're in darkness because either they
24:09 haven't accepted Jesus or they have rejected Jesus, and not everyone has
24:14 rejected Jesus for the same reason, but I'm here to tell you, and you
24:18 should know this, there are some people who have chosen the devil. They are
24:25 in league with Satan. He is their preference. The future is not bright for
24:37 them. Look at verse 11. "Behold, I'm coming quickly." Now, he said this almost 2,000
24:46 years ago, so what's quickly to Jesus? What's quickly to God? Well, because
24:55 he's God, and this only works with God. It doesn't work with any
25:02 creation of God. What I'm about to say can only apply to a creator, not a
25:07 creation. God sits on the outside of time. He walks on time. God does. Because think
25:21 about it just for a second. What happened in the beginning? In the beginning, what
25:29 happened? God created the heavens and the earth. Now, the Bible also tells us in the
25:42 beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Okay. In
25:48 the beginning, God created. That means God had to be there before the beginning. See,
25:57 whatever has a beginning has an ending. But if you have no beginning, then you
26:02 have no ending. And God, let's try to imagine what God was doing before he
26:10 created the beginning. Because, see, he's not bound by the beginning. Imagine that
26:19 he was already there before there was a beginning, because he's the one who
26:23 created the beginning. So, saying all that to say, what does "I'm coming quickly"
26:29 mean to someone who holds time in his hand?
26:35 There is no yesterday, today, or tomorrow.
26:43 Distinctions between the three. There's only today with God. Everything else
26:47 that's created has some kind of time and needs a way to measure that
26:53 time, but not God. I mean, even the angels who are not as bound by time as we are,
27:01 they're still created. So, therefore, they're bound by some kind. We don't
27:08 fully know how time works in the spirit realm or how time works amongst
27:12 celestial creatures, but we know because they're created, they're bound by—they
27:17 have limitations as well. The devil, who is a cherub, who can transform himself
27:21 into an angel of light, he has limitations. He's not God. He's not equal
27:25 to God. He can't do everything God can do. Matter of fact, he can't even create
27:29 anything. The only thing he can do is pervert what's already been created.
27:33 That's all he can do, and that's all he's ever done. Even he has
27:40 limitations, and we've seen some of those limitations in Scripture. The Bible says
27:44 we're not ignorant of his devices, meaning if we're fully aware of his
27:49 devices, then his devices, schemes, and strategies can't come against us if we
27:56 remain aware of them. The Bible says, "Nor give place to the devil." So, that tells us
28:00 he can't just do whatever he wants whenever he wants, as powerful as he is.
28:04 But he has limitations as well. But God has no limitations. He's not bound by any
28:11 kind of time. No chronos, no kairos. The Bible says there is a time and a season
28:17 for everything under heaven. So, he says, "Behold, I'm coming quickly." Which means
28:25 what? What does that mean? What did Peter say? "Ah, you know, the day with the Lord is
28:29 like, it's like a thousand years, give or take a day." Saint Peter said, "When the day
28:39 of Pentecost had fully come, meaning it was fulfilled, he said, "These are the last
28:43 days." That was almost 2,000 years ago. Jude said, "We're in the last hour." No, Jude
28:52 said, "This is the last time." John said, "We're in the last hour." What is time
28:56 to God? Says, "Behold, I'm coming quickly." You need to understand that all of this,
29:01 as far as God's concerned, all of it happened in the same minute. The creation
29:09 of the heavens and the earth, the creating of Adam, the creating of you
29:13 whenever you were born, and the very end all happened in the same moment to God
29:20 because He holds time in His hand. Says, "Behold, I'm coming quickly. Hold fast
29:24 what you have that no one may take your crown." Salvation is our ultimate crown.
29:30 That no one may take it. He says, "He who overcomes." There it is again. Notice
29:35 two recurring themes in all of these letters to these churches. "I know your
29:39 works, he who overcomes." "I know your works, he who overcomes." "I know your deeds, he
29:49 who overcomes." "He who does not quit, he who does not give up, he who perseveres."
29:53 He says, "He who overcomes, I'll make him a pillar in the temple of my God." Oh, I
29:59 wonder what that means. I like how it sounds. "He who overcomes, I'll make him a
30:05 pillar." We know this. Let's keep reading. "A pillar in the temple of my God and he
30:15 shall go out no more." He shall go out no more. Hmm. "I will write on him the name
30:20 of my God and the name of the city of my God," which is what? The New Jerusalem,
30:26 which comes down out of heaven. The new city, the New Jerusalem comes down, it
30:34 descends out of heaven, "from my God and I'll write on him my new name." And when
30:43 God writes on you or marks on you or marks your head, that means he owns you.
30:48 That means you've been sealed. Now, he says, "He who overcomes, I'll make him a
30:56 pillar in the temple of the city." He says, "in the temple of my God." And this temple,
31:05 it would seem that it would be in the city, which is New Jerusalem. And that,
31:14 that sounds like New Jerusalem language, because we do know this. We
31:19 know that there are 12 gates in this city, and the names of the sons of Israel
31:25 are on these gates. We know there's also 12 foundations, and the names of the
31:30 apostles of the Lamb, the 12 apostles of the Lamb, their names are on these
31:34 foundations. So in a sense, the sons of Israel are gates and the apostles are
31:40 foundations, and if we overcome, we're pillars in his temple. But let's go to
31:45 New Jerusalem. Revelation 21, verse 9. We'll just finish here with New Jerusalem,
31:56 finish out the Church of Philadelphia. Next week, we'll talk about the church at
32:00 Laodicea. That's the final church. That's the church none of us want to be. We
32:05 don't want to be, we don't want to be the other four that he rebukes as well, but
32:09 Laodicea, the lukewarm church?
32:13 Revelation 21, look at verse 9. This is the very end. I mean, the end of the end.
32:28 The very end. See, all who die in the Lord now go to be with the Lord, but that's
32:34 not the end. Going to heaven to be with the Lord is not the end. That's the
32:41 temporary. It's not the final. This is the final, right here. Revelation 21. The final
32:49 speaks of Eden. How many of you know God did not make man for heaven? He didn't
33:01 make us for heaven. You don't go home to be with the Lord. You
33:07 leave home to be with the Lord. You leave your home to go to the Lord's home.
33:12 That's why Jesus was very clear in John 14, "In my father's house." So my daddy's
33:19 house. There are many mansions. There's plenty of room in my father's house. And I
33:24 love what he says next. He doesn't say, "I go to prepare a home for you." He says, "I
33:27 go to prepare a place for you." Now ask yourself this question. You have common
33:34 sense. God told Adam, "Don't eat the fruit of this tree, because in the day that you
33:41 eat of it, you will what? You'll surely die." Meaning what? If I don't eat the
33:46 fruit from this tree, I will not surely. Rather, I would surely continue to. Okay.
33:53 So if there's no death in the world, then what happens to Adam? He just keeps
33:58 living. And where does he keep living? On earth. On a perfect earth. When the Bible
34:07 says it's appointed for man to die once, who made the appointment? Adam. Because he
34:15 disobeyed the prohibition of God and let death in the world. That's why Romans 5
34:19 12 tells us, "For by one man's sin, or one man's offense, or for by one man, sin
34:30 entered the world, and death through sin." Death hitched a ride with sin into this
34:36 world when Adam disobeyed God's command. If Adam didn't disobey God's command,
34:43 then Adam doesn't die. There's no death. And once the earth was filled, mission
34:52 accomplished. Because that's what he told man to do. Fill the earth. Oh, but he
34:57 disobeyed. Now death is here. It's appointed for man to die. And then after
35:04 that, the judgment. So we die if we believe in the Lord. We go to be with the
35:12 Lord. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. There are some
35:17 people that believe in this concept of soul sleep. Like believers souls and
35:23 bodies go back to the earth. That's like a soul in limbo or something. Like a
35:27 spirit in limbo. But that's not the case. To be absent from the body is to be
35:32 present with the Lord. He writes to the Thessalonian church in 1st Thessalonians
35:37 chapter 4 verse 13 and 14. He says, "I don't want you to be ignorant concerning
35:42 those who have fallen asleep. Lest you what? Sorrow as others who have no hope."
35:47 He then says this, "If we believe that he died and rose again." If we believe that.
35:54 How many of you believe that? Okay, I do too. Well then Paul follows up with this,
36:00 "Well then you can also believe what I'm about to say next. That he will bring
36:06 with him. He will bring with him. He will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus.
36:11 If he's bringing with him, they must be with him to be brought with him." So when
36:19 I pass away as a believer in the Lord, I go to the Lord's house. I go visit my
36:25 daddy in his house. While I'm waiting for a space for my
36:36 renovated, redecorated home to occupy the earth. I'm just kind of waiting
36:41 some things out. And so when it's all said and done, this is where we end up
36:46 right here. At the very beginning of this chapter, John says exactly what Jesus
36:50 said in Revelation 3. John says, "I saw a new heaven and a new earth." I saw it. Wait,
36:57 wait, wait. If John said he saw a new heaven and a new earth, does that mean he
37:03 no longer saw the old heaven and the old earth? And if that's what it means, let's
37:10 let's pick it apart. Is John saying that the old earth and the old heaven no
37:19 longer exist? And now in place of the old heaven and the old earth, I see a new
37:27 heaven and a new earth. Is that what John was saying? No, that's not what John was
37:33 saying. Because the Bible tells us the earth will always remain. So if the earth
37:39 will always remain, how could John see a new earth? It's because John didn't see a
37:44 new earth. John saw the earth made new. You got to know the difference between
37:50 new things and things new. And God's in the business of the latter. God doesn't
37:57 make new things. God makes things new. Earth will be made new. Heaven will be
38:04 made new. Our bodies will be made new. Our souls will be made new. When you got born
38:11 again, he didn't make a new you. He made you new. That's what he does. I always
38:19 like to say if God walked among us, he would never buy a new house, ever. He
38:24 never buy a new car. He just make his car new. He just make his house new. He's a
38:30 restorer. That's why on the throne he says, "I make all things new." Not, "I make all new
38:37 things." I make all things new. Okay, so when John says he saw a new heaven and a
38:44 new earth, he saw the heaven made new or the heavens made new and he saw earth
38:48 made new. And then he says this, he says, "I saw the Holy City coming down out of
38:53 heaven, out of heaven, onto the earth made new." He said, "prepared as a bride
39:01 adorned for her husband." And then look at what verse 9 says here in Revelation 21.
39:06 I'm not about to make this about the bride of Christ, but I am gonna read the
39:10 Scriptures. And here's what the Scriptures say. You know, a lot of times
39:15 we hear things in churchianity.
39:21 It's a language, it's called Christianese. And so certain
39:29 things sound, they sound scriptural, so they must be in the Bible somewhere.
39:36 Cleanliness is next. You all knew how to finish that. Tell me where is
39:42 that in the Bible? Now we could say the idea of it is in the Bible, but there is
39:47 no Scripture that says cleanliness is next to godliness. But it sounds
39:54 Bible-y so...just like we've all heard. Haven't we all heard this before?
40:02 "The Lord will not put on you more than you can bear." You've heard it. But the
40:09 Bible doesn't actually say that. What it actually says is, "He will not allow you
40:13 to be tempted beyond what you can bear." That's what the Bible actually says.
40:20 So, the Bible does not actually say that the church is the bride of Christ, but
40:28 once again I'm not gonna make this about that. We'll just read the Scriptures and
40:31 we'll get to my point. Revelation 21 9, "Then one of the seven angels," oh I can
40:37 hear my dad's voice when he teaches on this. I can hear him saying it right now.
40:42 I'm gonna say what he always says. He says, "Then one of the seven angels who
40:47 had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with
40:51 me saying, 'Come I'll show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.'" Daddy would always say
40:55 what? He said, "Well if the church is the bride, then the angels should show John
40:58 the church." But look at what he shows them. Verse 10, "And he carried me away in
41:05 the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the great city." The great
41:10 city, the Holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. So, the Bible says the
41:16 city is the bride. Yeah, we will occupy the city and we'll be one with the city
41:21 and with God, but very specifically the Bible says that this holy city, this is
41:27 the very end. This is after heaven. See, when we pass away, those of us who
41:31 believe in Jesus, we're gonna go to heaven. And then one day the Lord will
41:35 appear and that'll be the resurrection of the just, the first part of the first
41:38 resurrection. But that's not the end. We go to heaven. We go to the judgment seat
41:43 of Christ and we're in heaven for what will be seven earth years. And then we
41:51 come back with him. And he'll set up shop, his political earthly kingdom on the
41:56 earth for 1,000 years and we will reign with him, the nations, and we will judge
42:02 with him, the nations, for 1,000 years. During that thousand years, the devil's
42:08 in the bottomless pit serving his sentence. He will not get out on early
42:15 release. No parole, no good behavior. He will serve the whole thousand years. You
42:24 would think after a thousand years you'd be rehabilitated, but not the devil. He
42:29 will come out after serving a thousand years, that same thousand years that we
42:33 rule and reign on the earth with Jesus for a thousand years. He'll come out to
42:38 deceive the nations. And some are still gonna buy into his mess, all the ones who
42:44 were subdued for the thousand years. They're gonna follow him and then
42:48 they'll be destroyed and then there will be what is known as the great white
42:50 throne judgment. Then comes this holy city right here, New Jerusalem, and this
42:56 is where we will spend eternity. In this city, on this earth. Because God never
43:02 created humans for heaven, he created us for earth. Remember, you don't have to
43:09 have a body to be you. You just need a body to live here. And he created us to
43:16 live here. Earth is a replication of heaven. Smaller scale, but perfect as well.
43:23 Look here in verse 11. It says, "The city having the glory of God, her light was
43:28 like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." Pay attention to
43:33 this. The city has God's glory. The city has God's glory and her light is like a
43:41 precious stone. Crystal clear. Look at verse 12. "Also she had a great and high
43:47 wall with twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates and names written on them
43:53 the gates which are the names of the..." Look at that. "...the twelve tribes of the
43:59 children of Israel." Which means the twelve sons of Jacob. Then look at what it says
44:05 next. "Three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south,
44:10 and three gates on the west." This is an actual city that descends from heaven.
44:17 A tangible city coming from heaven onto this earth. And how will it descend? I'm
44:24 about to tell you. Look at verse 14. "Now the wall of the city had twelve
44:28 foundations and on them were the names of the..." What? "...twelve apostles of the Lamb."
44:36 So that means we'll see names like John, Peter, but we won't see Paul's name
44:45 because Paul wasn't an apostle of the Lamb. He was an apostle of the Lord Jesus
44:50 Christ. But he was not an apostle of the Lamb. In order to be an apostle of the
44:54 Lamb you had to be a witness of his baptism and his earthly ministry, his
45:00 death and his resurrection and ascension. You had to be a witness of that. If you
45:04 were not a witness of that you might be an apostle, but you don't be an apostle
45:08 of the Lamb. So that means James the brother of Jesus isn't in here. Paul
45:13 isn't in here. Barnabas isn't in here. Apostles of God nonetheless. Apostles of
45:19 Jesus nonetheless, but not the twelve apostles of the Lamb. That's a specific
45:24 apostleship. So their names are where? The foundations of the walls of the city. I
45:31 look at verse 15. "And he who talked with me," this is an angel, "had a gold reed to
45:37 measure the city, its gates, and its wall." So the city can be measured. So this is a
45:42 tangible city. It says the city is laid out as a square. Can you all see a square
45:47 in your mind? Just a square. The city's laid out as a square. So it makes sense
45:52 that there's three gates on the east, the south, the west, and the north. So it's
45:57 perfectly even. Squares are perfectly even on all sides. Then it says this. It
46:05 says, "Its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city
46:12 with the reed twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal." So
46:19 its length, as long as it is, is as wide as it is, is as high as it is. The height,
46:30 the width, and the length are all equal. Twelve thousand furlongs. Now I don't
46:37 remember learning about furlongs in math class. I don't remember that word. I
46:44 remember words like centimeter, and inch, and feet. But I don't remember furlongs.
46:51 So twelve thousand furlongs is 1,500 miles. 1,500 miles. So let's go with what
47:08 we know. They say the distance between LA and New York is about 3,000 miles.
47:15 Distance to Hawaii from LA is about 3,000 miles. So 1,500 is half of that. So
47:22 if New Jerusalem were to descend right here where the dome is, the
47:28 city would be, just this one city, that's a perfect square, the city would run
47:34 from LA to Texas. One city. That's the length. The width, it would be somewhere
47:43 in the northern part of Canada. And the height, into the vast reaches of what we
47:50 would call outer space. Like if you were to back up and look at the earth, the
47:55 city would look like a growth on the planet. That's how high it is. And the
48:04 beautiful thing is, Lord knows how long it'll take, and truly he only knows how
48:10 long it would take to tour the whole city, but wherever we go in the city, we
48:17 can't die. So just imagine that on Tuesday you decide, "I'm gonna go to
48:25 space. I'm gonna check out the 848th floor. That's New Jerusalem on the
48:34 earth." And then it says this, it says in verse 17, "Then he measured its wall 144
48:41 cubits according to the measure of a man that is of an angel." In other words, the
48:44 wall is so tall that you would measure it according to angels, and
48:50 angels are much taller than you and I are. Then it says this, it says, "The
48:54 construction of its wall was of," what? "Jasper, and the city was, the city was
49:03 pure gold like clear glass." I haven't... sister, you don't even know what
49:13 that one means, do you? Pure gold like clear glass? So are we dealing with fake
49:19 gold here? Like what's going on? But then look at this, "The foundations of the wall
49:24 of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation
49:28 was Jasper, the second Sapphire, the third Chalcedony, the fourth Emerald, the fifth
49:33 Sardonyx, the sixth Sardius, the seventh Chrysolite, the eighth Beryl, the ninth
49:37 Topaz, the tenth Chrysoprase, the eleventh Jason, and the twelfth Amethyst." And then
49:43 watch this, "And then the twelve gates were pearls." Not made of pearl. They are pearls.
49:50 You see where, you see how people can come up with things that they heard someone
49:55 else say who didn't read the Bible right? "Peter at the pearly gates in heaven." No,
50:00 no, no, no, no. These are gates of pearl in the city that's right now in heaven and
50:08 will one day leave heaven. The pearly gates aren't the gates of heaven, they're the gates
50:14 of the city in heaven. And Peter ain't there. Who gave Peter this job? Look at this, "The
50:28 twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each individual gate was of one pearl and the street of the
50:33 city was not paved with gold." Not a gold topping. The streets are pure gold and there
50:44 it is again like transparent glass. Watch this, here's where it's going to get interesting
50:52 if it's not already interesting. Verse 22, "But I saw no temple in it." Wait a minute.
51:01 Jesus told the church at Philadelphia, he said, "He who overcomes, I'll make him a pillar
51:08 in the temple of my God." Well wait a minute, where's the temple of God if John said he
51:16 saw no temple in the city? Let's keep reading. It says, "For the Lord God Almighty and the
51:20 Lamb are its temple." Oh, so when he tells the Philadelphia, the church of brotherly
51:29 love, he who overcomes, I'll make you a pillar in the temple of my God. What was Jesus saying?
51:34 I'll make you a pillar in me. I'll make you a pillar in me and my God. Look at verse 23,
51:43 the city, oh, watch this, "The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in
51:50 it." See, the sun provides light, the moon provides illumination. And in the order of
51:59 creation in the book of Genesis, we are told the reason for their creation. And yet in
52:03 this city, watch this, it doesn't say the rest of the earth, it just says the city.
52:09 The city has no need for the sun and for the moon, why? Because the glory of God illuminated
52:16 the entire city. The glory of God is going to illuminate a city that's as long as LA
52:23 to Texas, as wide as LA to Canada, and as high as outer space and beyond. His glory
52:30 will illuminate the entire place. My goodness. Okay, watch this. This is home right here.
52:41 Look at this, "The Lamb is its light and the nations of those who are saved shall walk
52:45 in its light. The nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light and the kings
52:51 of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by
52:57 day." There will be no night there. Do you understand? I want you to try, I want you
53:05 to get ahold of this because there's still going to be day and night outside the city.
53:10 There's just no night in the city because you can't turn off God's glory. There's no
53:17 switch for that. You can't unplug his glory from the wall. It illuminates the city as
53:23 long as you're in the city. Then it says what? It says, verse 26, "And they shall bring the
53:33 glory and the honor of the nations into it." Pay attention to this, "But there shall by
53:38 no means enter it anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those
53:46 who are written," we talked about this last week, "in the what." If your name's written
53:52 in the book, you are a resident of the city. But if your name was never written like that
53:59 select group during the tribulation or if your name was blotted out, you're not in the
54:06 city, you're in the lake. Look at verse one, let's read these last five verses. It says,
54:15 "And he showed me a pure water of life clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of God
54:21 and the Lamb in the middle of its street." So there's streets in the city. On either
54:27 side of the river, so there's a river in the city as we read in the first verse. It says,
54:32 "The," oh, look at that. It says, "was the tree of life." Tree of life, where you been?
54:39 We ain't seen you since Eden. "Was the tree of life which bore twelve fruits. Each tree,"
54:48 each tree, so is there more than one tree of life? Hmm. "But each tree is doing," what?
54:53 "Each tree is yielding its fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing
55:00 of the nations." It's not for the healing of us. We don't need healing. If you're a
55:07 part of the first resurrection, you don't need healing. You won't need these leaves.
55:12 But if you're a part of the second resurrection, you will need these leaves. This is after
55:15 God and us judge the nations and then those at the great white throne judgment, whichever
55:21 ones are found innocent, they'll need these leaves. But those of us who depart first class,
55:28 we don't need the leaves. We don't need the healing. It says, "And there shall be no more
55:32 curse but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve
55:36 them and they shall see his face and his name." There it is. There it is. That's what he told
55:41 the church of Philadelphia. "And his name shall be on their foreheads marked by God.
55:47 There shall be no night there. They need no lamp." So the city's not gonna need lamp.
55:53 It's not gonna need electricity. His glory illuminates and powers the whole city. "No
56:00 light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light and they shall reign forever and ever."
56:05 That's--close the book. That's it. That's the forever and ever. Forever and ever is
56:12 not in heaven. Now, in the timing of God, it's like forever 'cause he's not bound by
56:18 time. What's forever to God? Forever to God is a day to God. Forever to God is a minute
56:24 to God. To everything else created by God, it would be different. But this is where it
56:30 all stops and where it all ends. We as believers in the Lord, we don't dwell in heaven forever.
56:39 We dwell in heaven for a long, protracted period of vacation time. And then one day,
56:48 we will return to this place that we were originally created for and it'll be just as
56:55 perfect if not version 2.0 than the earth before Adam's end. I'm gonna tell you right
57:03 now the same words Jesus said to all the churches, "He who overcomes." And I know that this church
57:13 is the church who overcomes. We are not--we are not the ones who stray or depart. Nothing
57:25 can separate us from our God. Father, we thank you for your Word. It's life and truth. It
57:30 will not--it cannot return to you void, but it will accomplish what it set out to do.
57:38 It will prosper where it's sent. I thank you that the Word has gone forth and it has prospered.
57:51 Accomplished and prospered. Thank you, Father. The seed of the Word has been sown into the
57:59 hearts of those present. Those watching and listening did not fall on deaf ears. It fell
58:09 into good ground and it will produce a harvest of the Word sown into their hearts. The Word
58:15 incorruptible.
58:15 (laughing)
58:18 (laughing)