Stepping into God’s Story – Episode Eight

A Better Beginning
Glenn Garvin • March 10, 2024

How many times have you gone somewhere to eat or gathered at a party and had some “first impressions” of your experience? We are fairly fickle folks, aren’t we? We have these gut reactions to the environment, the people around us, and our interactions with others. When it comes to first impressions, how do people view Christ? Being the ambassadors of Christ, how are we doing at speaking or behaving like Him? Let’s discover some ways we can embody Jesus in the world around us.

And… as followers of Jesus we not only represent Christ, we represent what heaven looks like as well.

In this final series message, we will see how the rescue of Jesus and the formation of a new people does not mean “everyone lives happily ever after… in the end.”

A time is coming where God’s people—people from every tribe, tongue, and nation who have been rescued by Christ—will enjoy Him and His rule forever in perfect harmony. Satan will be crushed, the effects of sin will be reversed, and all things will be made new.

This is where we all live today in the Kingdom of God, which is “already, but not yet” fully experiencing God here on earth, but there is still so much more to come!

Four things we see about how everything will end – this will happen:

1. The nations are gathered.
2. The curse is reversed.
3. Evil is destroyed.
4. Christ is enjoyed.

Romans 8:18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us.

Paul says the sufferings will not even compare to the ending.

Why would the Apostle Paul
want us to compare current suffering with future splendor?

There was a beginning, and there will be an end. But, the pain and the struggle are in the messy middle.

The ending is so much better than even beginning.

In the beginning, before sin, there is a picture of a garden and a little bit of the geography of the world that existed long ago.

Genesis 2:8-10 The LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he placed the man he had formed. The LORD God caused to grow out of the ground every tree pleasing in appearance and good for food, including the tree of life in the middle of the garden, as well as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river went out from Eden to water the garden. From there it divided and became the source of four rivers.

But in the end of scripture, the last chapter of the Revelation, written by John, we see a city and very similar elements.

It is interesting to compare the beginning to the end.

Revelation 22:1-5 Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more; people will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will give them light, and they will reign forever and ever.

We can endure because we know how it ends.

1. The

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are gathered.

John tells us who will be a part of the new heaven and new earth.

Revelation 7:9 After this I saw a vast crowd, too great to count, from every nation and tribe and people and language, standing in front of the throne and before the Lamb. They were clothed in white robes and held palm branches in their hands.

If you don’t like different ethnic people groups now, then heaven will not be a happy place for you.

2. The curse is

.

Revelation 21:1-4 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. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: ‘Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

In the beginning, Genesis unfolds the full

of the fall of humanity – but here in Revelation, we find the curse is

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, no more sin!

In fact, there are a lot of jobs that will be

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in heaven.

There will be no more:
•

or funeral directors.
•

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, nurses or medical technicians.
• Counselors or trauma

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.
•

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attorneys.
•

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or military personnel, because there are no more wars.
•

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teachers, because you’ll know God so much better, and He will continue to teach and lead us.

3. Evil is

.

Evil will be destroyed. Sin will be no more and evil itself is banished from heaven.

Revelation 20:10 Then the devil, who had deceived them, was thrown into the fiery lake of burning sulfur, joining the beast and the false prophet. There they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

The chief accuser, that sack of flies - Satan will be no more -thrown into the everlasting hell.

4. Christ is enjoyed.

We can endure because the end is SPECTACULAR!

Heaven is not for people
just wanting to avoid hell,
it’s for people who want
to be with Jesus forever.

What do we do while in the messy middle?

In a wildly famous book written in 1976, Theologian Francis Schaeffer posed a question that echoed throughout the world, selling millions of copis of his book. It was the title of his book, How Should We Then Live?

Knowing how it all ends, can we do more than just endure?
Can we live like God’s Kingdom has come, like heaven here on earth?

NOTES TO DIG DEEPER

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