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Sacramento Central SDA Church

Chris Buttery

Revelation’s Vacation of a Lifetime

Would you mind praying with me 1 more time as we get into our study this morning?

Father in heaven, it has been an awesome journey studying the book of Revelation, discovering Revelation and when we unpack Revelation whom we discover is Jesus.

We realize that Jesus has a plan to save us, a plan to redeem us, He has a plan to come back and take us to be where He is.

Lord, we have discovered so many important things.

We've also uncovered and seen some of the devil's master plan and how he's seeking to deceive the world in these last days before the imminent return of Jesus and so father we just want to give you thanks for this special book we're going to continue studying it through the weeks to come but Lord we just want to give you thanks for what we've learned thus far and father as we get into our final presentation in this series this morning, we pray for your blessing, your Holy Spirit to teach us again, and we thank you for doing it in Jesus' name.

This morning's presentation is entitled Revelations, Vacation of a Lifetime.

Now, an ambitious project, you probably read about this, to establish a human colony on Mars has received applications from tens of thousands of individuals.

A Dutch non-profit organization, Mars 1, is aiming at sending a crew to the Red Planet in 2022 and arrived 7 months later in 2023.

Because it is likely there will be some psychological or physiological changes to the human body, it's a one-way trip only.

But that has not deterred over 78, 000 people applying to become 1 of the travelers to Mars.

According to Mars 1 organization, life on Mars is expected...

The daily routine would involve construction work and maintenance of settlement systems and research into Mars climate and geological history and all of this is expected to be done in inhospitable environment with unbreathable air and an average temperature around minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit.

Apparently a person doesn't need specific skills to qualify only quote a deep sense of purpose, willingness to build and maintain healthy relationships, the capacity for self-reflection and ability to trust.

It says, goes on to say, if you're resilient, adaptable, curious, creative and resourceful, you may make the final cut.

First there would be 8 years of training before leaving planet Earth.

You know, you've got to just wonder, the faith expressed by these individuals is astounding.

NASA states that they know how much radiation there is between planet Earth and Mars but they aren't sure how the human body would react to all that radiation.

Deep space is filled with protons from solar flares, gamma rays from newborn black holes and cosmic rays from exploding stars.

A long voyage to Mars with no planet nearby to block any of that radiation portends an ominous risk as you could imagine.

If a healthy 40 year old individual, non-smoking American male, stands a 20% chance of eventually dying of cancer here on planet Earth.

How much more or how much will that increase if he travels all the way to Mars?

Now if you offered the chance to join this perilous mission to Mars Would you be willing to go and you've already said no No, no, no, no, no, no for some this might be considered the vacation of a lifetime but I could certainly think up some more viable options.

While I'd forgo the excursion to Mars, there's a vacation that God offers us that the Bible talks about that you just simply cannot refuse.

A trip like no other without involving any outrageous gas prices or hotel prices.

You won't need another vacation to recover from this particular vacation.

The tickets have been purchased in advance and all you need to do is reach out by faith and receive them.

The idea, friends, of eternity, living forever, going to heaven, has occupied humanity for millennia.

Even in the wake of the Enlightenment here in the US and the scientific revolution, many Americans still believe in heaven.

Now I found it very interesting that the same day the space shuttle Endeavour blasted off toward the International Space Station a couple of years ago, Dr Stephen Hawking, the world renowned theoretical physicist, said that there was no room in for heaven in his vision of the cosmos.

1 on its way to discover more that's out there and the other telling us that no matter how much we explore we will never find heaven at all.

And if it does or if it doesn't, will we have to wait for information from the space station or Dr.

Now if we cannot, if what we cannot see means that something doesn't exist then you and I have a big problem.

Then the air and the air we breathe and the wind that we can't see doesn't exist either.

As a matter of fact just forget about all of those secrets you learned about healthy living because according to this theory that what doesn't you can't see doesn't exist then in fact calories don't exist either so just don't worry about the diets anymore now I'm certainly not wanting to pick a fight with the renowned physicist but I have 1 question When Dr.

Hawking stated in the same article I was reading, he said, I'm in no hurry to die, I have so much I want to do first.

Was he saying something more than he intended to say?

Hawking desire to live longer, to accomplish more, bring to light...

Does it bring to light a truth that no 1 really wants to die?

No 1 really wants to die and that we really want to live, perhaps even live forever, if we could.

Is it possible that we long for more because we were created for more?

The Bible tells us in 1st Corinthians chapter 15 verse 19, if in this life only we have hope in Christ we are of all men, what friends?

Now without Christ, period, a person's going to be miserable, no question.

I pity a person who wants nothing to do with Jesus Christ and his plan of salvation but even if we have Christ and we have hope in Christ in this life with no promise of anything more beyond this life then according to the Apostle we are just as miserable but God has a better plan there's certainly more beyond this world more beyond the grave there is more beyond this life according to a Gallup poll 85 percent of Americans believe there is a heaven they are assured that there is more on offer after our puny existence here on planet Earth but you ask several people about what they think about heaven, several different people, you're gonna get several different answers.

Folk just can't seem to agree over this very important Bible topic.

And so we're gonna study it in the scriptures here this morning to understand what God has in store for his faithful children.

Now, you may have visited some pretty magnificent cities in your lifetime, perhaps you may still want to go.

I come from a city of about 1 million people, that's the city of Adelaide in Australia, but downtown in the city is not anything really spectacular.

It's a relatively small city much like Sacramento but it's spread out.

So when I visited New York City for the very first time and I was excited and I was really impressed when I got there.

I was looking at it from the outside and this was...

The first time I visited was before 9-11 and that's why we put the Twin Towers up there Visited before now this thing was magnificent from the outside We were looking I think from the New Jersey side looking in and then we ended up going in and when I got into the city Man, I had a whole different view of the city altogether I mean the traffic was horrible and it was filthy I mean it was just a dirty dirty city.

Whatever city you visited or wish to see they all pale in significance when compared with the city God has prepared for his redeemed.

Speaking of Abraham, the father of the faithful, when he was called out of his homeland to follow God's leading in his life and speaking of others who are also keen to follow God's leading, the writer in the book of Hebrews said, for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is, who friends?

But now they, all those others who left whatever they had and they followed God's leading, now they desire a better country that is a heavenly wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God for he hath prepared for them a city that's exactly right Abraham didn't know where God was calling him to but he followed God's leading in his life anyhow others have done the same some might call them crazy but God says, ah those are my children right there, they are following the voice of their father.

They have followed God for 2 reasons you see, they realize that they are pilgrims and strangers, they look for this thing, They're pilgrims and strangers right here on planet Earth.

They know that this is not their final destination.

They're just passing through and the second reason is they were ever and they are ever mindful of the place that God is preparing for them.

God's promise provides hope and confidence to meet life head-on and give us preparation for the life to come you see.

Now I don't think you need to know what the name of this city is but we'll put it up here on the screen.

Revelation 3 12 tells us, Him that overcometh Will I make a pillar in the temple of my God and he shall go out go no more out and I will write upon him the Name of my God and the name of the city of my God, which is what friends new?

Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from God and I will write upon him my new name." The New Jerusalem, better than New Jersey, better than New Hampshire, New Mexico, and I would even say New Zealand for sure, is this place prepared of God for his children.

So New Jersey, New Jersey, No, no, no, the New Jerusalem is up there The Bible says and you the New Jerusalem is going to be what coming down here to planet Earth and we'll talk more about that In just a minute.

Let's talk about this city Let's go to Revelation chapter 1 21 And we want to talk about this city here this morning and find out what it's all about and what it looks like and what God has to offer us.

Revelation chapter 21, and we're gonna be looking in verse 16.

The Bible says in Revelation 21 verse 16 when you get there please say amen all right that seems like most of us let's move on and the city lieth foursquare and the length is as large as the breadth and he measured the city with the reed 12000 furlongs the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal, you see.

So the size of this city is 12, 000 furlongs or 1, 500 miles in parameter.

A furlong is about an eighth of a mile or 375 miles on each side.

You know a city that that's big that that that is that big this thing is ginormous it's massive that's big enough to fit the states of Virginia West Virginia North Carolina Maryland Delaware and parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania that's a hundred and 665000 square miles 1 pretty big city amen sure it's often gets asked so let me answer it ahead of time is the city large enough for all of the save from all ages to fit inside If each person were given about a hundred square foot there would be no there would be room rather for close to 40 billion people inside the city and that's not a lot of room when you consider a hundred square foot you understand but that's a lot that's 6 times about 6 times the current population.

I understand that if all people who ever lived were saved there would be plenty of room inside this city.

You've got to understand that God wants everyone to be saved and he has given ample room for each 1 to be saved, you see.

While the Bible says that a great multitude will be saved, they will be small in comparison to those that are lost, where the Bible says that they are like the sands of the sea.

And so you don't have to worry if Christ is yours and you are Christ there's going to be plenty of room inside that city just for you, you understand.

All right we're in verses 17 and verse 18.

And he measured the wall thereof as hundred and hundred and 40 and 4 cubits according to the measure of a man that is of the angel and the building of the wall of it was of jasper and the city was pure gold like unto clear glass and so the walls are about a hundred and 44 cubits or 216 feet high that would be now cubits about 18 inches so that's how we figured that out but about 20 stories high this wall is made of solid jasper I mean this is absolutely spectacular Just think about how splendid this city is going to be.

Alright, we're over in verse 12 now, just jump back to verse 12 and we're going to read verse 12, 13 and 21.

It says, "...and had a wall great and high, and had 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel on the east 3 gates on the north 3 gates on the south 3 gates and on the west 3 gates jump over to verse 21 and the 12 gates were 12 what friends pearls every Every several gate was of 1 pearl and the street of the city was pure gold as it was transparent as glass.

And so the Bible says that there are 12 gates, 3 on each side of that city and it's made of pearl.

Now the largest pearl on record today is known as the Pearl of Lao Tzu or the Pearl of Allah and it measures about 9.45 inches in diameter and weighs about 14 pounds but friends that is nothing in comparison to the size of these pearls that make up these gates 12 gates in the New Jerusalem you understand this thing is going to be absolutely spectacular You know when you think about the size of these pearls you kind of make sure wonder what oyster or kind of what clam this thing came out of right?

I mean this thing's got to be huge but massive, massive pearls as you walk through the gates and 12 gates and angels standing at the gates.

Angels are there waiting for you to welcome you in to that city.

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Revelation’s Vacation of a Lifetime

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