Revelation chapter 21. Put your
finger right there for just a moment and turn over to the book of
Revelation chapter 1. Chapter 1. I need a rememberer,
a refresher about this whole book. It is not a book to be
feared. It's a book for the church to
be blessed by. It's a book by the church to
realize that it is the charge and compass. It is the Lord Jesus
Christ personified. It is the declaration and glory
and praise of Almighty God. And there are several passages
in here that share with us that the church, even as this was
being written, was persecuted. But the persecution is not the
main point. The Christ that watches over
his people in persecution is the main point. Now notice here
in Revelation chapter 1, verse 1. This is the key verse to this
book. Revelation of Jesus Christ which
God gave unto him to show unto his servants things which must
shortly come to pass and he sent and signified it by his angel
unto his servant John. Now that word revelation is the
word apocalypso and in our culture that word is almost dreaded.
it all the wars and the battles and Well, that's not the meaning
of the word that word has been changed from what it meant in
the scriptures in the scriptures This word is used to the word
is found in Luke chapter 1 a light to lighten Same word revelation
and lighten. It's it's not a word to be feared
I've used that word in class and boy the kids have heard enough
to be afraid of the word apocalypse But they don't have any idea
what that means. It means that it's to be enlightened
by the Lord. And this book is the book of
enlightenment. It's the revelation, the revealing
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in this book it is really
a concise statement. about the revelation of Jesus
Christ. If we ever get lost in this book, go back to verse 1.
This is what it's about. And this is what will comfort
us, is just say, I may not know what this is about, I don't understand
what this is about, but the overall scheme of it is the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Now, as we've traveled through
this book over the past years, We've got to chapter 21, and
we have seen here in the first part of this chapter the results
of the everlasting covenant. The everlasting covenant. God
made a covenant. Now, he's made two covenants,
several covenants, but two are really brought out in the scriptures.
The old covenant with national Israel. He made a covenant with
them. And they said, we will obey. Now that's what takes a covenant,
two people in agreement. We agree to do whatever we agree
to do. It can be written, it can be
verbal, it can be a handshake. I remember my dad talking about
a handshake agreement. It was really a covenant. We
agree to do this. I buy this property from you
for such and such a price and handshake. And that was all it
took. And then we had to go to written
ones. And now we have to go get a lawyer to take care of it.
Well, the covenant is just an agreement. Now, in the Old Testament,
God asked Israel to make an agreement. An agreement to obey him, to
obey his word, to obey his law. And they agreed to it. Now, God
never shares with us that he ever expected them to keep it,
because they cannot. Men cannot keep God's law. It was a schoolmaster. It was
an instruction point. It was to share with us that
man in his fallen state cannot keep the law. Now when Israel
did not keep the law, God said, I regarded it not. The covenant is over. I don't
have to fulfill my part because the covenant is lost. The everlasting
covenant is an agreement that God made before the world began. And it was made between the three
persons of the Godhead. the Father, the Son, and the
Holy Spirit. And it was made on the behalf of a great group
of people called a number that no man can number. It's made
on the behalf of the church. And they in covenant agreement
said, we will redeem a people for our glory and for their good. Now the everlasting covenant
has some real interesting statements with regards to us. And they
are found in verses 1, 2, and 3 of this chapter. It's the summation
of much of what we find in the Old Testament as well as the
New Testament concerning this covenant. In the book Old Testament,
in the book of Jeremiah, God said, after these things I'll
make a new covenant. and it will not be like the old
covenant but this covenant they shall keep for I'll give them
a heart and I'm summing up a lot of verses but here we have in
these verses of scripture the comments that are made with regard
to this covenant and what God promised to do as a result of
the everlasting covenant. Now Israel did not keep the old
covenant. They indeed could not keep the
old covenant. Their heart was far from it. And it was just a statement made
by God. You cannot keep it. You will
not ever approach me on your own works. Well, we find that
in the New Testament, it says, not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to His mercy He saves us. So
the everlasting covenant, the new covenant, God's covenant
among the Godhead on behalf of us, on behalf of His people,
He says this, Chapter 21, verse 1, 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 when we went over that, we
find that in the everlasting covenant, because sin entered
into the world, there has to be something drastically done
with this earth and with heaven. Sin has been there. Satan has
been there and God is going to have to make it new in quality.
And then he says there's no more sea and we found a verse in the
Old Testament said that he took our sin and put it in the deepest
sea. Now it's just a statement, a metaphorical statement saying
sin will be remembered no more. God puts it away for His people.
He puts it away. Those He had a covenant for and
those Christ died for and those the Holy Spirit applies, He takes
away their sin. That sin cannot be found. And
I saw, verse 2, I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming
down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for
her husband. Now this is part of the everlasting
covenant. God is going to have an assembly of his people. They're going to be assembled
at his feet. And as farther we go through this, the farther
we find out that God never said that there's going to be stages
or positions or hierarchy in heaven. Everybody that's in heaven
is equal. If we are faithful, it's because
of God. And maybe I should say, since
his people are faithful in him, it's because of God. Now, he
does not look at his children as unequal. He looks at Him as
totally equal, same blood, same Father, same Holy Spirit, same
work of the cross, and He is promised to conform, predestined
to conform His children to His image. Now, and it goes on here, these verses of scripture share
with us that God has no interest, no title, no place that is called
purgatory where people spend a little time and get cleaned
up, get their act cleaned up. That's not necessary because
God cleans up his people. They will be presented spotless.
We don't have to go through some fire. If Christ took the fire,
then we don't have to. If he didn't take the fire, it
will be purpose that we will. And that's what we call the second
death. This verse destroys the teaching of purgatory, degrees
and rewards in heaven. And we're going to find out it
destroys, nobody's going to be mourning in heaven, and no one
is going to be weeping over past sins in heaven. It's not going
to be even in, talk about a brainwashing, It's going to be so good, what
God does, that there will be no more memory of sin. And he goes on to talk about
that. Then it says here, in verse 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. the everlasting
covenant's fulfillment right here. God said in the Old Testament,
He brings it up in the New Testament, that as a result of God's covenant
of grace, His covenant of blood, the blood of Jesus Christ, that
He will dwell with His people, and His people will dwell with
Him, and He will recognize every one of them as His children,
and every one of them will recognize Him as their God. Now that's
the promise that God has made. There will be this. And then
verse 4, we'd like to spend some time on tonight. The finality
of the everlasting covenant. Now, it begins when God regenerates
us. This begins when God regenerates
us. Even though we may not see it in its fullness, it begins
in our regeneration. God will wipe away all tears. In this present life, God teaches
us that we do not have to fear Him. If He's taken care of sin,
there's no longer any fear towards God. We get in His presence and
there's no more tears. We are able to come to Him boldly,
to His throne of grace boldly. And that's because of the blood
of Christ. But when this is finally completed, there will be no more
tears. It's going to be such a completion. 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. Now that's
the most delightful verse of scripture. It's begun at regeneration
and it is completed in being presented spotless to the Lord
Jesus Christ. This will be a fact for eternity. Now, we never find in the scriptures
when we're at rest with Him in eternity that we're just going
to be sitting there dumb. We're going to be praising Him.
And we're going to be trophies of grace. Except for the grace
of God, there go I as the worst of the worst. And it's only the
grace of God that makes a difference. All right, let's look at this
verse of scripture a little bit tonight and see that this verse
of scripture is absolutely based upon one thing. Jesus Christ
sufficiently dying for our sins. If He took care of all our sins,
this verse is the verse. if He took care of our sins.
Now, let's look. We've been kind of going over
the crucifixion or the suffering Savior for a little time. Sonny,
there's more on that bone. I found a little more there.
But the suffering Savior and the implications of His all-sufficient
sacrifice. The statement of His all-sufficient
sacrifice is found here. No more tears, no more death,
no more sorrow, no more. This is the completion of the
sufficiency of the death of Jesus Christ. If He took care of what
He said He would do, then this verse of Scripture is as wonderful
as we could ever find in the Scriptures. Alright, now Romans
8 verse 1. Would you turn there with me?
And I have several verses I would like to read. Romans chapter 8 and verse 1. The Bible teaches this so plainly
that everyone that Jesus Christ died for will find themselves
in this situation. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ. who walk not after the flesh
but after the Spirit. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ." And that really opens the door
to no more tears. That really opens the door to
no more death. That really opens the door to
that verse of scripture that we've read over there in Revelation
chapter 21 and verse 4. All of those things that are
said are as a result of the all-sufficient sacrifice of the Lord Jesus.
God the Father was so satisfied. Now, I was reading a little bit,
an old preacher wrote, he said in the Old Testament all those
sacrifices, and he said millions, I hadn't got quite there, I got
to hundreds of thousands, but he said millions of sacrifices.
In the Old Testament, not one time did that sacrificial critter
ever come up out of the ashes and revive. And that's just an
indication of the insufficiency of all those sacrifices. Now
when we come to the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the only sacrifice
that ever was consumed completely, and then three days and three
nights later, he came up from the ashes of his own sacrifice. It's an indication to us that
it was sufficient, that the fire of God's wrath burned out on
him. And the condemnation that was
due us was burnt out on him. And he was put away in a tomb. But three days and three nights
later, now he didn't come out of there secretly, 500 brethren
at one time saw him. And all of the times that we
find people saw him and visited with him and he instructed them,
he wanted people to know that he had come out of that tomb.
that his sacrifice was sufficient to come up from the ashes of
that sacrifice. And he did. And now there's no
more condemnation. That's why there's no more tears.
Condemnation is death. Condemnation is judgment. And
as a result of no condemnation, we look at God and say, I can
quit weeping now. There's such peace that we have.
I can quit weeping over this. Alright, turn with me to John
17 verse 4. Lord Jesus, great high priestly
prayer. There's so many nuggets in this
John 17. that add to the nuggets we find all over the scriptures.
John 17 and verse 4. Now, this is such a statement.
I like to read about finished work. Now, some of you recognize
a little difference around our place with all those trees gone.
I visited with a neighbor over here and he says, I can see the
hills, the Klikatats now. There's no trees. And yet, if
you come over here in the daylight, those guys that cut down all
those trees left one tree four feet high back here. Now why in the world? That's
just like religion. We got it all done. And you make
an inspection and you find out they don't have it all done.
It's not finished. Well, look at what the Lord Jesus
Christ said about His ministry and His work. He did not leave
a four-foot stump around. You're not going to uncover this.
You know? Oh, we got it all stacked up
with wood. You'll never notice. Jesus Christ did nothing in the
corner. It was all sufficient and all
glorious. And here in John chapter 17,
and there in verse 4, the Scriptures say, I have glorified thee in
the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. And that's read in my Bible.
That's the words of the Lord Jesus. I have finished the work
well guess where we're going next It's finished It is finished
all the work and that's in John 19 verse 30 Jesus Christ from
the cross he said this it is finished and that's why there's
no more tears and That's why there's no more sorrow. That's
why there's no more death. That's why it is all clean with
God. The slate is clean. He can hold
nothing against His people. As far as the east is from the
west, it's clean. Buried in the deepest sea, it's
clean. All sin is put away by the Lord Jesus. It was so sufficiently
taken care of that on the third day, as promised, He came out
of that tomb victorious. He's the sacrifice they saw from
three o'clock to six o'clock in the afternoon. He was under
the pangs of the horrificness of our sin. And when it was over
with, he said, it's finished. John chapter 19, verse 30, it
says, When Jesus, therefore, had received
the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and bowed his head and gave up
the ghost. Now, his life was not taken from him. He tells
us that. I lay down my life that I might take it up again. It
was not taken from him. He didn't die as a result of
being on the cross. He didn't die as a result of
going through all this agony, all his suffering. He did not
die. He gave up his life. He's still in command of it,
even after all of this. And so, this is why the scriptures
tell us there will be no more sorrow, no more tears, no more
death. He has taken care of every issue
that stood between us. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit were greatly offended at the work
of Adam in the Garden of Eden, and they've been greatly offended
with the works of man. If you don't believe it, ask
those people in the flood. Go to Sodom and Gomorrah. Ask
those people. Was he greatly offended? Yes,
he was. He turned that place to glass. He's greatly offended. And we just find that is just
a microcosm of what took place on the cross when Jesus Christ
was there, when he became the all-sufficient Savior. Turn with
me to Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9 and verse 12. As we
think about this wonderful work of God, and as a result of it, He will wipe away all tears from
their eyes, and shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying,
neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are
passed away." Now, I look at these as all spiritual. Now,
in glory, all these things will be physical too. But the spiritual
is far more valuable to us now than having all that creak in
my back taken care of. You know, this is not the kind
of pain he's talking about. He's talking about the relationship
we have with God by nature. And we are at loggerheads with
God. In fact, it is spoken of that
we hate Him from our heart. Jesus summed it up and said,
you honor me with your lips, but your heart's far from me.
So there was an anger there. It's taken care of by the Lord.
So these are spiritual statements, spiritual death, spiritual sorrow,
spiritual tears. But in the finality, There will
be no pain in heaven. There will be no tears in heaven.
There will be no death in heaven. There will be no sorrow in heaven.
But these are spiritual things that God applies to his church
right now because of the relationship that's been opened up between
God and man. There's been a reconciliation. Excuse me, Hebrews chapter 9. and verse 12 Hebrews 9.12 neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption for us." This statement
that we find in Revelation chapter 21 verse 4 is absolutely essential. If this be the truth, then Jesus
Christ must have been the sufficient Savior, the sufficient sacrifice. He left nothing undone. He came
up from the sacrifice after being consumed, if you please, spiritually
speaking, consumed by the wrath of God, by the law of God, and
by the hearts of all the people who are around there, and even
by the beating that he got from Satan. Genesis 3 verse 15. Now there's only one time that
Satan got to do with the Lord what he wanted to do. Did he
get to do it in the temptation? No. The Lord rebuked him. He used the word of God. And
then he says, you know, get out of here. And the only time that
man and Satan ever got to do with God What they wanted to
do, and was permitted to do, and prophesied what they would
do, was at the cross. And somehow, Satan was able to
come up against the Lord Jesus Christ and bruise His heel. Now, you know what it is to get
a bruise and what it looks like. It takes a thumpin' to be bruised. And the older we get, it doesn't
take near as much thumpin'. but bruise His heel. And there at the cross, the Lord
Jesus had that assault put on Him. Satan assaulted him in the
way that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit
said that he would do it. Just as it says in Genesis chapter
3 and verse 15. But it also, we find, not only
was it Satan buffeting him at the cross, but God the Father
came down and buffeted him with his justice and law and the necessity
of pouring out on him what was justly due, the Church. If they're
going to go free, someone has to pay for it. Then from the
side the Roman soldiers and the religious people of the day were
beaten on him on all sides They beat on him in the judgment hall
Physically and they beat on him at the cross Thrust a spear into
him and mocked him and then all the rest and when it was all
said and done We can hear him say Hebrews chapter 9 verse 12 Neither by the blood of goats
and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy
place, having obtained eternal redemption." Now, for us, is
in italics. Be nice, just say, he has obtained
eternal redemption. That's what he did. And that's
why we can say, God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall
there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
Now, God does this in a miraculous way. It's through the new birth
that he applies this death of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 5, we've
read this many times, and I'd like to read it again. The Lord Jesus has put away sin
by His death. That's why there's no more sorrow.
There's no more tears. There's no more death. But here,
in 1 Corinthians chapter 5, the Apostle Paul was used to be a
secretary, write some things down to this group of believers
in Corinth. They had been sinners all their
life. And by the grace of God, They
heard the gospel. And by the grace of God, the
Holy Spirit applied that gospel to their heart. and they were
born again. Now that word born again means
born from above. It means it was not a natural
birth. Old Nicodemus made an honest statement. How can these
things be? Must I enter my mother's womb
the second time and be born? That's what it meant to him.
That's what it means to the religious world. That's what it means to
natural man. It's an impossibility. But with God, nothing shall be
impossible, and it is a birth that comes from God. All right,
1 Corinthians 5, verse 17. Uh-oh. 2 Corinthians. Boy, that makes
a big difference. 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 verse
17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature
or a new creation All things are passed away. Behold all things
are become new now in our verse in Revelation 21 verse 4 for
the former things are passed away and The former relationship
with Adam is passed away. The former relationship with
sin is passed away. The former relationship with
judgment for our sin is passed away. These things have all passed
away. And as it's brought out here
in 2 Corinthians 5, verse 17, it says, old things are passed
away. And I like what Brother Henry
Mahan said about that. Not all old things are passed
away. We still have to deal with the flesh. We still deal with
aches and pains, the natural consequences of the fall. We
still deal with physical death. That's just life. But, he also
says here, Behold all, there is not one thing that we had
by nature in this new birth. We don't have anything by nature
in this new birth. Behold, all things become new. There is nothing
spiritual that we brought to this. There's nothing good that
we brought to this. There's nothing physical. Jesus
said, the flesh profiteth nothing. So all things, every spiritual
thing came from the spiritual God. God is a spirit and they
that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. They
must have this new birth in order to worship God correctly. And
they bring nothing to the table. Everything is on the table. God
provides everything. Everything spiritual, God provides
it. We are unable to do that. And
part of this is there will be no more sorrow, no more pain,
no more death, no more tears. Spiritual, our relationship with
God is so perfect. So infinitely perfect, as perfect
as God is, is this relationship. And it's been created by God
and brought to us and given to us. And after he's given it to
us, we recognize the fact that he has given it to us and we
have extreme faith towards him. We have extreme repentance towards
Him and faith given to us. It's extreme. It's extreme. It is not natural to have this
kind of repentance and this kind of faith towards God. We didn't
bring anything to the table. All things become new. So it's
extreme repentance. And repentance is not having
a little view of what we did wrong, sin. Sorry we got caught. But it's a different view towards
God. than we've ever had in our life
because He was the one that we offended. Sin is a consequence. He doesn't want us to deal with
sin. He wants us to come to Him. He's dealt with sin. Faith is
just trusting God. And we don't do that by nature,
but He's got it on the table for us. He's given all things
new. Isaiah chapter 25. There's about
three or four verses over here in the book of Isaiah in chapter
25 through verse 51 that we'd like to read. In Isaiah, the
gospel according to Isaiah has a lot to say about this relationship
that we have with God. In the Old Testament, The physical
relationship to Abraham did not bring them spiritual relationship
with God. And Paul was used to bring that
out in the book of Romans. Not all Israel is of Israel.
And only the true Israelites are those that God has worked
in. Now notice here in the book of Isaiah, chapter 25, verse
6. Isaiah chapter 25. This relationship that God shared
in the Old Testament and brings out and then covers, goes clear
through the New Testament. There's not two different manners
or means or not two different salvations. That's one. It's the same through history.
I'll never forget, even in my lost condition, going to a church
one time, and the teacher in the Bible class said, in the
Old Testament, people were saved by those sacrifices. In the New
Testament, they're saved by grace. I didn't know anything, but I
knew that was wrong. Nobody was ever saved by those
sacrifices just like nobody saved by their self-right sacrifice
It's the grace of God. All right Isaiah 25 verse 6 And in this mountain shall the
Lord of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast
of wines of the leaves, of fat things full of morrow, of wines
of the leaves well refined. Now what he's saying is I'm going
to have a really special blessing here. It was a special blessing to
have these things at your dinner table there. Whatever view you
have today, it was then. It was a special blessing to
have these things at the dinner table. And he says, will make
unto all people a feast of fat things. And he will destroy in
this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people,
and the veil that is spread over all nations." In this mountain,
in the church, he's going to remove that veil that he talks
about, that Moses came off that mountain, and Paul was used to
make reference to this. The veil is still on the Jews
in the reading of the law. It is only taken off in Christ. And here he said, I'm going to
take that veil off. They're not going to be tied
to the law. They're not going to be worshiping
the law. They're not going to have this feeling towards the
law that I've kept and therefore God owes me something. And then in verse 8, He will
swallow up death in victory, and the Lord God will wipe away
tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his people shall
he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord hath spoken
it. He will wipe away tears. He will swallow up death. And the rebuke of his people,
what's the rebuke of his people? The soul that sinneth, it shall
die. That's what God said. There's nothing else to take
care of it. This is the plight we're in and we can't keep the
law. So what do we do? I will take care of that rebuke. And he did that. Isaiah 35. Turn with me to Isaiah 35. This
is a spiritual blessing. These are spiritual blessings
that God has provided because of the successful sacrifice of
Christ. The successful burial of Christ.
The successful resurrection of Christ. That all might know that
He's the first sacrifice. We have said this in the past.
We've read this in the past. You've read this in the past.
That in Christianity, Christ is the only prophet that ever
came out of the tomb. Mohammed's still there. Moses
is still there. His body. All religious leaders,
they're still in the tomb. Now, if they were saved, they're
spiritually with God, but Jesus Christ brought his body out of
the tomb to show the people, his people, demonstrate before
God and show his people that this was a different sacrifice
than any of those millions. they could not do this he has
done this he has been successful alright and the results are there's
no more tears Isaiah 35 verse 3 Isaiah 35 and verse 3, Strengthen
ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them
that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not. Behold,
your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompense, and
He will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall
be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then
shall the lame man leap as a heart. These are all spiritual statements. These are metaphors. These are
similes. The tongue of the dumb sing,
for the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the
desert, and the parched ground shall become a pool, and the
thirsty land springs of water, and the habitation of dragons,
where each day shall be grass with reeds and rushes, And a
highway shall be there, and a way that shall be called the way
of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over
it, but it shall be for those the wayfaring men, though fools
shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any
ravenous beast shall go up thereon. It shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the Lord
shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads, and they shall obtain joy and gladness, and
sorrow and sign shall flee away." What an experience God gives
to His people to put away sorrow and sign and have great joy,
the privilege to approach the Holy God. without tears. We may say in this life, Lord,
I'm sorry. But in that life, thank you, God. In this life,
we may have some pains about it. But in that life, thank you,
you took away all the pain that was between us. And time is fleeting. And then in Isaiah, Chapter 65
all possible causes of fear are removed in Christ with the knowledge
of complete forgiveness all Possible causes of fear are removed because
of his sufficient death because of his sufficient sacrifice He's
taken away all tears now in Isaiah 65 verse 25. This is so often
mentioned with regard to a Thousand year period of time And there's just a statement found in the
scriptures that Jesus Christ has reigned. Jesus Christ is
reigning and Jesus Christ will forever reign. So we don't have
to wait for him to get a throne for a thousand years to reign.
All power, he said, is given unto me in heaven and earth.
He doesn't have to wait for some time when he gets it. He isn't
waiting for the permission of people to get it. He has it. All power. Now, if you want to
count the time between the cross and the coming of the Lord the
second time as the millennium, go ahead. That's a thousand years. That's the time of the gospel
being preached. That's a glorious time, gospel
time. And it's been before the cross,
it's been after the cross. They preach the gospel in the
Old Testament as well as we. That's what the Bible says. And
so we are not looking for a millennium or for a thousand years. We're
looking for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. We're looking for the coming of Christ the
second time, not for signs. But we're looking for Christ
the second time. All right, here in Isaiah 65
verse 25, this is so often said about the millennium time, but
this is a spiritual statement about the conflict between heaven
and men, between men and God. The wolf and the lamb shall feed
together. Now who's the lamb? And what
does he cause in the hearts of the wolves? I'm talking about
natural man, those flea-bitten ornery critters. What does He
do? The wolf and the lamb shall feed
together. What does He do with our heart?
He causes us to be at peace with Him and we'll eat His food. Before that, give me your name. I was reading that again over
there. The seven women. It was Isaiah 7, I think. Seven women shall take one man.
It's just a statement. People, they said, we will provide
our own food, and we'll provide our own raiment, but just give
us your name. We'll provide our own gospel,
and we'll provide our own righteousness. We just need to be called Christians. That's what it is. Now here,
the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat
straw with the bullock. And the dust shall be the serpent's
meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy
in all my holy mountains, saith the Lord. Now before the fall,
every critter was a grazer. It wasn't till after the flood
that we see carnivorous animals. And he's making a statement here.
I am going to bring it back to where it was. Not necessarily
about the critters. I don't know whether there's
going to be dogs in heaven. It doesn't make any difference to me. Is Christ going
to be there? Yes, he is. If he wants to have
a dog, I'll... I don't find any scripture about
it. Critters of any kind being there, but that's his business.
But the church will be there and they'll recognize him and
they'll eat with him because he has changed the heart of the
natural, the carnivorous, to sit with him. He'll change our
heart. That's his promise. They shall call his name Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. And as a result
of that, be no more death, no more sorrow, no more tears. There
shall be no more crying. And then, finally, if you turn
with me over to the book of Psalms, Psalms, Revelation 21 verse 4,
and we mentioned this, it just destroys all the teaching about
degrees and rewards. Everybody, everybody gets this. No, we're not going to have half
a mile. You're going to still have to cry a little. Oh no,
everybody is going to have this that belongs to him, that he
purchased with his own blood. Alright, Psalm 17. Now it hasn't
been that long ago we went through Psalm 17. Now I don't have to
look in my notes. I might have skipped this verse.
I just, my goodness. For me psalm 17 verse 15 as for
me. I will behold thy face in righteousness
I Shall be satisfied when I awake with thy likeness I Awake with I likeness Paul
was used to write, we are predestined to be conformed to the image
of his son. It will be, he's working on it
now, but then there will be identical children. They will all, I don't
say physically, but they'll all be like their Savior who awakened
His likeness. So, as John wrote after the great
statements about the everlasting covenant, 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.