He'll Be With Us Forever Series

OPEN: A four-year-old boy asked his mother, “Mommy, when do I get to go to Heaven?” She responded, “Well, when you die or when Jesus comes back again.” The boy’s eyes got really big and he said, “Comes back? You mean He was here before?” (Celeste Gregg, California, Christianity.com 7/22/09)

Yep, Jesus was here before… and He’s coming back. And when He comes back, everything’s gonna change. That’s what Revelation 21 is telling us. John writes: “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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’”

When Jesus comes back, everything’s gonna change. He’s going to wipe away every tear from our eyes. There will be no more Death. And there’s not going to be anymore mourning or crying or pain. Because… all that’s gonna change. But the most important thing that’s gonna change is this: God’s dwelling place will be WITH US, and God will be WITH US as our God.

Now, the keynote scripture for our sermon series has been Matthew 1:23. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).” And every sermon I’ve preached in this series has focused on the fact that God wants to be with us.

OVER AND OVER AGAIN He was with His people. He came down to be with them. He came down to walk and talk with Adam and Eve. He came down to be present in the Tabernacle/ Temple and be in the midst of His people. He came down to become an infant who could walk and talk with the people He came to die for. And God came down and filled every Christians with His Holy Spirit so He’d be with at all times.

He did all that because He wanted to be WITH US. And now, here in Revelation 21 God’s going to do it again! One more time at the end of time, God will come down to be with us.

Now, when I first read our passage for this morning… something caught my eye. John wrote: “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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, COMING DOWN out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is WITH man.

Did you catch that? New Jerusalem (the Holy City) was going to COME DOWN out of heaven, and that Holy City would be the dwelling place of God with US. God wants to be with us - He’s always wanted to be with us.

But (as much as God wanted to be with us) there was always something that got in the way. That something was called SIN. But it was more than just sin it was the fear and shame that came because of that sin.

ILLUS: Do you remember when Adam and Eve ate the fruit in the garden. They heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man and said to him, "Where are you?" And (Adam) said, "I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself."

Adam had sinned! But that’s not WHY he hid. Adam hid because he was afraid. And what was he afraid of? He was afraid of God. And his fear was that God wouldn’t love Him anymore. And his shame and fear led Adam to avoid God. He hid!

ILLUS: A couple years ago, my grandson Benjamin came down the hall of my home and he asked me: “If I told you what I’ve done… will you still love me?”

Now that statement told me a few things: 1. Apparently, he KNEW he’d done something he shouldn’t have done; 2. He figured I would KNOW what he’d done wrong; 3. He expected to be punished; 4. BUT his biggest fear was that I wouldn’t love him anymore. And he wasn’t sure he WANTED to tell me what he’d done.