The Former Things Have Passed Away, Isaiah 65, Revelation 21:4

Alright, good morning and welcome to All Things Fulfilled. Sorry about a minute or two late here. Had some technical issues with the camera that we were able to resolve very quickly and I am thankful for that. It's good to be back this morning to study with you again. Welcome to those who are online with us, Rod and Steven and Deb and I'm sure that some others will be with us very soon. And of course, these videos are recorded and also posted to YouTube. So if you happen to miss it, you can always go to YouTube and watch it again or watch it right here on Facebook. So this morning, excuse me, we're going to be talking about the former things have passed away in Revelation 21 and verse 4. And so we direct your attention to that. We continue to look at the arrival of the new heavens and new earth and what it brings to believers. It is the blessing of God opening the way for access to his presence without the need of human intermediaries. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 19, the text says, therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he consecrated for us through the veil, that is his flesh and having a high priest over the house of God. Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. In the old covenant, in the former things, they could not enter the holiest under that old heaven and earth. Only the high priest could enter and that only once a year to make atonement for the people. And so their access was blocked. That was one of the things that was indicated by the veil that access was not allowed and not permitted. As a matter of fact, if anyone had ventured into the most holy place, of course, they would die. And so that explains the reason for the fear. And by contrast, you can see that he says, let us come boldly or having boldness to enter. So now the disposition has changed from one of fear and trepidation to one of boldness to enter into the presence of God. And that says a lot, because when you look in the old Testament and you see oftentimes when men came into the presence of God, either they would die or it was a tremendous amount of fear if God spared them to live. And so this is very, very important, very significant that we see this change going on. A lot of times people ask us, well, what changed? Well, here is one of the things that changed. And it was a very, very significant change in terms of life under that old system, under the old heaven and earth where they were required to have a sacrifice offered by the high priest in order for them to have representation before God. In addition, as we were saying, the high priest under that old covenant had to be replaced often because they were unable to continue by reason of debt. This was another major change in terms of the former things that have passed away. I think because people focus so much on the physical aspect of life when we're talking about these eternal things, that these concepts that we're dealing with here that we're speaking of don't matter much to them. They may not be fully aware of some of these things and they just don't matter to them. But when we look at it from the standpoint of Israel and their cultural life, et cetera, before God, you could see that these things were quite significant. It says, and also there were many priests because they were prevented by death from continuing. So when they had a high priest, that high priest, of course, would live out his course, but eventually they had to have another because of death. And especially if he died prematurely in terms of his service, then another high priest was required. However, with Christ, the scripture says he has an unchangeable priesthood because he continues forever. He has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore he is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him since he always lives to make intercession for them. So that tells you that the priesthood of Christ has no end. It's unchangeable and that it continues forever, world without end. And because of that, he is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through him and those who are coming to God through him as it is in the present tense. And so this is another major difference between the old heaven and earth and the new heaven and earth in terms of what we have in Christ. Now, when we look more at those former things, that term comes from Isaiah chapter 65 and verse 17. It's the same word that's used in the Septuagint and it is the word reshown from the Hebrew, but in the Septuagint, it is the word protos. And it means first in rank, first in time, first in order, etc. And from that perspective, he's talking about the things of the old covenant. So when he and that former covenant that had the flaws because of man, not because it was imperfect, it was perfectly designed to do what God intended for it to do. However, because of the weakness of man, that's what made that covenant, you could say, imperfect in that sense, not any fault with it, but the fault was with man from that perspective. And so there was a need for change, but that's the idea of the former things that the scripture talks about. When we look in Isaiah 65, 17, he says, for behold, I create new heavens and a new earth and the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind. So those former things are specifically related to the things of the old covenant. The old covenant couldn't deliver on the promise that God had made in Genesis that he was going to bring about a savior that was reiterated and repeated to Abraham in Genesis chapter 12. And that was the promise of life. The old covenant could not deliver on that promise. What it could do, however, was point them to the one who would come and who would bring about the fulfillment of that promise. And so the problem of sin and death, the problem that they had, which could not be alleviated because of sin could only be removed through the new covenant, the new heavens and the new earth. And that's why we have the new heavens and the new earth from that perspective and those former things not being remembered. You know, Israel's land was a gateway to powerful nations. That's another thing that belonged to the old covenant. They were promised land in that old covenant land that people are fighting over even to this day, misunderstanding or intentionally misrepresenting what it's all about. But nevertheless, it was a land that was a gateway for powerful nations. They were always caught up with war. You know, there was Egypt to the south, and then you had a Syria and Syria to the north, the Philistines to the west, and eventually Rome as well. And they were always subject to these wars to their crops being burned and stolen, you know, carried away, et cetera. They were being carried away into captivity. Why? Because that pertained to those physical things. And if that were the case today, they would still be suffering the same kind of things just as you see in Palestine today, subject to war, you know, and even worse from the perspective of the kind of bombs that are being dropped on people there from that perspective. And so it would still be, you know, a land that would be affected by the same things that they were affected by under the old covenant. And so they were defeated, you know, their crops burned, carried into captivity, all of these things under that material system in which they live. But God said that the former things would not be remembered nor come to mind. You see, the new covenant is not subject to those kind of things. We have people in the new covenant all around the world. It would be hard to try to find an attack point. Yes, people do murder Christians. They do attack Christians, et cetera. But they're not doing any damage to the kingdom of God, because, you know, Christians are immune to death as far as the life in Christ is concerned. That doesn't mean that they don't die. It just means that death is not a problem for them, as we will say in just a moment. But some have misunderstood the lessons that we've been bringing from the new heavens and new earth to suggest that I do not believe that the Bible teaches an afterlife in heaven. Well, nothing could be farther from the truth. I'm just pointing out the fact that it was God's purpose that he would bring the blessings of heaven and earth in terms of his presence and in terms of a way to live in this life without being under the power of sin and death in the present. And that is huge as a comparison between what took place under the old. When you look at Israel, excuse me, and Biden, you know, I do not deny that there is heaven for those after this life at all, and that heaven does exist. Israel and all those who chose to join them lived in that old heaven and earth while they were yet alive on earth. Now, if they could live in the old heaven and earth while they were yet alive on earth, then what's so strange about living in the new heaven and earth while people are alive on earth? As the text says, the tabernacle of God came down out of heaven to be with men. Furthermore, the Bible is clear that there was life after death and hope for believers. Jesus said in John chapter 11, verse 25, as he was speaking to Martha, he says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. Well, if you think about that with Christ saying, I am the resurrection and the life, and we know that Christ ascended to heaven, think about it from the perspective that, as we said earlier, Jesus has an unchangeable priesthood because he lives forever. Well, that's the resurrection life. That's the life that a is God himself. It is Christ. And therefore we should not lose perspective of that. It's because we change it into something on a physical plane, something material that we run into problems in thinking about death in this conversation. And furthermore, Jesus went on to say, and whoever lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this? So he could not have been talking about physical death. That's what the Pharisees wanted to twist his words into saying, because what they said after he made that statement was, look, we know you have a demon because Abraham is dead. Well, what was their logic? Their logic was Abraham was faithful. He was called the friend of God. He was counted as righteous and he died. And you say that if a man keeps my word, he shall never see death. See, their focus is on the physical. They do that over and over again in John, when Jesus enters or engages them in the spiritual truths that transcend physicality. They said, you know, the prophets are dead and look how many faithful prophets there were in the old covenant. They died also. You know, it's rather interesting that in Matthew chapter eight, 11 and 12, and also Luke chapter 13, where you have the parallel texts, the scripture says when the Jews would be cast out into outer darkness, they would see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets sit down in the kingdom of heaven, in the kingdom of God. So that affirms and tells us very clearly that their death was not the end of life. The kingdom of God transcends the, you know, the earthly life. It transcends and exists both in heaven and on earth. And we have to recognize that there is a part of our lives that exist in the physical realm for a time, a very short time, according to James. However, that's not the end of life for a believer. In this conversation in John 11, Martha spoke of rising in the resurrection at the last day for those who died. And so in Daniel chapter 12 and verse 13, when God speaks to Daniel, he says, but you go your way till the end for you shall rest and arise to your inheritance at the end of the days. And so there was that resurrection life presented to them. Paul spoke of the hope of believers who had died in first Thessalonians chapter four and verse 13. He says, but I do not want you to be ignorant brethren concerning those who have fallen asleep, lest you sorrow as others who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who sleep in Jesus. The idea and the purpose of the new heaven and new earth extends within both dimensions. It was to be a dwelling place of God for men in God's presence on earth. And also after their physical demise, Moses understood that living in the presence of God was even more important than living in the promised land on earth. That was the whole reason God called him out of bondage. He says, I'm going to give you a land, a good land, a land flowing with milk and honey, a land that was full of blessings. That was the antithesis of the very bondage and oppression under which they served in Egypt. And however, as they were journeying through the land, of course, we know the story of the golden calf and the sin of the people, uh, under Aaron's leadership in Exodus chapter 32. And at that point, God determined that he was going to destroy the entire nation and raise up another nation under Moses. But Moses goes before God intercedes on behalf of the nation and, um, used a little bit of his, uh, clout with God to, you know, say, look, God, you know, you claim, you know, me by name and you, you bless us with your grace. And then he even, um, you know, through a little, um, you might say shade in a light, you know, uh, a light hearted sense, uh, by saying, God, look, if you destroy these people, what are the nations going to say? What are they going to think about your power and your promise to deliver them and to bring them into this land that you have promised? And so Moses made a statement. He said, if you do not lead us into this land, this is an essence, what he said, not a direct quote. He says, if your presence does not go with us, then don't take us out of the wilderness. Now, look, people were crying. They were complaining and bickering and, um, threatening Moses and Aaron because of the, you know, the treachery of going through the wilderness, the lack of water, the lack of food at times. And of course the hot desert sand and all the other, you know, uh, complications that brought about so much so that they were willing to go back into Egypt to avoid that difficult journey through the wilderness. And some did, and the rest of them died in the wilderness because they kept wanting to go back. It's kind of like the story of Lot's wife, so to speak, uh, magnified through the nation. But Moses said, if your presence does not go with us, do not take us out of this wilderness. He recognized that the presence of God was more important than being in the land, even though that's what God had promised. And so God's presence, and that's what he wanted more than anything else was for God's presence to go with them. But ultimately he wanted to be in God's presence because that's what Hebrews 11 tells us that he chose rather to suffer with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season. He endured that reproach because he saw him who was invisible. He was looking forward to the day of Christ for his ultimate deliverance. And this is what we're talking about in the new heavens and the new earth. And therefore we have to see that Paul even said in, uh, second Timothy chapter four and verse eight, he said, finally, there is laid up for me. Notice the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge will give me on that day. And not to me only, but to all who have loved is appearing. Now, Paul knew that he wasn't going to live until the time of the end. Uh, but he said that a crown of righteousness had been promised to him. And I think we need to focus on that crown of righteousness because that's very, very important. You know, David said in the 17th Psalm and verse 15, he said that he would be when he would awake in God's likeness, when he would awake in God's righteousness, he understood that resurrection was all about a waking and righteousness. And that text is also, uh, it's quoted from Daniel, uh, 12, or at least Daniel 12 is, is quoted from that text. But you also see, um, that in first Corinthians 1534, where Paul speaks about the resurrection and says awake to righteousness, that again was something that was not fulfilled under the law. That's one of these major changes because the scripture says in Galatians chapter three and four, if there could have been a law, which could have given righteousness truly or given life, excuse me, truly righteousness would have been by the law. Do you notice that, uh, interchange between life and righteousness? And that's what Israel was seeking for. As Paul said in Roman chapter 10, he says, brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved where I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. Well, they being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the righteousness of God, which comes through the gospel by faith Romans one 16 and 17. And hence in Philippians three and verse nine, Paul said that he wanted to be found in him. That is in Christ, not having his own righteousness, which was through the law, but the righteousness, which was of God through faith through the faith in Christ. So that's what they were looking for. And Paul continues that conversation in verses 10 and 11 to say that that righteousness toward which he was looking and had not yet attained was resurrection out from the dead ones, thus demonstrating that resurrection was righteousness. Just like the Bible says in Galatians three and verse 21, for you, if there had been a law, which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. So when Paul says that they were looking for the crown of righteousness, that's the crown of life. And John further establishes that in revelation two and verse 10. And notice he juxtaposes that with physical death. He says, do not fear any of those things, which you are about to suffer. Indeed, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison that you may be tested and you will have tribulation 10 days, be faithful unto death. Notice be faithful unto death, what death physical death. And I will give you the crown of life. Well, for John, it was the crown of life. For Paul, it was the crown of righteousness. The crown of life is righteousness. That's what the law could not deliver. Why? Because the Bible says Christ is the end of the law, the goal, the tell us of the law for righteousness for life to everyone who believes. And therefore Moses wanted to choose the presence of God because he was really choosing life in that particular situation. Now, physical death was never the enemy of the redeemed. Yes, it did hinder them in some way, but it was never really the enemy that men want to make it today and claim that, oh, we've got to be delivered from physical death in the sense that physical death has to cease and never exist anymore. And by that, what I'm saying is physical death could not and does not separate a believer from God. Remember, even the faithful ones of the old covenant died in faith and that counted for a lot as far as their salvation was concerned. So their physical death did not end their status and standing before God. It only delayed it for a time. The reason physical death was an issue was that it ended life without salvation under the old covenant. And that's why people fear death in Hebrews chapter two, 14, as it states 14 and 15, not because death within itself was evil, but to die without receiving the promise and to die without that being fulfilled. Death was no more an evil than his life. And that is still true today. Death is no more an evil than his life. Here's what Paul said yet in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. That's Romans eight 37 and following for I am persuaded now watch this very carefully for I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present. Well, death, physical death was present at the time. Physical life was present at the time, but notice he also says, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing shall be able to what to separate us. You see, that's the great evil. That's what men should really fear. And that is being separated from God. That's why Moses said, if your presence doesn't go with this, leave us here in the wilderness. As long as we can be in your presence, sin separated one, not just in death, but even in life. So why don't people want to end their lives? Like they want to end physical death. Now, I granted there are some people who do because they feel that life is just too overwhelming. They have not been immersed into all the wonderful blessings of Jesus Christ and understand, you know, the just unfathomable depths of God's love and his mercy and his grace and kindness toward them. And for whatever reason, they've gotten caught up in their own problems and stuff. And that happens to us. It happened to me, but I had a way out because I knew and trusted in God so much. But people do get there. And they do check out of life sometimes thinking life is unbearable. But you see, God says life cannot separate you from his love, but neither can death. So we need to see them on both sides of that issue. And yet, you know, there are some people they just, you know, they're like the ascetics, they're like the Gnostics, etc. They're like the Platonists. They want to get out of this life as quickly as they can. Well, you know, that's a selfish person. You know, when it's not really a situation of some depression, etc, that they're in, or, you know, some serious illness where they just don't want to bear it. I'm talking about the everyday people walking around and particularly these believers who want to check out of life so quick, they want Christ to come. Look, we've had three days of hysteria on people thinking the rapture was about to occur, selling their houses, giving away their smartphones, running up their credit cards, because they didn't think they'd have to pay. And even some celebrities, you know, wouldn't pay traffic tickets as reported because, you know, they didn't think they were going to raptured off the earth. You know, I did a video that I'm sure many others did, but I did a video back in September 23rd, 2017, warning people about this. I wish they had watched that. A lot of them wouldn't be depressed. Some of them are giving up their faith. I can't go back. I can't believe in a God who disappointed me in that way. But that's what Revelation 21.4 is all about. Heaven comes down to be with us, the new heavens and the new earth. And then even beyond that, we still have life through physical death. But the most important thing about it, instead of wanting to escape, Paul said to remain in the flesh is more needful for you. A life of service is what we should be about. And we ought to be willing to serve God as long and as best as we possibly can. That's the essence of life. Fear God, keep his commandments, serve. That's where the real value of life comes in. Jesus said, whoever would be great among you shall be your servant. He didn't say whoever checks out as quick as they can. And that's what we should think about. Furthermore, the Bible even says one is dead. You know, the sinner is dead while he lives. So, you know, you you can die spiritually while you're alive. If you, you know, so interested in dying from that perspective, he says the way of transgressors is hard. But to die in sin means that one cannot live with Christ forever. He cannot enjoy that blessing. Jesus said to them in John 821, I am going the way or going away and you will seek me and will die in your sin where I go. You cannot come. So the Jews said, will he kill himself? Because he says where I go, you cannot come. And he said to them, you are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. Now that's the greatest tragedy. For if you do not believe that I am, he, you will die in your sin. And that means you cannot live with Christ forever. That's what people should fear more than anything else. And that was the only problem with death, dying in sin. Physical death continues beyond the Parisian. The Bible says blessed are those who do his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. But outside, outside those gates are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and what and murderers. Well, what is murder? That's taking the life of someone in a way that is sinful in a way that violates the commandment of God. Well, if you murder them, they die. He said that's going on outside of the city. That means physical death still continues even after the holy city has come down. And so we have to focus on the right thing. Life is righteousness. And that's what Christ came to give because it's righteousness that allows us to live in this life, pleasing to God. And after we die to continue living in his presence in heaven and thus the former things, the sorrow, the pain, the death, the crying, the tears have passed away for those who are in Christ. That's the blessed hope. And that's the premise. Thank you for watching this morning. We hope that you got something beneficial out of the lesson. Hope that it inspires you to keep living, to keep serving, to keep following the will of God, knowing that you have not only in this life, the presence of God, but in the life beyond with that, we're going to say good morning to you and we'll see you again on next week. God bless.