And I Saw

Revelations 21:1-5 2/26/23 A.M.

As I’ve mentioned before, I was very close to my grandmother. My mom’s mom. All of us called her Granny. Then when she became a Great Grandmother, the Great Grandkids called her Big Granny. She was a small woman but my mom was Granny and so she was Big Granny. She died in 1999 at the ripe old age of 92. She was very kind and sweet and was loved by everyone who knew her. But she was also very tough.

She had raised 6 kids during the Great Depression. Her husband, my grandfather, was a share cropper and they struggled most of their lives financially.

In 1958, both of them were nearly killed in a car wreck. Granny had a bad limp and used a cane the rest of her life and my grandfather never walked again. She pushed him around in a wheelchair for 23 years until he died in 1981.

I’ve told you all of this because in the mid 90’s my mom set up a video camera and visited with granny. She recorded her telling about her early life and marriage. And then Granny got to the late 1920’s. You see, I told you she raised 6 kids but she had another. His name was Neil. I’m named after him. My name is Mitchell Neil Leonard. Neil died of Diphtheria at 3 years old.

And as Granny began telling that story of his death she began to cry. The tears ran down her face. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but it had been 70 years since he had died. That’s a long time. You know, she was a strong woman. A woman of faith. She had trusted in the Lord for many years and attended church here until she died. But after 70 years, that PAIN was still RAW and it still broke her heart to think about.

I’ve brought this up because I know some of you all have faced things in your life that are SO PAINFUL it still takes your breath away. Some of you all have lost the CLOSEST PERSON on Earth to you. Your husband or wife. Some of you all have lost children to illness, accidents, and even homicide. I don’t think any of us who hasn’t been there can really understand that kind of pain. But here in Revelations 21, John is almost to the end of the Revelation that God has given him. And I want to look at what he saw. Let’s read Revelations 21, Verses 1-5.

“And 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.

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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.

4 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.

5 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.”

The first three words of this Chapter are, “And I saw”

I think we have to realize that what John saw will actually happen. John was NOT watching a Star Wars movie or some other Futuristic flick. He was actually seeing the FUTURE!!!

Let me ask you something. If you could SEE just ONE THING from the future what would it be?

Would you want to see your own death? Watch your own Funeral? Think about it now. You could see who showed up and who stayed home. Who cared and who didn’t. That way you would know how to make out your Last Will and Testament. Right?

How about the years of your retirement? Get to see the places you will travel to.

Would you want to see the future of your children’s lives? How many grandkids you’ll have.

Would you ask for just ONE MINUTE to look at the Stock Market one year from now? That could be very beneficial financially.

Listen, that’s what we’re getting to do here in this Chapter. We’re getting a LOOK into the future. And I have to tell you ….. I CAN’T WAIT!!! What an exciting and thrilling time it’s going to be. This morning I want us to see what John saw and what we have waiting for us when GOD SAYS … “That’s Enough!!!”