One thing struck me this Christmas that strikes me every Christmas—and that’s how quickly it’s all over. You spend all that time decorating. You spend all that time shopping and getting ready. And then it’s over. Before we sat down for Christmas dinner, Mom said, “OK, we’re going to linger over dinner.” Well, we were all starved and the food smelled so good that I think we ignored her. But I know what she meant. She knew that Miranda had spent two days cooking. And when you spend two days cooking, I’m sure you’d like to have people enjoy it for more than a few minutes. But then, in what seemed like a few minutes, dinner that took two days to prepare was gone. And then just a short time later, all the packages that took weeks to shop for and wrap were opened. And then all that was left was cleanup and putting stuff together. Friday morning when I took out the trash, I thought… is that it? If it is, how depressing. If that’s all it is, how anti-climactic. Not disappointing… just not everything you hoped it would be. That’s the difference between our Christmas celebrations and the real thing. Because the real thing isn’t anti-climactic. As all the dust settles from our Christmas celebrations… and as all the trees and tinsel and decorations get put away for another year… I want you to look at it this way. Look at it like all of these years of Christmas celebrations aren’t the climax. They’re just building up to the climax. They are all the cooking and decorating and anticipating. They are the expectant waiting. The eager anticipation. They are hanging on the edge of our seat waiting for the ultimate Christmas climax. You see, because Christmas isn’t over. What we just celebrated this week isn’t over. When we put the tree and the decorations away, it’s not the end. It’s just another step in waiting for the climax of Christmas promised in the passage we just read. No, Christmas isn’t over. Christmas is just building to its great and final climax. A climax that will never disappoint. A climax that will never leave you wanting more. A climax that will never end. Christmas didn’t climax on December 25th, 2008. But Christmas will climax in a place, a position, a peace, a person and a payment. First, Christmas climaxes in a place. Look back at verses 1-2:
REVELATION 21:1-2
Christmas climaxes in a place. And what a place it is. Throughout history, God has promised a place of rest for His people. And God’s promises of a place have never ended. They will be literally fulfilled for Israel in the millennium. But even that will be a precursor to God’s ultimate climax. Because God’s ultimate Christmas climax is in a new heaven and a new earth. Do we know what it’s going to look like? Not really. There will be no sea. What does that mean? Your guess is as good as any of the dozens of commentators who have come up with their ideas. I tend to think that it has to do with the separation that came between peoples after the flood and the Tower of Babel. Geography changed after the flood and the God scattered the people and separated them using the boundaries of the oceans. Whatever it means, there will be no sea. There will be water. But the water will flow from the River of Life. The Bible uses language about a street of gold, jasper walls, and gates of great pearl. Is that literal language or figurative? I don’t know—I would say it’s figurative because our minds can’t comprehend the beauty of that place. Gold and jasper and pearl that we know of will be melted away with all the other things of this earth. So there is no way our minds can comprehend what it will be like. It’s like trying to describe a rainbow to a person who has been born blind. Or trying to describe a symphony to a person who has been born deaf. The point is not that we’re going to see a lot of gold or that gold is so common that it’s used to pave streets. The point is that the holy city, New Jerusalem is going to be more glorious than our feeble fallen minds can comprehend. It is a place that God is preparing as His glorious bride. Does that sound familiar? It should. Because when Jesus saves you, He saves you as part of His church. And in Ephesians 5, He describes His church as His bride. Church, we are being prepared as the bride of Christ… to one day be presented to Him as without spot or wrinkle or any blemish. To be presented to Him as holy and blameless before Him. We are being prepared as His bride, just like the holy city New Jerusalem is being prepared for Him. Since God isn’t a bigamist, that can only mean one thing. That can only mean that we, as the church are part of the New Jerusalem that will come down from heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. As Peter said in 1 Peter 2:9-10, “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light: Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.” What a place that will be! A new heaven. A new earth. A new holy city Jerusalem, filled with the church of all ages. That will be the climax of Christmas! Christmas climaxes in a place. It also climaxes in a position. Look at verse 3:
REVELATION 21:3
Christmas climaxes in a position. One thing we have talked about every time we’ve gotten together this Christmas season is the wonder of Immanuel. You remember the prophesy back in Isaiah 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Then over in the Christmas story in Matthew 1:23, Matthew recalls this prophesy and gives a little interpretation to it. He wrote, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.” What is the importance to that? I mean, Mary and Joseph named the Baby Jesus. The angel told them to name Him that. We call Him Jesus. What was so important about the name Immanuel? Because it spoke of who Jesus is. It wasn’t so much His given name—it was His title. Just like Christ is His title. Christ means messiah, or anointed one. Immanuel means God with us. God sent His only Son to come in the flesh. God incarnate. God in the human form of a man. Fully God and fully man. Why? According to John 1:14, in order to dwell among us. The root of the word translated “dwell” in John 1:14 literally means “tent” or “tabernacle”. It’s the exact same word that’s used twice in this verse of our passage. The “tabernacle” of God is with men. He will “dwell” with them. You see, when Jesus came in the flesh on that first Christmas, He didn’t just come for 33 years and then leave. He wasn’t only “with” us for that short period of time. Otherwise, He wouldn’t really have been with us. He would have been God with them. But God came in the flesh and dwelt among men. God was crucified in the flesh and died in the flesh. But three days later, He rose again in a new glorified flesh. And 40 days after that, He ascended in that new glorified flesh. Jesus is omniscient and omnipotent, and omnipresent because He is God. But in some unique, unexplainable way, He is also existing in His glorified flesh at the right hand of the Father—right now. And one day, when Christmas climaxes, those He has saved will be in His presence. Jesus as the tabernacle of God will not just be spiritually walking in our midst… He will be physically walking in our midst. He will dwell with us. We shall be His people. Jesus, as God of very God will be with us and will be ever before us as our God. That will be the climax of Christmas! No more Baby in the manger. No more suffering servant. No more lowly and mild lamb. He will be before us as the Lamb who was worthy to be slain before the foundations of the world. He will be before us as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He will be before us as God was walking in the midst of the cool of the garden with Adam. Christmas climaxes in a position. It also climaxes in a peace. Look at verses 4-5:
REVELATION 21:4-5
Christmas climaxes in a peace. What a beautiful picture this is. Do you want to know how I ended my Christmas day? I ended my Christmas day by turning on the 11:00 news. And do you know what one of the top stories was? It seems that a man dressed up in a Santa suit and went to a house where 25 friends and family were gathered for a Christmas party on Christmas Eve. An 8 year old girl saw Santa at the door and came running to answer it. As soon as she did, he pulled a gun and shot her in the face. After it was all over, he’d killed 9 people including himself and burned the house down. How can something so awful happen? How can something that atrocious happen on Christmas Eve? How can something like that happen on a day that was marked with an angel proclaiming “Peace on earth, goodwill to men?” Because, for now we live in a world where as Peter put it in 1 Peter 5:8: “your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.” But it’s not going to be like that forever. As a matter of fact, in the grand scheme of things, it’s only going to be like that for a little while longer. Because the One who created this world in the first place will soon recreate it. Sin will be eliminated. The curse will be lifted. The victory that Jesus won on the cross will be realized. No more tears. No more death. No more sorrow. No more crying. No more pain. All of those things associated with the old cursed earth will pass away with it. The promise of salvation in 2 Corinthians 5:17 will be complete. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” Our salvation will be complete. If you have trusted Jesus as your Lord and Savior in this life... then you will be as He intended you to be. That is as true and faithful as a statement can be, because the One who made the promise is true and faithful. Every promise that He’s ever made either has come true or will come true. If God promises it, He will fulfill it. And He’s promised that He will make whoever He saves new... Just like He’s going to make His creation new. What peace! Peace that passes all understanding. Christmas climaxes in a peace. It also climaxes in a person. Look at verse 6:
REVELATION 21:6
Christmas climaxes in a person. A place, a position, a peace... none of those things are possible without a Person. That’s why Christmas was so important. Because the Person that came on that first Christmas is the One who makes it all possible. He is the Alpha and the Omega. Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. So, many times when we see Jesus say that He’s the Alpha and Omega… and then He says that He is the beginning and the end… we think that He’s just saying the same thing twice in a row. He’s not. When He says that He’s the Alpha and Omega, He’s not saying that since He’s the first and last letters of the alphabet that He’s the first and the last. All thought is made up of words. And all words are made up of letters. So when Jesus says that He is the A to Z, He’s saying that He holds all words and knowledge and wisdom and information in His hands. He’s saying that He is all-knowing and that there is no knowledge or wisdom apart from Him. And then He follows that up with the fact that He is the beginning and the end. Before the beginning of time, Jesus is. After time is over, Jesus is. When Jesus came on that first Christmas day, He came not as another created being. That was not the beginning of Jesus, it was the incarnation of Jesus. Just the same, when Jesus hung on the cross and cried out, “It is finished,” that didn’t mean that He was over. When they took His cold, dead, lifeless body from the cross and placed it in that borrowed tomb… that wasn’t the end. It wasn’t the end, because He rose again. He rose again and lives today. He lives today just like He lived before the beginning of time. Just like He lives forever beyond the end of time. Why? In order to give you something that you desperately need. In order to give you a gift that you need as badly as your body needs water. Jesus was born, lived, died and rose again to give you new life in Him. To provide a fountain overflowing with the water of life for you. And that takes us to the final climax of Christmas. Christmas climaxes in a payment. Look at verses 7-8:
REVELATION 21:7-8
Christmas climaxes in a payment. The place, the position, the peace… even the person. Each of those have been provided for you. They are a gift from God. Provided to you freely, purely out of God’s riches of grace. Nothing you do can earn it. Nothing you do can deserve it. You can’t be good enough for it. You can’t be worthy. The place, the position, the peace and the person are available to you solely based on God’s gracious love for you. But He also loves you enough that He won’t force Himself on you. He won’t force Himself on you, because it’s all about His glory. And how would He be glorified if He forced you to take His gift? So He doesn’t. He gives you the responsibility to accept His gift of grace through faith. “Jesus, I believe that you are God of very God. I believe that I am a sinner who is deserving only to be cast from your presence in judgment. I believe that the only solution to my sin is the blood of an innocent. Jesus, I believe that you shed your innocent blood for me. Jesus will you save me? Jesus will you take my sins away and give me your righteousness? Jesus will you give me your Holy Spirit so I can live like you want me to live every day? I submit to you as my Lord and Master and King.” And when you pray like that… when you confess with your mouth that Jesus Christ is Lord… when you believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead… look at what verse 7 says that you have waiting for you. You will overcome. In other words, you’re going to make it. No matter how rough the road gets, you’ll make it through. You will persevere till the end. You will inherit all things. When Jesus saves you, you submit to Him as your Lord and Master and King. But guess what? When you’re a child of the King, you become an heir with the King. You are a joint-heir with Jesus. Jesus—the One who “all things were created by Him and for Him and by Him all things consist.” The One who has been highly exalted and given a name above all names… you are joint-heirs with Him. And He will be your God and you will be His son. That is the payment that awaits you if you have submitted to Jesus as your Lord. But if you haven’t, there is another payment awaiting. And that’s the one that is shown in verse 8. God has prepared another place. We talked about the place that will be prepared for believers. We talked about how indescribably beautiful the new heavens and the new earth and the holy city New Jerusalem will be. Well, there is another place that is equally indescribable. In words that bring to mind excruciating pain and agony, Jesus describes it as a lake. But not just a normal lake. That could be scary enough to be dropped in the middle of a lake with no life preserver or boat. But this isn’t the fear of drowning in an ordinary lake. This is a lake, not of water, but of fire… the hottest fire imaginable. Never extinguished. Never quenched. Forever. And did you look at the list of those who will be there? You can be the best person in town. You can volunteer your time. You can help your neighbors. You can even come to church. You could have even walked an aisle and been baptized. But if you have not cast your life on the lordship of Jesus Christ, you will be there just like the worst Santa Claus murderer you can think of. Christmas climaxes in a payment. Either a payment of overcoming and a joyous inheritance paid for by the blood of Jesus… or a payment of everlasting torment as you receive the full wrath of God for despising His Son. Christmas might be over this year, but the climax is yet to come. Are you ready?
