The Church’s Promise
Our text today: Revelation 21:1-6
(These notes are abbreviated, and the full sermon was rather more complete. Watch this space for the time we can begin podcasting the sermon itself.)
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
21:2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “See, the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them;
21:4 he will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away.”
21:5 And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
21:6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give water as a gift from the spring of the water of life.
Today we’re going to talk about the hope that God has placed in us. I’m sure each of us has an idea, or an image, in our minds that comes up whenever we think of Heaven, of the dwellingplace of God, of the promise given to believers for eternal life. It’s appropriate for us to make sure that we are fit for heaven. We spend our lives, in a way, doing that.
