”The City of God” | Pastor John Tilley Jr | Revelation 22

now and

>> [clears throat]

>> let's go to the book of Revelation.

We're nearing the end of our study of

the book of Revelation. Tonight we come

to the last chapter of the book,

Revelation chapter 22.

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

And I want to talk to you tonight on the

city of God, the city of God from

Revelation 22. We're going to look at

the first couple of verses tonight. And

then next week, Lord willing, we'll

finish it up. And uh next week or the

week after will be the final

message from this book, the great book

of Revelation. I hope it's been an

encouragement to you. And I encourage

you go back. I As far as I know, every

message, I think I have 30 This is the

37th message from the book of

Revelation. And as far as I know,

they're all on YouTube in a playlist

together, so you can go back and watch

all of them and and catch back up. If

you read through the book of Revelation

and you're ever thinking, "Well, I don't

know what that means." Most likely we've

preached through it or at least preached

nearby to it, so you can get the

context. And so that's all on there.

That's available to you and for you. And

so you take advantage of that.

But tonight we come to Revelation

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

chapter 22. We're going to look at the

first five verses of the last chapter of

the Bible.

And we're talk about the city of God.

Adrian Rogers said this. He said, "Some

people criticize Christians for being so

heavenly minded that they are no earthly

good.

However, many are so earthly minded that

they are no good for heaven or earth."

There's a lot of truth in that. Uh

Christians sometimes are criticized for

being so heavenly minded that they're no

earthly good. Well, all you guys think

about is heaven. All you guys talk about

is what it's going to be one day. And I

suppose that in some cases that is

possible. But most of the time most

Christians are so earthly minded still

that we are no good to heaven or earth.

Tonight I want us to think about heaven

for a little bit. I want to turn our

minds towards heaven for just a little

bit. The Bible has much to say about

heaven in Colossians chapter 3. I'll

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

ramble off some verses here for you. You

can write these down and look them up

later if you'd like to. Colossians

Colossians 3 · chapter mention

chapter 3 and verse 1 and 2 says, "If

you then be risen with Christ, seek

those things which are above, where

Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.

Set your affection on things above, not

on things of the earth."

The Bible tells us that it is a good

thing to be heavenly minded. It is not

wrong to think about heaven. It's a good

thing to think about heaven. Matthew

Matthew 6 · chapter mention

chapter 6 and verse 20 and 21,

Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, "But

lay up for yourselves treasures in

heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth

corrupt, and where thieves do not break

through nor steal. For where your

treasure is, there will your heart be

also."

In Hebrews chapter 11 verse 8 and 10,

Hebrews 11:8

the writer of Hebrews tells us about

Abraham. He says, "By faith Abraham,

when he was called to go out into a

place which he should after receive for

an inheritance, obeyed. And he went out,

not knowing whether he went. By faith he

sojourned in the land of promise as in a

strange country, dwelling in tabernacles

with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him

of the same promise." And verse 10 says,

"For he looked for a city which hath

foundations, whose builder and maker is

God." Second Corinthians chapter 12,

2 Corinthians 12 · chapter mention

Paul writes to the church of Corinth in

verse number 2 through verse number 4.

Paul's speaking of himself in the third

person. He says, "I knew a man in Christ

above 14 years ago." And he says this,

"Whether in the body I cannot tell, or

whether out of the body I cannot tell,

God knoweth. But such a one was called

up to the third heaven." Paul is saying,

"I There was a time in my life where I

got called up to heaven. I don't know if

I was in the spirit or in the body. I

don't know what was going on, but God

knows. But I know I went up and I saw

heaven.

Verse three says, "And I knew such a

man, whether in the body or out of the

body, I cannot tell. God knoweth how

that he was called up into paradise and

heard unspeakable words, which it is not

lawful for a man to utter."

Paul was called up to heaven. He saw

some of these things that John is seeing

now in the book of Revelation.

Peter talks about it in 2 Peter in

chapter 3 and verse 12 and 13. Peter

writes, "Looking for and hasting unto

the coming of the day of God, wherein

the heavens being on fire shall be

dissolved and the elements shall melt

with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we,

according to his promise, look for new

heavens and a new earth, wherein

dwelleth righteousness."

And then perhaps the most well-known of

all of the passages in the Bible that

speak of heaven is John chapter 14,

John 14 · chapter mention

where Jesus is speaking and he says,

"Let not your heart be troubled. You

believe in God, believe also in me.

In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told

you. I go to prepare a place for you,

and if I go and prepare a place for you,

I will come again and receive you unto

myself that where I am, there you may be

also."

God is preparing a place for you and I

to dwell for all of eternity. God is

building a new heaven and a new earth.

He's building a great city, the city of

God, that one day is going to be lowered

down onto a new earth, and you and I are

going to dwell in the city of God and on

this new earth that God is going to

create, and it's going to be wonderful.

Tonight we are still celebrating. We're

still in the theme of 4th of July, and

we celebrate America. We did that on

Sunday, and we had a fantastic service.

We praised God for all that he did this

last Sunday in our hearts and and

praised the Lord for how he used Brother

Ben on Sunday.

And I'm as American as anybody. I love

to celebrate America. I'm as patriotic

as anybody else. I'm thankful and

grateful that God has allowed me to be a

citizen of what I truly believe to be

the greatest nation that has ever

existed, the United States of America. I

love the beauty of America. I love hot

dogs and hamburgers. I like to watch

fireworks explode and light up the sky.

I like driving over this nation and I

enjoy driving and taking road trips just

to see what I might see. I like to see

the sights and see the country and see

the United States of America. It's

beautiful. It's one of the most

beautiful places in the world. I like

taking a hike and just hiking up to the

top of a ridge just to see what's on the

other side of it. Just to see the view.

Just to see what's out there.

I like to sit by body of water and soak

up the sunshine and try and catch fish

and just enjoy the creation that God has

allowed us to live in. What a beautiful

nation that we have. I I love Bucky's

and I love Chick-fil-A. The I think

they're two most American things that on

the in all of America. I'm as American

as anybody else, but tonight

as grateful as I am to be an American, I

am a citizen of another country.

I am a citizen of another city and as

much as I love America and being an

American, I love this other city that

much more. I am so much more thankful

and so much more grateful to be a

citizen of a heavenly city, a new city,

the city of God. If you think America is

beautiful, you haven't seen anything

else. This place that God is preparing

for you and I, this city of God is a

beautiful city. It's a celestial city.

It's an amazing city. It's a

mind-blowing city. It's a perfect city.

It's unimaginable in every way. It has

streets that are paved with gold that is

so pure. It's clear as crystal and you

can see right through it. It flows with

the the river of life and it has on the

sides of the river the tree of life that

is sprouting and it has the foundation

that is made out of these diamonds and

rubies and precious stones and precious

metals. It has walls that are

orchestrated to just show the glory of

God with 12 gates all the way around the

city and the gates stay open all the

time because there's no night in this

city and there's no light needed because

the glory of God lights the city. It's

going to be an unimaginable place.

There's no way for us to to describe it

and understand it in our human minds,

but I am thankful that Jesus said in

John chapter 14, "I go to prepare a

John 14 · chapter mention

place for you. And if I go to prepare a

place, I will come again." And tonight I

am thankful for the reality of the city

of God. There is a day coming where you

and I will step foot into the into the

city of God, this nation, this country,

this new heaven, this new earth that God

is preparing for us right now.

I want to talk about it for just a few

moments tonight from Revelation chapter

Revelation 22 · chapter mention

22. Look at verse number one.

And he showed me, John is writing, the

Apostle John, "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. And in the midst of

the street of it and on either side of

the river there was 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. And there shall be no

more curse, but the throne of God and

the lamb shall be in it and his 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 in there and they need no candle,

neither light of the sun for the Lord

God giveth them light. And they shall

reign forever and ever." Number one,

write down what we see. We're going to

see two, uh aspects, two components of

the city of God tonight. We'll see the

garden of heaven, and then we'll see the

glory of heaven. So, write down number

one, the garden of heaven.

In verse number one, verse number two,

we see God describing this garden. In

Genesis chapter one, mankind began in a

garden. And one day, mankind's eternal

state will be in a garden. Think about

the garden of Eden. There was in that

garden a river that flowed through it,

and there was also a tree in it. You

remember the river? There was actually

several rivers that went through the

garden of Eden. So, in heaven, this

final destination, our eternal state,

there will be a river, and there will be

a tree in this eternal garden. The first

we see in verse one, we see the river of

life. I love a river.

Uh we actually just got to go to the

river on Monday. We did some work

Monday, uh Monday afternoon, and then we

decided, you know, well, we're just

going to take off, and we're going to go

down to the river, and we're just going

to have a good time. And so, that's what

we did. We just loaded up the van and

went down to the river, and we caught

some smallmouth bass, and and we watched

the sunset, and it was just a beautiful,

wonderful time. And I'm sitting there

thinking, man, I love the river. It's a

place that gives a life. It's a place

that is invigorating. It's life-giving.

There's something exciting about

watching the river move and flow over

the rocks, and watching the sunset, and

it's just beautiful, and it's it's

invigorating, and it's refreshing to be

at the river. And in heaven,

there is a river that flows through the

city of God, and it's called the river

of life. Now, I am not going to pretend

to understand everything about this

river. It may not even be like a river

like we know on this earth. It could be.

I don't know anything about it. But one

of these days, we're going to see it.

And the Bible calls it the river of

life, so I'm inclined to believe it's

some type of river. And it's flowing

through the city. Most uh major cities

are built near or on a river because the

river produces life. The movement of the

water produces uh life. And so, most

cities will be built either near or on a

river. However, as that city develops,

you know this is true, the river will

become dirty and polluted.

As that city develops, it will begin to

pollute the beautiful natural river that

it's built beside. But this river, the

one that is in heaven, the one that is

in the city of God, will flow clear as

crystal for all of eternity. It cannot

be polluted because the city of God

cannot be polluted. There is no

pollution in the city of God. And it

cannot pollute to the river of life.

It'll never be polluted. It'll never be

dirty. It'll never be brown. It'll

always be clear as crystal flowing

through the city of God. And then it

says that it flows from the throne of

God. The headwater of this river is the

throne of God. The origin of this river

is

the giver of life himself.

The very thing that moves this river is

God himself. And so, we see in heaven,

there's going to be a river of life. But

then in verse two, we see there is going

to be a tree of life.

Trees are life-giving organisms

themselves.

A tree is what creates the air that we

breathe to maintain everyday life. And

this tree of life is I encourage you, do

some study on the tree of life. Get you

some good

uh some good commentaries or some good

preachers and Bible teachers and do some

do some study on the tree of life. It's

very interesting.

The tree of life that is in heaven, I've

not uh

I won't say that I know everything about

it. Certainly don't. But

uh I don't understand everything about

this tree. But there are some very neat

things that the Bible points out for us.

We know that trees all around us, you

look you walk outside and there's trees

all the way around. And those trees

create oxygen. They create the air that

we breathe. And so in a sense, trees are

what maintains the life on this earth.

If there were no trees, then there would

be no air to breathe or at least there

would be less air to breathe. And so

trees play a part in producing

or maintaining rather our life. So then

this tree of life

that is in heaven is going to maintain a

sort of life. And I'm going to show you

how here in just a moment. Uh trees

today they produce fruit for us to eat.

They produce air for us to breathe. And

this tree that is in heaven, the tree of

life, will produce heavenly fruit every

month of the year.

It's going to produce 12 different kinds

of fruit.

And give us great variety.

And uh I don't know, listen, in heaven

we're going to have a glorified body. So

uh there really won't be a need you'll

have to eat. But perhaps God allows us

to eat just because he knows we like it.

Maybe he'll allow us to to taste the

fruit off of the tree of life. I'm not

sure. But I know it's going to be

wonderful. It's going to produce fruit,

different types of fruit for every month

of the year.

And then it says that it's going to heal

the nations. And this is

This is a phrase that there are as many

different ideas about how to interpret

this phrase as you can look up, okay?

Everybody has an opinion about this

phrase and it doesn't seem like anybody

agrees. So I'm going to give you my

opinion cuz if they can give you their

opinion, I can give you my opinion. And

that's all the same. You can pick which

one you like, all right? So verse number

two though is an interesting verse. It's

a very difficult verse to to exegete,

especially this last phrase where it

says the leaves of the tree were for the

healing of the nations.

Now you thinking about this celestial

city, this eventual eternal state that

we're going to live in, and there is

growing in this place this tree of life

that's growing out of and around the

river of life. And it says that this

tree, the leaves of this tree, provide

healing for the nations. Your mind is

probably already thinking healing from

what?

Because heaven is perfect. There's

nothing to be healed from. There is no

sin. There is no sickness. There There

is no disease. There's no illness.

There's no ailments. Everything is

perfect in heaven. It's a wonderful

place. So, what are we being healed

from?

Well, the word that is used, the Greek

word behind the word that we see, we see

the word healing in our King James

Bible, the word behind that, the Greek

word behind that, is the word we get our

English word therapy from.

It's the word that It's the Greek word

that our English word therapy comes

from.

So, when we think about this tree of

life, we should not think of it as a

tree that heals us from sickness because

there is no sickness in heaven. There

There is nothing in heaven to be healed

from, but rather it is a therapeutic

tree. And just as a tree outside here

maintains life by producing oxygen, so

the tree of life is going to produce

something in its leaves that will help

maintain

the perfect atmosphere in heaven.

It will maintain. It will provide

therapy. It will be life-giving. Maybe

we could say it that way. It will be a

life-giving tree. In fact, its very name

is the tree of life.

And in some way, and I don't know

exactly how it works, but in some way

this tree of life will produce from its

leaves uh a therapy that will produce

and give life to the heavenly city, the

city of God. It indicates for us that

this is a tree that produces blessing

and joy and contentment and happiness,

something in this tree provides these

things and and allows us to live in an

eternal state where these things are

abundant.

Therefore, it is a tree that produces

and maintains life. So, we see the river

of life, we see the tree of life. This

is the garden of heaven. But then notice

number two tonight, we see the glory of

heaven.

In verse three down through to verse

five, we see several things listed that

are

indicators of the glory of heaven, and

rather we say the glory of God in

heaven. God's glory will be on full

display, and we see a few things that

will indicate that. First of all, in

verse three, the glory of heaven is

shown to us because sin is absent. Look

at what it says in verse three, "And

there shall be no more curse."

No more curse. In chapter 21 and verse

number four, where John is first

describing this city,

he says that 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. Why is that possible? You realize

everything that John listed there, all

of those things, the reason that we

experience death and sorrow and crying

and pain, all of that is the result of

sin. The sin, the curse of sin on this

world has produced pain and agony and

turmoil and sorrow and grief and guilt

and all of the things that we struggle

with in our human flesh is the result of

sin. So, in chapter 21 and verse number

four, John can write confidently that

those things will be absent because when

he gets to chapter 22 and verse number

three, he said the reason those things

are absent is because the curse is

absent. There's no more sin, there's no

more curse from sin.

Today, many people will try and argue,

"How can How can a a righteous God How

can a loving God allow bad things to

happen?"

And there's many answers to that, but

but really the question is faulty.

It's not God that's allowing things to

happen, it's sin that is choosing those

things to happen. And God is sovereign

enough and loving enough to give man a

choice.

And man chooses sin, and it is the

result of sin that has cursed our world.

But in that place, God's glory will be

on full display. There will be nothing

that will hinder or shadow or shade the

glory of God because there will be no

curse. But notice what else there will

be. Sin will be absent, and so we see

the glory of God, but then also servants

will be serving.

Which will allow us to see the glory of

God. In In verse number three, chapter

22,

"There shall be no more curse, but the

throne of God and of the Lamb shall be

in it, and his servants shall serve

him." And then if you look at verse

number five, the very last phrase of

verse five, "And they shall reign

forever and ever."

Servants will be serving. You and I, the

servants of Jesus Christ, will still be

serving Jesus Christ. We'll still be

worshipping. We'll still be working. You

and I will have a job in that city.

Isn't that interesting? I don't know

what our job will be, but we will gladly

serve in the glory of our Savior. It

will not be a chore. It will not be a

burden to serve, but we will serve

cheerfully and gladly because everything

in that city will be perfect. God's

going to give us a job. By the way,

these do not contradict each other. No

more curse and the fact that there will

be jobs actually

That's not a contradiction at all

because work was not a part of the

curse.

If you go back to Genesis and you read

Genesis chapter 2, I think it's in verse

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

number 15 of Genesis chapter 2,

Genesis 2 · chapter mention

God gives Adam a work to do. He said,

"Go keep the garden. Go dress the

garden. Go work in the garden." That's

Genesis 2. I think it's verse 15. Then

you go to Genesis chapter 3 and that's

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

where Satan shows up. Genesis chapter 3

Genesis 3 · chapter mention

is where sin shows up. Before sin ever

entered the garden, there was a job for

man to do. Work is not part of the

curse.

Laziness is.

God gave man a job and it is a good

thing to work. And one day, when we get

to our eternal state, when we're living

in the perfect city of God, we will

still be serving Jesus. I don't know

what job he's going to give us to do,

but there's going to be a work for you

and I to be involved in and we'll be

able to work in that great city.

Another thing that indicates the glory

of God for us is that the savior will be

present. Oh, this is what makes heaven

heaven. Look at verse number 3. That

there shall be no more curse, but the

throne of God and of the lamb shall be

in it.

Then look at verse number 4.

This is maybe one of my favorite verses

about heaven in all of the Bible.

And they shall see his face.

And his name shall be written on their

foreheads.

Aren't you looking forward to the day

when you look upon the face

of your savior? Jesus is going to be

there. Jesus is what makes heaven

heaven. Without the presence of the

savior, there would be no joy in heaven.

There would be no happiness. There would

be no river of life. There'd be no life

at all, because he is the giver of life.

Colossians says he created all things

and by him all things consist. He's the

one who is the giver of life. And the

river of life flows from his throne. The

tree of life blossoms from the river.

And everything that is makes heaven

heaven is centered around the fact that

Jesus is there.

The savior will be present in heaven.

You and I will look upon his face. One

day we'll look on the face of the one

who died to pay for our sin, who took on

himself the punishment and the judgment

and the wrath of God so that you and I,

guilty sinners, might go free. And what

a day that's going to be when we will

bow before his throne. We will serve him

in gladness and we will look upon the

face of our wonderful redeemer.

So, the savior will be present. I'm

almost finished. Let me give you one

more. From verse number five, what

indicates the glory of God?

The shining will be brilliant. There is

going to be a brilliant light, a

brilliant shining forth of the glory of

God. Look at what it says in verse

number five. There shall be no night

there.

And they don't need a candle.

Neither do they need the light of the

sun.

For the Lord God himself giveth them

light.

The whole city is going to be lit up

with the glory of God. God's glory will

provide plenty of light for that city.

That glorious city, that wonderful city,

that city that God is preparing right

now for you and I. John chapter 14,

John 14 · chapter mention

remember what it says. Jesus said, "I go

to prepare a place." What is that place

that he's preparing? He is preparing the

city of God that one day is going to

descend out of the sky and land on a new

earth and you and I will get to dwell in

that city will be illuminated with the

glory of God. You won't be able to get

away from it. You will not be able to

hide from it. There will be no shadows

in that city. There will be no place

where you can can hide or or commit sin.

You won't even desire to commit sin.

You'll have a glorified body and in your

glorified body, you will forever and

ever and ever dwell in the beautiful,

brilliant glory of our God. That's the

glory of heaven. That's what makes it so

special. Sometimes we think about

heaven.

And we think, man, what am I going to do

when I get to heaven?

And when you begin to think about it, it

it's a good question cuz we don't know.

We've never been there. Somebody once

said, I what am I going to do in heaven?

I can't play basketball cuz everybody

will make every shot. It won't be no fun

at all.

It's going to be a perfect place.

It's going to be a brilliant city.

And what are we going to do?

We're going to kneel at the feet of our

savior. We're going to serve our savior.

We're going to worship our savior. We're

going to dwell in the glory of our

savior and all will be right.

Everything's going to be okay. Jesus

said in Matthew chapter 5 and verse

Matthew 5 · chapter mention

number 12,

Jesus said these words, rejoice

and be exceeding glad

for great is your reward in heaven.

Rejoice and be exceeding glad for great

is your reward in heaven.

I was counseling this week in my office

just a few days ago, yesterday actually,

I believe.

And someone who is facing a great deal

of emotional and physical struggle and

battle. They don't they don't attend our

church, but

they had come and was asking

some questions and we were discussing

these things and as we discussed the

situations and the problems that they're

going through in their life, I shared

with them that the greatest problems of

this life one day,

that day when they get to heaven, the

biggest issue that they're facing in

this life will seem so silly,

so insignificant.

In fact, there's part of me, and I don't

know if this is true or not, there's

part of me that thinks we won't even

remember it.

We won't even remember it. We won't even

think about the greatest trial that we

ever went through on this earth. The

greatest battle, the greatest loss, the

greatest grief,

it was such a big deal in that moment,

but when that day,

when we look upon the face of our

savior,

it will seem as if it never even

happened. It will be so small and so

silly and so insignificant in that

moment. Great is your reward in heaven.

There's coming a day

in which everything will be all right.

Jesus will make all things new and you

and I will get to live in the glory of

God. I thought about this song and I

want you to sing it with me. I thought

that uh I think you'll know this song,

this chorus, and I want us to sing it

together. If I can get us started on the

right key, all right?

It will be worth

it all

when we see Jesus.

Lives trials will seem so small

when we see Christ.

One glimpse of his dear face,

all sorrow

will erase.

So bravely

run the race

till we see Christ.

Hey, stay with it. There is a hope.

There is heaven that is on the other

side and it will be worth it all when we

see Jesus. Let's pray and thank the Lord

for our heavenly home. Father,

Lord, we love you and we thank you for

what you revealed to the Apostle John to

write down to give us hope.

Father, may we be more heavenly minded.

May we lay up our treasures in heaven.

May we look to heaven. May we have a

great hope. As you said in Matthew in

chapter 5, help us to rejoice because we

know great is our reward in heaven.

There's coming a great day where we will

enter into the eternal state. We'll

enter into the city of God and it will

be glory glorious for all of eternity.

And I pray that you would encourage our

hearts with that truth through the rest

of this week.

Lord, I pray that you would be with us

now as we go our different ways. Bring

us back here on Sunday, Father. Bless

the ladies meeting on Saturday. And I

pray that you would do a great great

work on this coming Sunday. I pray that

everything that's done would point

people to Jesus. Bring guest. Bring back

folks who haven't been in a while. And

help us to sing and worship you and then

help me as I preach on Sunday. Lord,

fill me with your spirit. And I just

pray that your holy presence would dwell

in this place. I pray that maybe just

maybe you'd give us a glimpse of what

it's going to be like on that day as we

gather here on Sunday.

We'll give you the glory and the praise

for all that you have done and we praise

you on credit for all that you're going

to do. We ask these things in Jesus

name. Amen.