Our Life in Eternity

I want you to turn with me to Revelation 22. We're gonna come to the very last message of this series on searching for a city. In this entire series, I split the same series into two different series.

We start a series called Christ the Only Foundation. We're taught 17 messages just on that specific series series showing that Christ is the spiritual foundation of the church, of our personal life, of all things, of creation itself. He is the foundation of everything.

And then I thought that was getting too long, so initiated another series though it was attached to that, and that was searching for a city. And it is now gone to 14 messages as we finish. But saints of God, the word of God is a living thing.

I don't strive to find messages. I just let the word of God speak. I pray, I seek for the mind of God.

It's not an effort to find. It takes labor, hard work to wrestle through the scriptures to find the mind of God. But do you know what? This is a living book.

There is life in this. If the church, if preachers, pastors returned to preach in the word of God again, remember what Paul says to Timothy? Preach the word, preach the word. That's where the church has gone wrong.

If you replace the word of God with stories and testimonies, no matter how dramatic or amazing, it is not sufficient. Great preachers I've seen who in later years they've demised. And the reason is they didn't preach the word of God like they once did in earlier days.

And we've had the past couple of weeks questions and answers. And often after preaching, I'll say, is there any questions? At times, there's no questions. At other times, it could go for an hour, just spontaneous desiring to know the word of God.

And you know what? A vital part of the teaching ministry is questions and answers. That's not just something we're adding on or that's on biblical. It is a vital part of New Testament, biblical teaching ministry.

It is that question and answer is contained within the word itself and the ministry. So it's all vital that we might find the mind of Christ. But I wanna finish this series here tonight.

We've been looking at searching for a city. And we looked at Hebrews 11, verse eight. Listen to what it says about Abraham.

By faith, Abraham, he initiated a journey looking for something. This is in Genesis. In other words, from Genesis to Revelation, there has been a search of every real child of God, the elect, the redeemed.

It says by faith, Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place, which he should have to receive for an inheritance, he obeyed and went out not knowing whether he went. Then listen, two verses later, verse 10. For he looked for a city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God.

So Abraham initiated a journey from day one when he was called out of Ur, away from idolatry, away from family, away from his own culture and society and his own city that he was birthed in, Ur of the Chaldeans. As he was called away, he initiated a journey looking for a city. How did he do it? By faith.

By faith, Abraham left, then went searching his entire life. He never found it, this side of eternity. He never entered into this city.

It wasn't Jerusalem. It wasn't Hebron. It wasn't any earthly city.

He was looking for a city. And listen to what it says. For he looked for a city.

He was searching. He was desiring a city which has foundation, whose builder and maker is God. Abraham is the father of the faith and initiated a journey we are all to embark on, looking for a city.

Many genuine Christians don't know they're looking for a city. They may even be looking for a city down here, but yet the Bible is clear. We look for a city.

It's an act of faith. Let's read the word of God. Revelation 22, verse one.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and out of the land. In the midst of the street of it and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bear 12 manners of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the land shall be in it. And the servants shall serve him and they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads. And there shall be no night there and they need no candle, neither light of the sun for the Lord God giveth them light and they shall reign forever and forever.

Let's pray. Father, we love you. We praise you tonight.

Lord God, that we are searching for a city. Will you sustain us, O God? Lord God, as we are bombarded by all things on the left and the right, Lord God, as we're assaulted by temptations, fiery arrows, by deceptions from the evil one, Lord God, as we're surrounded, Lord God, by the coldness and iniquity that's abounding and increasing in this world that we live in, Lord God, as we see night dawning upon this generation, Lord God, as we see the very banks of the river bursting and this river of iniquity flowing into every area of society, Lord God, as we realize there's powers of darkness being released in our world, Lord God, without restriction, as we realize our own wrestle and fight with that old man, the old nature, the Adamic nature. Father, I'm asking of you that you'd open up such a vision of this city, O God, by faith, Lord God, by the spirit of faith, we are searching, we are looking, we are longing, we are desiring that city tonight.

Lord God, a city whose builder and founder is Jesus Christ. Lord God, we thank you, our God in heaven. Lord God, there's a city built by your hand.

Even right now, you're preparing the dwelling place that we shall dwell in for all eternity. Lord God, no eye could imagine or comprehend what it looks like. No ear could fathom the words that would describe it.

Lord God, no heart could perceive the loveliness, the beauty, the blessing of God, the satisfaction of abiding in that city. But as we close this city, Father, stir our hearts, Lord God, with this calling to, Lord God, forsake the things of this world, human ambition, natural gains, Lord God, the things that men search after, and Lord God, to give our best in searching for a heavenly Jerusalem. In Jesus' mighty name, amen, amen.

Our message here tonight, part 14, as we close our life in eternity, most preachers, most churches will deal with our life here and now, and rightfully so. Some on the other side, as I've said, flip it and only talk about our life to come. They neglect the walk of faith here.

But we don't wanna do that. We don't wanna fall into either ditch. We do wanna talk about our life here.

But let's not, in overemphasizing what you should be, what you should look like, what you should do, and teach in week in, week out, that we lose what this is about. You're only here for a short time. Life is very short.

This is your training ground. This is a place of preparation. This isn't where everything happens.

This isn't your ultimate call. If you thought everything is about your calling now, either I serve God now or I won't ever get a chance, that is not true. You could be a street sweeper.

You could sit in this church and seem to have no noticeable ministry. And yet in the time to come, you could have a dynamic serving ministry. And we will touch on this a bit here tonight.

But I'm dealing with our life in eternity. What does eternity look like for the righteous? And we've dealt with a number of things surrounding this as we've looked at Revelation 21 and Revelation 10. We've looked at Revelation 22.

But I wanna close this series out dealing with certain things we haven't dealt with yet, or at least the first four points. And I want us to see very clearly, there's things in the new heaven, new earth, in the new Jerusalem that are glorious. That is gonna be our dwelling place for all eternity.

Let's look at this in Revelation 22 as we close here tonight, verse one to five. This is my first point, the throne of God. What do you find in the new heaven and earth? Because that in itself doesn't attract me.

What do you find in the new Jerusalem? Gold and pearls? You think that's the attraction? Absolutely not. Want to be reunited with family members, loved ones that you've lost in this life? Is that the attraction? To not suffer in hell? All of these are real things. To meet Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

To sit down with Paul and discuss theology. To speak to Peter and talk about the day of Pentecost. All these things are glorious, but that's not why I'm looking for the city.

That isn't the attraction it holds. Look at this first point. It says in chapter 22, verse one, and he showed me a pure river of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

This is our first point here tonight, is the throne of God. I want you to see the throne of God is there in this city. Where is the throne of God? It is in this city, not just in heaven, not just invisible, not just symbolic, not just spiritual.

What you have right at the very heart of this city is the throne of God. And when you begin to realize what this throne is, what it defines, what it means to us, when you begin to see a picture of what it's like to dwell in the new Jerusalem, it's extraordinary. See, when it says the throne of God is there, it is speaking about government.

A throne is a place for a king. A throne is a place where a kingdom gets administered. So when we read about the throne of God being there in the new Jerusalem, we're actually seeing the government of God.

This isn't democracy. God doesn't say, oh, they're perfect now. No sin nature, no temptation, no failure, no pride, no jealousy, no arrogance, none of that within them.

So let's just have a democracy. He doesn't do that. He doesn't say, they're now in a perfect state of holiness, righteousness with a pure heart.

So I don't need to govern anymore. He doesn't say that. When you begin to see that in the new Jerusalem, there is government, there is order, there is authority, there is a king.

And you know what? We are caught up in this government. You and I, the redeemed of the Lord, are actually gonna be a part of this government. We're not just under government and under authority.

We actually, in the future, eternal state forever and ever, we are gonna be part of a divine governing government. It's got order, authority, it's got rule. But do you know what that throne of God also represents? It's the sovereignty of God.

He never relinquishes authority, never. We're not like the Mormons who say, all of us progress to be little gods in eternity. That's a lie, that's a deception.

The Mormons are hell-bound. You can't be a real Mormon and get to heaven. You can't do that.

It's heresy what they teach about Jesus. It's heresy what they teach about us, that we become gods, that's heresy. To deny that Jesus is God, divine, that's heresy.

But yet we see here in the scripture that this throne of God is a sovereign throne. This throne has always been there. It didn't just start existing here.

God has always had his throne. It was there before anything was created. The planets, the stars, the earth, mankind, the throne of God was always there.

This throne that we see here is an eternal throne. It's never diminished, never lost its power, never failed. If you study the Bible carefully and you go to Acts chapter two, you begin to see this outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

You see the Holy Spirit fallen in 120 and 3,000 being born again. Where did that come from? When you read Acts chapter two, you actually read Peter showing you where it comes from. He said, it comes from the throne of God.

Go back and read it. That is the source of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. And back in Psalm 89, King David, when he begins to write about the throne of God, he says, God's seed on the earth that are joined to that throne in every generation, they will endure even as sure as God's throne in heaven will endure.

Can you imagine we the seed of God through every age are joined to the throne of God? You are weak, you are fallible, you can be overcome. And yet we are joined and aligned to a throne that is everlasting, that is reigned, that is ruled. You know, Paul and Ephesians, I wasn't gonna say this, but it's coming out for some reason.

In Ephesians chapter four, when Paul writes about the five gifted ministries that are given to the church, are five gifted men given to the body of Christ to edify them. Do you know where he says they're given from? Christ on the throne. The throne in the Bible comes up time after time after time in every aspect of life.

It is amazing, it's dramatic. But do you know what you have here? Not an invisible throne, not the throne of God in heaven. Now you have the throne of God on the earth in the new Jerusalem, literally, physically, visibly.

I don't believe the throne here is symbolic. I believe it's a real throne, it's a throne of God. Do you know God's throne has always been there? Listen to how Jesus taught you to pray every day.

And you're not to pray the Lord's prayer off just the words of it. I heard a man preach a month and he said, this used to be what the old Jews would do is teach a prayer like this. And you take every sentence and you break it down and you spend an hour praying through that prayer.

It's never meant as a 30 second or 20 second prayer, never. But listen to how the Lord's prayer initiates. In Matthew chapter 6, 10 is what Jesus teaches.

Thy, sorry, not initiate, but it's in there. It says, thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven.

Do you see how Jesus is teaching us how to pray? For 2000 years, the church has prayed, thy kingdom come. Did you ever wonder what that really meant? We've taught entire messages on these individual statements. Thy kingdom come.

Do you know what that's saying? God's kingdom coming on the earth. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.

The throne is in heaven. The kingdom is in heaven. Every time we pray daily, we should be saying, oh, that thy kingdom would come.

Your rule and reign on the earth. We're looking for your throne to come. We're looking for the king to come.

The word for kingdom used all through the New Testament, basilea, it actually means a royal dominion. The sovereign rule of a king. It means that realm where the king carries authority and he speaks his word and that word is obeyed.

That is a kingdom. And you know what? We actually see God's throne. A throne that a king sits on.

Come, Lord Jesus. Acts, sorry, Revelation chapter 19 speaks about Jesus coming as king of kings and Lord of lords. The king is coming.

He not only comes on a white horse, he comes on a throne in power and great glory. He comes in majesty and every knee will bow. Every tongue will confess.

Not only of those living, but all those that have died thus far through all of history. All of creation will stand before him and they'll bow the knee. Hitler will bow the knee.

Mussolini will bow the knee. All the great leaders of our world are gonna be there as nothing bowing the knee. What a day that is gonna be.

But you know, when we get to act, sorry, Revelation chapter 22 and 21, all of that is behind us now. And what you see is the throne of God, not in heaven, but on the earth. God's kingdom has come.

His will has been done. As it was in heaven, so now shall it be eternally in the new heaven and the new earth. It's a remarkable thing.

I want you to see some things about this throne. Look what it says here in verse one. The throne of God and of the lamb.

Don't separate that. The throne of God is also the throne of the lamb. The word lamb used here is the word for the Paschal lamb, the sacrificial lamb.

It's not just a young lamb. It's talking about a sacrificial lamb that was used in religion and the Jewish faith. It's talking about the lamb that was chosen, picked out, prepared, made ready, sacrificed on a certain day in a certain way.

That's what this word lamb actually defines. It's actually a lamb slain. So the throne of God in the new Jerusalem will always be the throne of God and of the lamb.

You can't separate. That throne of God is the throne of the lamb. There's no distinction.

It's one throne. It's a united throne. And I want you to see that.

There's only one throne here in the new Jerusalem. One united throne. It's God's throne, but it's the lamb's throne.

In other words, it shows the deity of Jesus Christ that he was divine. I've often asked through the years, and I love to ask children. I say, was Jesus the son of God or was he God? I love to ask kids that.

I love to ask adults that. Because we live in such an illiterate hour. You ask people, is he God or is he the son of God? And they hesitate.

They don't have an answer. But you ought to say both. He's God.

He's also the son of God. And it's not wrong to say God and the lamb. It's showing his deity, his unity, and yet his distinction as a person.

There isn't one person in the Trinity. There's three persons. It's not three manifestations of one person.

It is three persons united as one. Try unity, three in unity, as 1 John actually teaches. There are three in heaven that are in unity, and there's three things on earth that are also unified.

So we see who the lamb is. We know it's Jesus Christ who died on a tree, on a cross 2,000 years ago. Look at this throne that's at the center of the New Jerusalem.

It is God's throne. God is not now a far off in heaven, separate from the earth. We see God's throne in the New Jerusalem in a city that's reigning in the new heaven and the new earth.

It's the throne of the lamb. The lamb is always gonna be at the center of eternity. The lamb slain is the very central truth that constantly gets brought to us.

He's a king, but he's also a lamb. It's a throne to reign, but we can never forget we are redeemed by love, by grace, by mercy. We can never forget the bleeding lamb.

We'll never forget Calvary. We won't have a memorial table each Sunday to remember his death. Every time we look at the throne of God, the government of God, the authority of God, the reign of God, constantly we're reminded the lamb of God.

We can never get away from that truth. And if a church stops preaching that, it's finished. A church that doesn't incessantly preach the lamb of God, remember his death and the breaking of bread, doesn't sing the songs of redemption, doesn't in its prayers as a church, speak about the blood, plead the blood, pray about the blood, thank God for the blood and the bleeding of Christ and the death of Calvary.

It's finished, that church is finished. It also says here in Revelation 21, verse three, 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. Look at how God is coming down to rule in the midst of his people.

He's gonna dwell there, that means abide and stay, not come and go, not appear and disappear. God is gonna be there in all of his glory and majesty and all of his splendor and his sovereignty and his redemption. Do you realize you won't be able to come before the throne of God without thinking of his sovereignty, without thinking of blood redemption? All of these truths are gonna be there, manifest his glory, his attributes, his character, his history.

We're gonna be in eternity constantly remembering the blood of the lamb and the work of redemption. And then notice it says in this first one, proceeding out of it, there's a river and that's gonna be my second point. But notice for a second before we go there, this throne of God, the river proceeds out of the throne.

The throne is the source of everything in eternity. If you wanna trace anything in eternity back, you're gonna go to the throne. Life comes from it, sustenance comes from it, provision comes from it.

This is the very source of all things. It is the authority of all things. It is the source of everything we get in eternity and it's visible, literal and it's upon the earth.

It says in Revelation 21 and five, and he that sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, write for these words are true and faithful. Do you see that? It's the one sitting on the throne said this, I make all things new.

This is a mark of the throne of God. It was because the throne of God Pentecost came. It was because the throne of God that Saul of Tarsus got converted on his way to kill Christians in Damascus.

It's because of the throne of God that you're still standing here tonight. The throne of God, you are a testimony to the invisible throne of God. I'm a testimony.

There's a throne in heaven that cannot be shook. I'm not strong. The throne of God is strong.

But you know as well here, a manifestation of this throne is that he makes all things new. Everything is new. It shows the power of that throne.

Everything is new, a new heaven, a new earth, a new creation, a new start. You know what? That's a manifestation of the power of God's eternal throne. And he said unto me, write for these words are true and faithful.

Saints of God, this is true what I'm telling you. I'm not testifying about something of my own making. This is the written scripture written down 2000 years ago.

And you know, everything written about this study and the throne of God, it is true and faithful because it comes from the lamb of God. It comes from God in heaven. But just a flashback to Sunday morning says in Revelation 321, to him that overcometh, will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and I'm sat down with my father in his throne.

So look at the promise to the overcomers for eternity. I overcame. I sat down in my father's throne.

But look at the invitation on this one united governmental throne. I want you to sit there. There's a promise to the overcomer to have a joint place on the throne of God.

You're not God. You're not divine. But this throne, this government, this rule, this reign of Jesus Christ, you're actually brought in.

You're not merely a spectator. You're brought in on something vast of the government of God that we've only seen taste of all through creation, all through world history. It's an everlasting throne from everlasting to everlasting is your throne of God.

Look at the Psalms. Begin to look at the throne of God in the Psalms and you get a picture of what God's throne really looks like. But second of all, the river of life.

Again in verse one, look what it says. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. Down in verse two it says, on either side of the river.

This is not a symbolic river. It's a literal river. It's a real river.

It's one river, one throne, one river. I actually don't believe, biblically you can prove there's gonna be many rivers, many lakes, many whatever all around the earth. What I can tell you biblically, there's gonna be one river.

And I believe that river will flow everywhere throughout the earth. Every nation, providing for every person. There's not gonna be an area of the new heaven and earth, sorry, the new earth, that this river does not reach.

It says back in Genesis chapter two and 10. And a river went out of Eden to water the garden, one river. And from thence it was parted and became into four heads.

Was the river in Eden symbolic or literal? It was literal. Were the four branches some symbolic doctrinal meaning to them? Or was it a literal river? It was a literal river that flowed in the garden of Eden. Of course today they make Adam symbolic and they make the garden symbolic and they make creation symbolic.

And we've got all these so-called born again Christians who say we descended from apes and monkeys. That's heresy. You will lose your soul playing with stuff like that.

Very dangerous to make what's literal biblical history into some symbolic meaning. Six literal days of creation. God created everything in what? How long? Not just saying it in Genesis, but again, over in the law of God, Moses writing it down.

God created everything in six days. You can't have the earth, the universe, or some nucleus of the earth created a billion years or millions of years before the six days of creation. You cannot do that.

Everything was created in six days. Either that's true or it's not true. You cannot stretch it.

And so we have this river of God. We see a river of God in Eden. We also see the tree of life in Eden.

We see God in Eden. We see man in Eden. We see everything beginning in the garden of Eden.

But this one river was provided. Everything came out of one river in the garden of Eden. It was one river.

And look what it says about the water or this river that's in the New Jerusalem. It was a pure river of the water of life. It was pure.

And then it says clear as crystal. There's an emphasis here. This river is a pure river.

It is clear as crystal. You know crystal, you can see through it. Light shines through a crystal.

It's beautiful. This river, you can see everything in the river, everything through the river. It is a pure river.

You know what this means? It's transparent. There's something beautiful about a transparent man or woman. You just see everything.

You just see the motives. You see the intents of the heart. There's something very beautiful.

Let me go further. I believe God considers it beautiful when we're transparent before him, when we're naked before him, when we're open before him, when we're not disguised and things, but we're open and real and genuine. When we're transparent and say, Lord, search me and see if there'll be any wicked thing.

That's transparency. And you know what? A river, water is the source of all life. You could maybe reach 50, 60 days without food.

You could. You can't do that without water. You can't do it.

Some preachers lie, unless it's happened miraculously. They say they can fast for weeks without water. That's rubbish.

You will damage yourself without water. A three-day water fast, yes, but you can't do without water. Life is sustained and reliant.

You cannot exist without water. And yet you drink all your drinks, the Coke. None of you drink iron brew here.

Some of you drink Pepsi, whatever, whatever your drink is, or fresh apple juice and orange squash and all of the rest. And we despise water, but I want to tell you, mankind would perish without water. It is the source of life.

And so we see that in the city of God, we have this river of life. It's transparent. Nothing is hidden.

There's no corruption in this river. Life comes out of it. It actually brings forth trees in the city of God.

Trees actually have their source in this river and the river has its source in the throne of God. Do you see how this goes? The throne of God, the river, then we come to trees. But look at this river of life.

It is flowing. It says a pure river of life. When you go to the next verse, verse two, it seems to, a lot of scholars, a lot of Greek people are expert in Greek.

They find it hard to understand these two verses. It's hard to explain exactly. But what seems to be happening here is there is a open avenue, an open central part.

It says in verse two, in the midst of the street, and the word street there can mean an open plaza, a marketplace, a meeting place, a place at the center of a city. It's a place, it's not just a street, but it's a massive open area right in the center. And you know what? That water or that river is coming forth right in the midst of that city, in the midst of the street of it.

That's where the water is gushing out. And that's why you get trees either side of the street beginning to grow up and around this. But this river of life proceeding out of the throne of God, it's a kingdom river.

It's got obligations. There is an order within it. There is governmental authority in this river.

When you go back into the Old Testament, you see rivers flowing out of the city of God constantly, but they're different than this river. Just like the river that flowed out of Eden, it's not the same river, but it's certainly a picture looking forward to it. So we read in Ezekiel 47, when it talks about the Jerusalem during the millennium, during the thousand years, when Jesus comes to reign on the earth, the literal physical city of Jerusalem.

What does it say in Ezekiel 47? A river is going to newly begin to flow out of Jerusalem. When Jesus comes back and puts his feet on the Mount of Olives, the Mount of Olives is gonna split in two and out of it flows a river. And it's gonna flow into the Mediterranean and then it's gonna flow east as well.

It's gonna into the Dead Sea. It's a remarkable river. But you know what? That isn't this river, but it shows God's principle.

There's always a river. In Zechariah 14 and eight, we read about this river in the millennium and it's remarkable. But listen to what it says in Revelation 21 and six.

I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Do you realize this river is for you? It's planned for you. If you're under the kingship of Jesus, if you've been redeemed by the blood of the lamb, then this river has been provided for you with a source in the throne of God.

But do you know what? It's only for those who are thirsty. Are you thirsty tonight? I mean, are you desperately thirsty? Are you there panting for the water of life? It says in Psalm 46 verse four, there is a river. The streets whereof, sorry, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most high.

David the Psalmist was not talking about a literal river. Definitely not. There was no river flowing down into the holy place in the tabernacle.

There was no river there. No literal, no visible river. So what's David talking about? There is a river whereof shall make glad the city of God.

David knew a river, a spiritual river, an invisible river, a river that flowed from God's throne above. We used to sing an old song. I wish we sang it here.

There is a river that flows from God above. A beautiful, I used to sing that time after time, just as a prayer. And then there's another one.

Oh, river of God, flow down. Flow down on me. Saints of God, are you thirsty for this river? In eternity, there's a river to satisfy your deepest longings, your disappointments, the things that you've missed here in life.

You're gonna be satisfied with the water of God freely. This is a pure flowing river from God and it's provided for the thirsty. We are gonna drink in that city.

I actually believe God has built eternity. So we're dependent. We're perfect.

But we're not like Eve or Adam that have everything. God provides everything. But you go, no, I want the knowledge of the tree of good and evil.

I wanna eat of that fruit. I wanna know. I wanna make my own decision.

I wanna stand on my own feet. I believe through all eternity. We're dependent.

We're perfect. We have need for nothing. And yet we're dependent.

We're dependent on the throne. We're dependent on the river of life. You know, Jeremiah prophesied from God in Jeremiah 2.13. And it says this, God speaking to the nation, they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters.

God is the fountain of living waters. He's the source. It's where the waters come from.

It's God's being. Do you know how to receive of this river now tonight? Do you understand about this spiritual river? There is a river flowing right now. You can't see it.

You don't feel it. It's not visible. But there is a throne of God that could make you glad.

If you drink of these waters, if you literally are caught in this river of God, and since men of God and women of God all through the ages have experienced this, I'm not talking about anything strange here or strange manifestations or Toronto. I reject that. I'm talking about an inward spiritual experience of the river of God David talked about.

It makes the city of God glad. And since we need that in this hour, because it's getting awfully dark, we need to experience the river of God again. And you know what God says? You've forsaken me, the fountain of living waters.

That's why you're dry. That's why you're thirsty. That's why you're barren.

You're not drinking of me. You're not drinking from my waters, but you've hewed them out, cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water. Can you imagine a little broken cistern or vessel or cup and you're trying to hold water in it to drink? I mean, it's broken.

And you're pouring water in. I'm trying to drink. He says, what? That's all the human things you're looking to are like broken cisterns.

I'm the fountain of water. I'm the source of all this. Third of all, the tree of life, the throne of God, the river of life, the tree of life, verse two.

In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river was there the tree of life, which bear 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Do you know the Bible starts with a particular tree and it ends with a particular tree? And it's the same tree.

The first tree mentioned in the Bible is also the last tree mentioned in the Bible. It's the tree of life. And that's written here that you have the tree of life.

It's actually mentioned growing three places in the midst on either side. How can you have a tree? It was a tree of life. It's grown either side of the river.

How can that be when it's one tree? See one throne, one river, one tree. See all the ones here. How can you have a grown either side of the river? There must be multiple trees.

Or is there only one tree or one kind of tree or one brand of tree? There's no other tree mentioned here. Don't read about multiple trees, different kinds of trees, diverse trees. We don't read about it here.

We read about one tree in the New Jerusalem and it's right at the heart of things. You notice how everything is not only one tree, it's also central. Everything is at the center.

Everything is in the midst of things that you find here. So this tree of life mentioned at the beginning of the Bible, then it's mentioned at the end of the Bible. It talks about the fruit that are upon this tree of life.

12 manner of fruit, 12 different kinds of fruit. They're not the same fruit. It's not 12 fruit.

It's 12 different kinds of fruit are growing on this singular tree. All different kinds of fruit on the same tree. The same tree producing diverse fruit.

And notice here, this is the last time 12 is mentioned in our Bible. What does 12 represent? Government. 12 always represent.

12 sons of Jacob are Israel to govern the tribes of Israel. 12 apostles of the lamb. It speaks about divine government amongst men.

12 always represents that. So this fruit is for eating. It's edible fruit.

Listen to what it says concerning the millennium back in Jerusalem in Ezekiel 47 verse 12, it says this. And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side shall grow all the trees for meat whose leaves shall not fade. Neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed.

Imagine eating from a tree and yet it was always there. You couldn't not eat it. It was just there.

It can't be consumed. Don't mean it can't be eaten, it can be eaten. It can't be consumed.

Just every time you need it, you go back, it's full. It's bound to fall. What a tree it is.

Brother Jair would love a tree in his garden like this. Says whose leaves shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit according to his months because their waters issued out of the throne of God.

Saints of God, we're looking at something beautiful here in Revelation 22. At the end of time, there is a tree of life. The tree of life was in the Garden of Eden.

They had an option. Don't eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Do you see already we're dealing with three trees.

We deal with the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. What's the third tree? Calvary's tree, the Lamb of God is there. There's three trees that we're dealing with here.

And you know what? Some people, they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. That's what their entire Christianity revolves around. I believe you in the garden, the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil represent the two covenants.

Remember in Galatians, Paul said there's two covenants. Oh, I thought there was many. No, there's only two, law and grace.

There's two ways to have a relationship with God, to have your source in God, to live from God. You can either live in your relationship to God, knowing good and evil, doing right and wrong, do this and live, don't do this and be under a curse. And so Christians, they try to live like this.

Like the Galatians, they so easily move back under law and then they come to be God and there's no life there and they lose the joy and they're not running anymore. They're hitting a brick wall. You know what? You can change trees so easily.

But there's a tree of life. It represents the covenant of grace. It represents a relationship with God that comes by way of Calvary, by the blood of Jesus Christ.

But look at the fruit that is being birthed here. You can eat of this fruit. It is good to eat.

It is satisfying to eat. Do you know God has created eating? You can overeat. Some of yous are eating the wrong thing.

You're also drinking the wrong thing. Coke will kill you. Sweeties and sugar, where's the sugar eaters? The other night.

It'll kill you. You can eat bad and kill yourself. You cause certain diseases in your body because of what you eat, what you consume, what you drink.

You harm your body. But you know what? You have 12 fruit here for our enjoyment, our blessing in eternity. We're gonna eat in eternity.

But look what it says about the leafs. And the leafs of the tree were for the healing of the nations. The leafs on this tree of life bring healing.

It's the Greek word therapeutia. It's where we get the word therapeutic or health given. See, it doesn't heal in the sense of you're sick, succumb to this tree.

It doesn't mean that. Do you know why it doesn't mean that? Because there's no sickness here. There's no curse here.

Remember the curse is from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You eat it, look at the curse that comes. Look at the labor, the burden, the tears, the death.

All of that comes out of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But where you get the new Jerusalem, there's no sickness where the tree of life is, where the river of life is. There's no weeds in the ground.

There's no death. None of this. What you actually have is these leafs bringing healing, satisfying health giving properties.

There's a therapeutic effect of these leafs. You won't be eating nasturtium leafs in eternity. I've got a garden of almost dead nasturtium leafs now.

They were good while they lasted, but they fade. Saints of God, there are leafs there for the healing. They restore, they sustain, they're good for you.

You're gonna eat them. You that don't like green things. Brother Robin in America, you know, he's told us often of his wife trying to put green things.

He'd be looking over his shoulder to make sure no green things go in, no leafs go in there. I wanna tell you, he'll be the first man standing there plucking these green leafs. I'm gonna tell him after this meeting, brother, I know you're, I'm gonna prophesy to him.

You're gonna become a green leaf eater. I'm going back to tell him, I'm gonna message him. Don't you do it before me.

Saints of God, this is real what we are caught up in. It's a very amazing, remarkable thing. It says in Revelation 22 and 13, I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

Then in verse 14, blessed are they that do his commandments that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates of the city. You're very blessed if you have access to this tree of life. It's a tree of life to sustain you.

It'll satisfy you. It is a healthy tree. Saints of God, keep in the commandments now.

We're not preaching law. We're preaching grace. Those under grace keep the commandments of God.

If you do, you have access to that tree. Number four, the nations and kings. You'll be very surprised at this.

It actually talks about nations in the New Jerusalem. In the new heaven and earth, there are nations. There's one unified people, but it's made up of nations.

The word nations is the Greek word ethnos, where we get ethnic from. There is only one race. Obama, I listened to him the other night and he was talking about the races.

There's no races. There's only one race. There's no different races of black and white and yellow and red.

He used to sing a song about that in Sunday school. There's only one race that came from Adam and Eve that began in the garden of Eden. And there's only gonna be one city of God at the end of this.

There's only gonna be one people of God, one bride of Christ, one city of God, the redeemed of God. But hold on, like the 12 fruit, there's diversity. Don't worry, you're not gonna lose your personality.

Do you know what I think in eternity? Christie's still gonna be giving his poems. Man, you haven't heard poems until you hear him in the new heaven, new earth. I think all of these things, there's gonna be natural things that are still there marking us even in eternity.

Because our God's a diverse God. He's a remarkable God. And so you have the nations.

Look at the end of Revelation 22, verse two. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Many people debate and say, oh, no, this must apply to the millennium when there's nations, when there's sinners.

Because it talks about us reigning, talks about those in the city and those outside the city, those that can't get in the gates of the city. So it must be the millennium where there's sinners still. No, it doesn't.

Let me show you what the nations actually mean in context. Settle up because the greatest Bible teachers debate that. It's very simple.

Look with me. Look at chapter 21, 24. I want you to see this just so you register it.

Revelation 21, 24. And the nations of them, which are, what does it say? Saved. Hope it says that in your Bible, your version.

If it doesn't, get rid of it. Get a real one. So the nations, it's talking about in chapter 21 and 22.

The nations aren't outside of the city unsaved. They are the saved nations. Entire nations that are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings of the earth to bring their glory and honor into it.

Talking about the new Jerusalem. There's only one city in the new heaven and new earth. Only one city.

Not many cities, one city. We are looking for a city. We're not gonna live in different cities.

There's one city, but there are nations surrounding the city. We come up to the city to worship and to magnify the Lord. And these nations are saved nations.

Notice they have kings. Isn't that interesting? There are actually kings in these nations in eternity. Some men, some women, I believe, are going to be kings in eternity, in the nations.

I'm not making this up. Read what's written here. So the nations have the tree of life, have the river of life, have the throne of God.

And these nations are eating the leaves. It's therapeutic to the nations. We're not gonna have strife.

We're not gonna have riots. We're not gonna have divisions. One nation is not gonna rise up against another nation.

You're gonna have all the nations diverse. I personally believe, and I could be wrong, okay, but just allow me this. I believe all the languages will be there and all the colors will be there and there'll be customs that are there.

There's a lot of customs. Nothing wrong with them or sinful. I believe you're gonna get a diverse, beautiful, redeemed world.

God created the initial languages. It was as a judgment. God gives the gift of tongues to us, to unite us.

But you know what you have? You have nations. God always ordained nations, not man. Man wanted to unite all peoples under one government and authority, wanted to intermix all the nations so they lost their diversity and uniqueness.

Man wanted to do that. God separated the nations and put certain nations within certain regions of the earth. God done that.

God separated them by language. You know why? He wanted them to settle in certain areas. The Irish were meant to settle in Ireland.

God planned it. God ordained it. God said it.

So we see that in eternity, there are nations. And again, a third time in 21-26, and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it, into the new Jerusalem. Look what's happening.

All the nations bring honor and glory into the city. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever works the abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. So look who come up from the nations, those that are written in the Lamb's book of life.

So the nations in eternity, the nations are saved nations. They are written in the Lamb's book of life. Every single person you meet in eternity will give you a personal testimony of salvation.

They'll give you a personal testimony of being washed in the blood of the Lamb, forgiven, redeemed, of falling in love with Jesus Christ. They're gonna give you their personal testimony. Let me just finish briefly on this, and I've done the same thing last week.

The very point I wanted to deal with now is what I wanted to deal with last week and ran out of time and I've done it again. But listen as I close. And I believe it's very clear here.

What are they gonna do through all of eternity? What are they going to do? I believe written here is at least three things and it's very interesting. Look at the end of verse three for a second. I'm saying as I close here and I close this series, what are you gonna do for all eternity? There's no boredom there.

There's no laziness there. There's no inactivity there. There's no night there.

There's no sleep there. You don't close your eyes, you don't sleep. There's no need for that.

There's no such thing. There's no night. Everything goes 24 hours a day.

There's no night. There's no switch off. Doesn't matter where you live in the world, in the globe.

Some people don't believe the earth's a globe these days and I'm not going there. We'll lose a thousand watchers. But do you know what? Doesn't matter where you're in the earth, you're gonna have daylight.

Daylight or is it God light? It's from him. But listen, as I close, let me give you three statements about what we'll do. What are we gonna do for all eternity? I'll tell you.

At the end of verse three, it says, and the servants shall serve him. So this is one of the primary things here in the New Jerusalem with the throne of God, with the river of life, with the tree of life, with the New Jerusalem, with one united people made up of nations. What are all the nations gonna do? His servants shall serve him.

We've already read that the nations bring up all the honor and the glory. They're working to bring glory all the time. Going in and out of the gates, what are they doing? They're bringing up glory constantly.

They're serving. The word serving here is servant or bond slave or doulos. You remember in the Old Testament how they pierced the ear? You become a love slave, a servant by love.

You know, these aren't there as slaves, bond, hand and foot. They're there going, you captured us. We fell in love with you.

We wanna serve you all our days. We become bond slaves. And so you have all of the nations, everyone you meet actually serves the Lamb of God on the throne.

He is a servant and he's constantly serving. There is a labor in the city of God. They are delighting and serving God, waiting upon God.

Wives, I hope you serve your husband. Husbands, I hope you serve your wife. I hope there's a hard attitude of saying, I wanna serve you.

If you never done all the things that I think you should do, I wanna serve you because that's innate in my nature. That is my heart. And so we as the people of God, we serve him.

Why wouldn't you serve him? All eternity, we're gonna delight in him. I'm redeemed, I'm forgiven. Multitudes, vast multitudes went to the lake of fire.

We have been witness of the judgment day, the great white throne judgment. Thank God this isn't a great white throne in chapter 22. It's a throne of grace.

It's a throne of mercy. It's a throne where we get river of life and tree of life. But do you know what? We're gonna serve him.

The second thing there, if you read in verse four, and they shall see his face. What are you gonna do for all eternity? You're gonna see his face. You're gonna see the face of the king for all eternity.

The lamb's face you're gonna see, the king's face. It says back in Esther chapter 114, it says about the Persian king that he had seven princes who had the right, who stood before him and saw the king's face. Only seven men in an entire large empire.

Those seven men had access into the palace to the king at any time to look upon his face. Listen, it says they saw the king's face. Do you realize when it says they shall see his face? Do you know what it means? Access, continual access.

So throughout eternity, you've got immediate, anytime access to the king of kings, the lamb of God. You've got access. You don't only serve him, you've got access.

See, it's not like some pastor that you can't get near or that never talks to individuals. This is the lamb of God that says for all eternity, you as an individual will always have personal access to me. You can always come and gaze upon my face.

This actually speaks about fellowship, about communion, about relationship. It's not only serving the lamb. We actually fellowship with him.

We gaze upon his face and I believe there's got many arms and legs. We worship him. We sing.

When you begin to read through Revelation, you read of many songs. Music is vital in the Revelation. Outside of the Psalms, this will shock you.

Outside of the Psalms, Revelation contains more songs than any other single book in the entire Bible. The Psalms, second of all, Revelation. Do you know what? It's got 14 songs sung by different groups of believers.

Sometimes angels, sometimes elders, mostly the redeemed of the Lord. 14 songs in the book of Revelation. What are you gonna do for all eternity? I'm gonna worship him.

Do you know what's the central theme of those songs and the words of those songs? Redeemed by the blood of the lamb. The lamb worthy is the lamb of God. It's the repetitive song of heaven and of the millennium and of the new heaven and new earth.

In the new Jerusalem, there's gonna be singing, worship, music. I wonder if I get to play the guitar then. I failed down here.

I ran out of time to learn it. I'm not gonna embark on it now. But you know what? Maybe, just maybe I'll get a harp, an Irish harp, to play and to minister.

Singing the songs of redemption. One last thing I just wanna point out as we close. The end of verse five, and they shall reign forever and ever.

You're gonna serve him. You're gonna see his face, which involves worship and singing and a thousand other things, I'm sure. But you're gonna reign with him.

We are caught up in the government of eternity. We are going to reign on the earth. You're gonna reign with the Lord Jesus Christ.

He's gonna reign eternally. There's no end to this. There's no defeat.

Nothing will ever defeat you in body, soul, mind and spirit. What does it mean to reign? And what do you do reigning when everyone is reigning and there's no one else to reign over? What are you reigning over? Why isn't it just that we reign for a thousand years? Doesn't that say in Revelation 20, they reign, those that get raised up in the first resurrection, shall reign with him on the earth for 1000 years? Yes. Okay, well, there's sinners, there's nations, there's all manners of things there.

But here, who do we reign over? Oh no, you've got the wrong term. What do you reign over? These are those that now reign supreme over sin, over hell, over the devil, over the old nature, over life itself. You are those reigning with them.

You're in victory. You have overcome. You're an overcomer for all eternity.

Sin will never touch you. Sickness will never touch you. Grief will never touch you.

No tear will ever roll down your cheek ever again. There's joy there. There's laughter there.

Saints of God, there's singing there. There's worship there. But never again to grieve.

There's eating there. There's fellowship there. There's testimony there.

There's communion there. There's so many things there. And as we eternally, we serve.

We gaze on his face. We reign with him. Saints of God, this is your future if you be redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus Christ.

Let's pray together. Father, we thank you. We worship you.

Father, we pray that in a world that's fast plummeting, nor God into a hellish state of affairs, nor God, we are worshiping you. We're waiting for another kingdom. We're looking for the king of glory to come in majesty.

We thank you, God, that we are those overcomers that overcome the things going on in your church now and our own life, nor God's sin and temptation and false doctrine, nor God weariness and tiredness and apathy. Father, I thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit. And I do pray, even tonight, teach us, oh God, how to drink from that river of God.

Oh river of God, flow down here. Nor God, we want to eat spiritually on the lamb of God. We want to feast on him.

And oh God, we pray that the river of God may make glad the city of God. Nor God, make this church glad with an experience from heaven that you'd invade this church, that you'd revive this church, that you'd stir this church. Nor God, that we had a personal, private, intimate experiences with the lamb of God.

Nor God, because the blood was shed, that we're gonna experience the river of God, the Holy Spirit of God flowing down upon us, in us, through us, out into a lost and a dying world. And nor God, we love you tonight. In Jesus' mighty name.