All Things New

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. 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." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And 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 from the spring of the water of life without payment.

[Revelation 21:1-7]

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}

We know that the resurrection is a historic event. Two thousand years ago. But it has impact for our lives now. We are going to explore this event in God's word and then see how it affects our lives now.

"the first heaven and the first earth" - this is passing away. Our bodies are decaying. It is corrupt & decaying. This started when sin entered through Adam as it says in Genesis. It is clear from the world around us that the world and the people are broken. The current news speaks of a seven year old who was gang raped. The various earthquakes happening around the world. Whether you are christian or not, whether you are religious or not, we all wish this world was better. When death comes, we wish there was something more. This is not right, it is not the way it should be. We notice this even more when someone close to us dies. Even when Jesus went to see Lazarus, He wept. Even though Jesus knew that He was going to raise Lazarus and knew He had the power to raise him, Jesus still wept. This is probably because Jesus saw how wrong it was.

Some of us wish for a utopia in this world. They try to make a perfect little world with the perfect ideology. But this is futile. We are broken people in a broken world. We corrupt all those things that we touch. Or we try to carve out our little piece of happiness separate from the brokenness. But even then the broken world can break into our little happiness. One drunken driver can completely destroy our little happiness.

"Behold, I am making all things new." - Through Christ, we have a new place where all things will work as they should. This is going to be a bit difficult. There are allusions to other literature. We are viewing heaven through an ancient man's point of view. It's like a man trying to describe apple macbook pro's two thousand years ago. "new" in this case refers to qualitative better. Now there is some continuity in our lives. There are cities... and bodies. How do we know? Jesus' resurrection body. His disciples recognize him. So we are not going to be chubby babies playing harps. But the doors were locked. So somehow, Jesus entered to visit disciples... through locked doors.

"the sea was no more" - The ancient people were scared of the ocean. It was a place of danger & death. You would be eaten by ocean monsters. So John was trying to say there was no more danger. It also separated nations & people. So, John was trying to say people were all be together.

"the holy city, new Jerusalem" - now those suburbanites, it's not like God hates you. In cities now, there is lots of messed up things. But also consider the great things in cities: arts & culture, great food, being able to get to know your neighbors. But the new city will not have all the bad stuff, no more fear of gangs, poverty, etc. Jerusalem is the city were the ancients went to meet God. So the inhabitants of the city would have access to God. Instead of having a single high priest meeting God once a year within the holy of holies within the temple of God within the city of Jerusalem.

"prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" - it will be like the culmination of a long-distance relationship. Two people in love who spoke through Gchat & Skype. They finally get married and they will live together forever. Imagine the joy.

So what does this have to do with us now? What does the life in heaven mean for us now in this broken life?

This book was written to christians who were being persecuted. They were being killed, being fed to lions, & their corpses used to light Roman roadways. The christians were being encouraged that heaven was waiting. So they could persevere through anything! If we saw clearly what heaven promised, we could do anything. Life becomes more than just getting a paycheck. Working for pay becomes only a part of life. We would not believe that our status is dependent upon the amount in our bank accounts. We would invest our money differently.

For those who are suffering, it tells us that we should not be surprised. We are broken people in a broken world. But we have hope, there is something beyond the suffering of this life. God is working through our suffering. We would not be afraid of aging. This body is falling apart, but we have a resurrection body. We would not have to fear dying either. We will be resurrected with Christ.

If I believe in an eternity of rest, I can give this life away. A place of joy and happiness is promised to us. So we willingly throw our lives away, to meet those who need Christ & life. There is willingness to go to dark & dangerous places. It is said the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. We are willing to throw our lives away for others, to save others... because our lives to come are secure.

The hope of heaven & the hope of life is not for everyone.

Who gets it? Those who are thirsty. "To the thirsty I will give"

How do we get it? It comes without payment. All you need to do is believe that the one who offers it is true. "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega" That through Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection, our salvation was purchased.

Letter to the Church in Philadelphia

[Revelations 3:7-13]

"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: 'The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens.

"'I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but lie—behold, I will make them come and bow down before your feet and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word about patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world, to try those who dwell on the earth. I am coming soon. Hold fast what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}

Philadelphia was a city that sat at a crossroads. It was a strategic city. This city was located near an volcanos, so it suffered from many earthquakes. The christians there were also under persecution, but they persevered though it.

"The words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens." - This is how Jesus introduces himself. Why? The church right now was being persecuted by Jews. All these references would be familiar to a Jew who is familiar with the Old Testament. Jesus is telling the Jews that he is the messiah. The reference to the key means that Jesus has the keys to the kingdom.

"I know your works. Behold, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name." - The church in Philadelphia was a small congregation. It was struggling. But Jesus says he saw what they were doing. He was pleased with them. The Jews believed they were the keepers of the kingdom. They thought they held the keys of the kingdom. They saw christians as apostate. Jews who converted were considered to be outside of the kingdom. The church was being persecuted and they might have been discouraged.

How does this apply to us? We are not really being persecuted. We still have an enemy. Satan was the one who stirred the Jews against the church. Satan is still out there. He is attacking the church even now. So instead of physical persecution, Satan lies to us. He deceives us to make us feel powerless. To make us lose hope.

• In times where we've fallen in sin, Satan questions God's grace & mercy for us.
• When we have hard times and things are all going wrong, Satan questions God's love for us.
• When we don't get what we want, Satan questions whether God is truly for us.
  

There may be times where God shuts doors on us. Marriage. Career. But the door to the kingdom remains open. Those who are in Christ will never have that door closed to them. The door to where God is, remains open. The door has been opened by the death of Christ who bore our sins. God shut the door on Christ when Christ paid for our sins.

How do we live in defeat? There's this invention called DVR. For sports fans, if you miss a show, you can just record it. Let's say the eagles were at the superbowl and you recorded it. You tell your friends not to tell you how the game went. You avoid ESPN.com. And then bam, your Kramer-esque friend sweeps into your place. The EAGLES WON! And you're like, man... why'd you do that? So you sit down to watch the game. You watch McNabb struggle and start to throw footballs at feet. Your team is down in the 3rd quarter. You're thinking... man, I guess that's just how it's going to happen. Always choking. Your Kramer-esque friend says... wait a sec, why are you so down? We WIN! And that is how we live defeated.

"Philadelphia had been built with the deliberate intention that it might becomes a missionary city. Beyond Philadelphia lay the wilds of Phrygia and the Barbarous tribes; and it was intended that the function of Philadelphia should be to spread the Greek language, the Geek way of life.." - Barclay

Our city, Philadelphia is also very missionary. Graduate students come from all around the world. They come to learn new ideas. They spend formative years here. The city is also known as a city of neighborhoods. Many ethnic groups are here. Chinese, Lebanese, Ethopian.. We can reach the world through working locally in our city.

Know that God has opened the door. It is open because the door was slammed shut on Jesus' face. We need never fear that God has shut us out. And not only that it is open for us, but it open for mission. We can reach people for God, regardless of circumstances.

Letter to the Church in Sardis

[Revelation 3:1-6]

"And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: 'The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars.

"'I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your works complete in the sight of my God. Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you. Yet you have still a few names in Sardis, people who have not soiled their garments, and they will walk with me in white, for they are worthy. The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments, and I will never blot his name out of the book of life. I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

{Rev. Dwight Yoo}

Background: Sardis was a wealthy city. It was were King Midas lived. It was known as a morally loose city, even among those who were largely sexually immoral. Among people who slept with temple prostitutes, Sardis was deemed "loose."

"I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead." - Even though the church in this city had lots of hustle & bustle, lots of action. The church here was dead. Organizations can have marketers to give them good jingles. To give them good reputations, but the church is different. The church's power depends upon the Holy Spirit! If the Spirit is not working, the church is dead.

Our church is known in this area. People have heard of Renewal. We have a reputation. Pastors know of us. But we are not too far off from the road that Sardis is traveling. Sardis thought they were doing well. Everyone around them thought they were doing well. But Jesus said... You're not doing well. When we go to a doctor for a examination, we get everything checked. They look at our eyes with a light, we are tested for reflexes, maybe our doctor runs a blood test. The doctor doesn't just check one thing... Wouldn't it seem absurd, if our doctor only checked our reflexes and said... You're okay!? But often we do this in our spiritual lives. We say... our doctrine is sound. OR I go to community group. OR I attend church.

What kind of spiritual check up is that? You want a real check of our spiritual life? How do you deal with it when we really, really want something.... and God doesn't give it to us? OR How about how to deal with success? OR How do we deal with people who hurt us and treat us bad? Are we spiritually dying?

"Wake up and strengthen what remains..." - However, there is a difference between being completely spiritual dead and being a dead church. A church that can respond to God is not completely dead. A completely spiritually dead person is not a Christian. God tells us to wake up. We are not dead, but we are asleep. It is much like an arm that you've slept on. It's numb and disabled. It is a useless limb until the blood comes back in. Dead churches... churches that are asleep... feel nothing. They are numb. They come into service and stand during worship. They sing and are faced with Christ, but their hearts are numb. They feel nothing. We are not excited about Jesus. He is about as interesting as growing grass. The fruit of these dead churches is just activity. There is no spiritual growth, no life change, no heart transformation.

Notice what Jesus does not say about the church. The church is the lampstand, not the lamp. It is not the light. Christ is the light. We hold Him up. The church is supposed to throw light into the darkness. The church does not look the same as those outside the church.

Jesus' prescription for a Dying Church

• RECOGNIZE your true condition. (Are you spiritual dead?)
  If your heart feels nothing...
  If you have no spiritual impact on others...
• REMEMBER the truth of the Gospel
  Change begins with the truth...
  Disbelief in the Gospel is at the root of sin in our lives...
  Christ RESURRECTS dead people. (Is there anything too hard for Him?)
  Satan lies to us... you can't change. Christ can't help you...
• Walk in OBEDIENCE
  (Our obedience does not save. Jesus' obedience saves. But obeying after saving faith is meaningful!)
  ITS EFFECT
  (Disobedience grieves the Holy Spirit. We hear the Spirit less. We become more numb.)
  (Obedience to God's will causes Jesus and the Holy Spirit to become more real & clearer.)
  AS EVIDENCE
  (A consistent pattern of disobedience indicates a person may not know Jesus.)
  Parable of the weeds {Matthew 13:24-30}
  A life in the Spirit wishes to obey God {Romans 8:1-17}
  

Letter to the Church in Thyatira

{Revelation 2:18-29}

"And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write: 'The words of the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and whose feet are like burnished bronze.

"'I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first. But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing my servants to practice sexual immorality and to eat food sacrificed to idols. I gave her time to repent, but she refuses to repent of her sexual immorality. Behold, I will throw her onto a sickbed, and those who commit adultery with her I will throw into great tribulation, unless they repent of her works, and I will strike her children dead. And all the churches will know that I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you according to your works. But to the rest of you in Thyatira, who do not hold this teaching, who have not learned what some call the deep things of Satan, to you I say, I do not lay on you any other burden. Only hold fast what you have until I come. The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron, as when earthen pots are broken in pieces, even as I myself have received authority from my Father. And I will give him the morning star. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

[Rev. Dwight Yoo]

Background context. This city is landlocked in a valley unlike the other cities of the seven other churches of revelation. This city was not very important. This is the longest, most complicated letter sent to the more simple city. They were not being overtly persecuted. There were trade guilds and they struggled with compromise.

"who has eyes like a flame of fire" - Jesus sees everything.
"whose feet are like burnished bronze" - bronze workers would recognize this as Jesus' purity

"your latter works exceed the first" - the church in Thyatira loved God and also performed works of love. They were probably gracious and welcoming.

"But I have this against you, that you tolerate that woman Jezebel..." - There was a woman who claimed to be a prophetess. She taught things much like the Nicolatians. She was called Jezebel to indicate how she was evil. Jezebel is an Old Testament reference. She was a symbol of evil and seduced the people of Israel into worshipping other gods. The children are those who follow this woman. Jesus is saying he will make this woman suffer and make her followers die. False teaching is a serious matter.

Tolerance is considered a good thing. But it can go too far. We are called to believe that there is One way, One truth, and One life. So other religions are invalid. But this is viewed as "intolerance" by others. There are certain things to be intolerant of...

"one who conquers and keeps my works... I will give him the morning star." - Those who hold onto Christ will rule with Him. Christ also promises Himself to them.

Application

Main problem: I have this against you, you tolerate... (You cannot tolerate everything.) "Jezebel" should have been confronted.

Solution:

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. - Ephesians 4:11-16

We need to have both love and truth. This is what the church should look like. How does it look?

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. - John 1:14

Jesus personified the balance of grace & truth. Gracious to sinners. Welcome to tax collectors and prostitutes. Defensive of the truth. Willing to confront those who are in the wrong.

When Jesus stays the center of our lives, we will be gracious and loving. When He is not the center, we look for praise of man or justification through works. We will be afraid to confront people. We will fear what they think of us. OR We don't care what other people think. We will always seek to justify ourselves. To stay in the right all the time. We take pride in ourselves.

1. Are there conversations the LORD may be calling you to have?
   Does God want you to confront someone?
   
2. How will you receive it, when confronted?
   Are we humble & thankful that someone points out our sin?
   
3. Prayer for all of your relationships to be characterized by speaking TRUTH with GRACE, IN LOVE especially in the church, this is where transformation happens.
   If there is no depth in your relationships, this cannot happen. This is why so many of us are spiritual stuck. In our Community Groups, if there is only your physical presence there... that is NOT community. We need to be close enough to one another so that loving & gracious confrontation can happen. Don't blame your leaders or your group. Have you open up your life?
   

Jesus, the First and the Last

{Revelation 1:9-20 ESV}

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, "Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea."

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.

When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, "Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades. Write therefore the things that you have seen, those that are and those that are to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

[Rev. Dwight Yoo]

Who is this Jesus? (This is the passage.)

How does what we see affect what we are going through?

ver 12-13 - John sees an image of Jesus among golden lampstands. The seven churches. Seven is a number of perfection rather than an actual number. Jesus could have shown any image. What does this mean? Jesus is PRESENT among us...now.
Contextually, the church was struggling. There was persecution. Romans were killing christians. Internally there was false teachers.

In our own church, this is an encouragement to me. Our church is not being persecuted. But in our times, there are many churches closing. Christianity is not very popular. In many academic circles, being a christian is considered intellectually suicide. Our own lives have struggles personally. Our hope is not in any one person or any plan. Our hope is in Christ. He is among us and He is the caretaker and the priest of the church.

Lampstands represent the light of knowledge which gives light to the world. In those times, the priests take care of these lampstands. He is to keep the lamps lit and care for them. Jesus now does this as the head priest of the church. He keeps our lights lit. It is He who keeps the church spiritually lit and shining.

ver 14 - Jesus SEES and SPEAKS. Back then, white hair symbolized wisdom. The full head of white hair is full of infinite wisdom. The eyes were flames of fire... eyes of judgment. Nothing is hidden from Him. He sees everything. We can trick other people by pretending... but Christ sees all. He is not fooled. But not only does He see... He also speaks. His mouth is a sword that sounds like rushing waters. This is authority. He gives both encouragement as well as rebuke. He sees faithfulness... We are not condemned, but this does not mean Jesus says only nice things. Jesus also rebukes! God will also have harsh things to say to us. God also disciplines us because He loves us. He will does what is best for us, even when we want something else.

Our prayer should be like Samuel. "Speak, your servant is listening..." We should listen to God. Like the first beatitude... "Blessed are those who hear and take it to heart".

ver 16-17 - The glowing face is a CONQUEROR. The vanquishing warrior. This is Jesus. On one hand, we can say... the natural reaction of one to God is like dropping dead. Through Christ however, we can say that God comes like a Father. one who comes to us gently. You don't need to fear, because I have conquered everything... even death. God is saying something like this: "Do not fear any situations. Fear me." Consider the story of the boat in the storm. Jesus is asleep and the boat is being tossed to and fro. The disciples waken Him and Jesus wakes up. Then Jesus tells the storm to be still. And all is still. Then the disciples are afraid of Jesus... who is this Jesus. There is a healthy fear/respect for God which displaces all the other fears in our lives. Fear about our job situation. Fear about ourselves & our evil hearts. Fear about how we appear before others. Christ says... "Look at me. Don't fear what you are going through. You don't even have to fear death. I have conquered death." There is nothing to fear with a heavenly Father of such power & authority. "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom." Wisdom is knowing how to handle any situation that comes up in life. When you start with seeing Christ for who He is... everything comes into perspective. We will live lives as more than conquerors as a result.

When Jesus says He is first & last. It means He created the world and will also bring the world to judgement. It also means that Jesus has been through human suffering. If you feel disowned by your father, Christ can say He has been there. The people of the church are being martyred. Jesus also says... I have been there. Not only has Jesus been through it, He has won. You will have the victory through Him. He will have the final say, the final word.