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 Sermon > Heaven |
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Title |
Heaven(10) - New Heaven & New Earth |
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Speaker |
Rev. Jaerock Lee |
Bible |
Revelation 21: 1 |
Date |
2007-02-04 |
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Passage
Revelation 21: 1
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea.
Introduction
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, members of over 5,300 branch churches in Korea and all over the world including the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Honduras, Peru, Bolivia, El Salvador, Argentina, Germany, France, Russia, Belgium, Netherlands, China, Japan, Pakistan, Nepal, Indonesia, Philippines, Taiwan, India, Mongolia, Egypt, Israel, Kenya, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Nigeria, Swaziland, South Africa, Botswana, Cote d'Ivoire, and local sanctuary members, those who are attending the service on the Internet all over the world, and television viewing audiences,
This is the 10th session in the "Heaven" lecture series.
In the last session, I talked to you about the Great White Throne Judgment.
The Great White Throne of God will come down to this earth, and along with the Father who sits on it, God the Son and the Holy Spirit will also become the judge.
The four prophets and the 24 elders will also assist the Great Judgment, so that the Judgment will be made without any mistake. First, those who are not saved will receive their sentences, and they will fall into the Lake of Fire or Lake of Sulfur. And then, those who are saved will receive the Reward Judgment.
When the Reward Judgment is finished, the souls who had received salvation all will enter into the Kingdom of Heaven together, and they will each go into their assigned dwelling place in either paradise; the 1st kingdom, 2nd kingdom, 3rd kingdom of heaven; or in New Jerusalem.
They will finally enter into their dwelling place where they will live forever. From now, I will talk to you in detail about the heavenly kingdom where we will live forever.
The heavenly dwelling places for saved souls are categorized into four different places, but there is also something that is common to all four of them.
In this session, I will tell you about the common factors for all dwelling places in the heavenly kingdom, namely the basic environment of the heavenly kingdom.
Body
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, before the Great Judgment this earth will have been the main stage of human cultivation, but when all souls go to either heaven or hell after the Great Judgment what do you think will happen to it?
Will it stay as it is now? Or, because there is no more human cultivation, will God remove it in a moment with His power?
Today's passage from Revelation 21:1 says, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea."
It may sound like the first heaven and the earth disappeared.
However, after the Great Judgment, the first heaven and first earth will disappear from this current location, but it doesn't mean it will disappear completely, it will just be moved to another location.
Why does God just move the first heaven and first earth to another location and not just cause them to become completely non-existent?
If God completely removes the first heaven and first earth, God's children might miss it a little bit, even though they are in the kingdom of heaven.
They experienced sorrow and pains while they are being cultivated on this earth, but because it's like their second hometown, they may want to visit it sometimes.
God of love considers even this kind of emotion, and that is why He does not completely remove the earth but just moves it to another space, so that His children may visit it when they want.
God's caring love for His saved children is embedded in many other places of heavenly kingdom. So, when you get to the kingdom of heaven, there will be many things that are prepared for you, and through those things, you will feel the love of God. You will be touched, and your heart will be moved by everything each moment.
Brothers and sisters, from now, let us learn about this kingdom of heaven, which is full of God's love.
As I already said, I will tell you about the basic environment that all dwelling places of the kingdom of heaven have as a whole.
First, the sky in the kingdom of heaven, that is referred to by the expression "the new heaven", what is it like?
The first part of Hebrews 8:5 says, ". . .who serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things." As said, most of the things that we have in this physical space, the first heaven, are a copy and shadow of the heavenly things.
In other words, the things that are in the kingdom of heaven are the reality and the original entity and those things in this first heaven of ours are only a copy and the shadows of those things. Therefore, the sky in the kingdom of heaven is also a blue color.
And as the original entity is much clearer than the shadow, the new sky in the heavenly kingdom is a clear and clean sky that is not polluted at all.
Then, why did God make the sky blue?
Spiritually, the blue color lets us feel its depth, height, and clarity. We know that the deeper and clearer the water, the more blue the color of the water of lake or sea.
When we look at clear blue sky, we feel our heart is refreshed and cleared.
Have you ever lain on a grass-covered lawn or field and just looked up at the sky for a while?
If you look at the blue sky, your heart is set at peace, and you can also think and feel that somehow you should live a more righteous and honest life that is as pure and clear as the clear blue sky.
Now, what if the whole sky were white, or yellow, or red, or purple?
Just think of the times when the whole sky is covered by gray clouds.
Then, people become more depressed for no reason, and they think of more of negative things.
But can you remember what it is like when the long rainy season is over and the clouds disappear to show the clear blue sky again? You will feel like your heart is refreshed and you have been set free from a situation that seems to draw the life out of you.
Likewise, according to the color, people's hearts can be refreshed or, on the other hand they can become more complex. God made the sky the blue color, which affects us in a good way. It is God's consideration for us that we, His children, can live happily forever with beautiful heart, which is clear as crystal.
Brothers and sisters, in this world, the sun shines during the day, and the moon shines during the night. Will the sun and the moon shine in the kingdom of heaven, too?
We have a clear answer about it in Revelation 22:5. It says, "And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever."
In heavenly kingdom, there is the light of glory of God, which is much brighter than the sun light, and it shines even to the outskirts of paradise. This light of God's glory is so clear and bright, and the magnitude of the brightness is so great.
This brightness of light of the God's Glory is so bright that if this light of His glory is shone directly to the souls in paradise, it will be too bright for them to even open their eyes. They won't even be able to lift up their heads. Not only for those who are in paradise, but for all other souls who are in the other places of Heaven, all except for those in New Jerusalem, it will be too bright.
That is why God controls the brightness of this light.
When this light emanates from New Jerusalem to the Third Kingdom of Heaven, the brightness is reduced to some extent. As it goes to the 2nd kingdom, the 1st kingdom, and to Paradise, the brightness is reduced more and more.
Because the light of God's glory is always shining in the Kingdom of Heaven, there is no darkness at all, and so there is no night.
Now, is there anybody who worries thinking, "We should sleep at night so that we can rest and the tiredness will go. If there is no night, bright everywhere, how can we sleep?"
But you don't have to worry like this at all. Even though you visit many places and do many things, you won't ever get tired, so you won't need any rest to recover from exhaustion.
You will just be joyous, delighted, and happy whatever you do. Also, the heavenly body you will have in the Kingdom of Heaven is completely different from this physical body.
Therefore, we won't need any rest for recovery, but we sometimes feel the need to take some personal time rather than associating with others.
In heaven, your privacy is guaranteed, and everything is run in a very orderly manner, so when you want to be alone, you can have privacy as much as you want.
But again, the amount of freedom given is different according to the different dwelling place.
When you want to have some privacy, you can just go to your house, but in heaven, there is a dwelling place where there is no personal house.
I will talk to you about these spaces where you can take rest and personal houses at a later time in greater detail when I explain to you about each of the dwelling places of heaven.
Brothers and sisters, even in the sky of the Heavenly Kingdom, there are clouds.
When you look at the sky in this world, it is good to watch the clear blue sky without any clouds, but if you just see that all the time, you may feel it is boring.
Sometimes, it's better to see clouds that are white and look soft as cotton floating around in the sky. Also, the reddened clouds during sunset are also beautiful.
Also, as you see the clouds changing their shapes, it may seem that they are telling you a story or making pictures.
We can feel the sky of this world is much more beautiful because of the clouds, and how much more beautiful will the sky in Heavenly Kingdom be, with many more elements to make it more beautiful?
God will place clouds in the sky in heavenly kingdom, too, to add to the beauty to the heavenly kingdom. They are like decorations, and the sky in heaven will be much more beautiful than any beauty associated with the clouds in our sky.
Also, clouds add to the happiness of the residents of the Kingdom of Heaven.
For example, when a person in New Jerusalem is thinking of the love of God the Father and is praising God, looking at the sky, his ministering angels may make heart shapes with the clouds, or write with the clouds saying, "Father, I love you!" reading the mind of their master. How much happier it will be and how overflowing with love each person will be!
As said, the clouds in heaven are like decorations, but they also have another function for those souls who go to the Third Kingdom of Heaven or above. I will explain this when we get to that part later.
Brothers and sisters, we have the sun and the moon on this earth, and because of the rotation and revolution of the earth, we have the four seasons of spring, summer, fall, and winter.
Now, because there is no sun or moon, nor the movement of celestial bodies like rotation and revolution, will there be no change of seasons?
God the Father does not need any change of season, but He made it for His children.
In heaven, it doesn't take place by any movement of celestial bodies but by the power of God. But the four seasons are adjusted more appropriately than this earth.
That way, we can enjoy the beautiful nature of each season as much as we want.
Then, even in heaven, do we have to suffer from hot weather in summer and cold weather in winter?
It's not so. There will be spring, summer, fall, and winter in heavenly kingdom, but it's not either hot or cold, and the entire natural environment will be the most appropriate for God's children to live.
Just as we can enjoy the four seasons, we can enjoy the falling leaves in fall, and the scenery of white snow in winter. We can see much more beautiful natural sceneries than this earth.
Here, because I say we will enjoy falling leaves in autumn, you should not misunderstand thinking trees in heaven also wither in autumn.
Because the Heavenly Kingdom is a spiritual realm, there is nothing fleshly that perishes and changes.
Thus, even if there are falling leaves in the kingdom of heaven, it's not because they wither, but by the power of God, the falling leaves themselves are created to add to the beauty of the autumn season.
It's the same with spring, summer, and winter. We all have certain elements that make us feel each season is very beautiful while we are being cultivated on this earth.
God made the four seasons in heaven so that we will feel the same kind of emotion in the heavenly kingdom, and we will feel it much more perfectly and more beautifully.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, until now, I told you about things that are mainly related with the sky of the heavenly kingdom, and now, I will talk to you about the land of the heavenly kingdom, which is the new earth.
The land of heavenly kingdom is not of soil like this earth. The land in heavenly kingdom is made of gold, silver, and many other precious stones.
Even heavy metals, if they are ground into powder, they will become like dust and be flown away by wind. But if they are made as tiny metal balls, they will not be flown away by wind.
The gold, silver, and various precious stones that make up the ground of the heavenly kingdom are in the shape of small metal balls, so there is no dust in the kingdom of heaven.
The elements that make up the land of the kingdom of heaven are like little balls similar to the sand of this world.
The land in this world is made of the components of the soil that changes and decay over time, thus letting us know the meaninglessness of life and death.
In order to let us understand this, God made the land of this world with soil. He also let the plants in it also die and decay.
But the heavenly kingdom is the eternal realm of only truth, so even the land on which we step is made of something that is never changing.
Also, just as plants will grow from the soil, plants can grow even from the land made of gold, silver, and other precious jewels. But unlike this world, they do not decay and they will live forever.
Brothers and sisters, now let us talk about the roads that will be laid on the land made of gold, silver, and other jewels.
First, in every dwelling place of heavenly kingdom, they commonly have a road made of pure gold.
But of course, in different places, the glittering coming out from the gold is different.
Unlike the pure gold of this earth, the pure gold of heavenly kingdom is not soft but hard, but when you walk on the road of pure gold, you feel it to be very soft.
Also, in heaven there is no dust or anything dirty, and nothing wears out. So, even though people walk on it so much, it is not damaged.
In heaven, other than this road of pure gold, there are many other roads like roads of flowers and roads of jewels. Even on this earth, we feel different when we walk on soil, on the lawn, on a gravel road, or asphalt.
In much the same way, we feel different walking on different kinds of roads, and the happiness felt is also different.
Even on this earth, we have something like escalator or moving walk. If we just stand on it, we will go up the stairs or move forward. Also, in heavenly kingdom, there are roads on which we can just stand and automatically be moved by the power of God.
I will elaborate on this in the next session.
Conclusion
Dear Brothers and sisters in Christ, today, I told you about the sky and land of the kingdom of heaven.
If you truly believe what you heard today, your desire for the world or the things of the world will naturally disappear.
The most precious things on this earth, gold, silver, and jewels are the materials of the land and road in the heavenly kingdom.
If the land and the roads of heavenly kingdom are made of jewels, how much more splendid and beautiful other things would be!
Matthew 13:44 says, "The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."
Yes, it's true. If you have true faith and are wise, when you come to know what kind of place the heavenly kingdom is, you will joyfully sell all your possessions and buy the heavenly kingdom, as if you found treasure in a field.
Here, what is your possession that you have to sell in an attempt to gain heavenly kingdom?
It is all kinds of untruths that are in your heart.
To the extent that you cast off untruths in your heart and not commit the things of the flesh and works of the flesh, and to the extent that you cast off the things that you love more than God, you will be able to possess a better heavenly dwelling place.
I pray in the name of the Lord that you will be overflowing with hope through this message, sell all your possessions of untruth quickly, and gain more beautiful land in the kingdom of heaven as your eternal inheritance. |
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