Introduction
This is a blessed and a wondrous description that John the Apostle gives to us. Remember that he's on the island of Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is in exile for having preached the Savior, for having preached Christ and Him crucified. John spends his latter years on this rock out in the Mediterranean and God comes to him in a special way.
He tells us it's on the Lord's Day in Revelation 1.10. And he takes pen to paper and writes this out for us. And this is, as I said, a vision of the new heaven and a new earth. That prophesied, as Pastor Porter read in chapter 65 of Isaiah.
Well, as we consider verses 1 to 8, I want to notice four things. First, the new heaven and the new earth considered. Secondly, the bride prepared for her husband. Thirdly, the announcement of blessing.
And fourthly, the voice from the throne. We'll probably spend the bulk of our time in the announcement of blessing. In many respects, it's hard to grieve over Austin when we consider Revelation 21 and 22. This is what is his.
His faith has become sight. He is in the presence of the Lamb. This is his first Lord's Day with the Lord of the day. He is worshiping world without end.
Amen. Certainly it grieves our heart and it brings us sorrow because he was a godly young man, an encouraging young man, a man who bore up under a lot of difficulties with Christian grace and dignity and fidelity. That young man reproved me very often, not because he said, Pastor Butler, you've got this issue or you've got this problem. It was his life.
It was his character. It was his godliness. And that's been the consistent testimony of everybody in our church. It's a consistent testimony of his family members.
His grandfather said, I can't think of one bad thought about Austin. I gotta tell you, if my grandfather were alive today, I don't think he could say that. This was a godly young man. He's with his Lord.
He's with Jesus, no more bad physical heart, no more Crohn's disease, no more pain, sorrow and tears. I'll argue this morning with the new heaven and the new earth. It's not only blessed because of what is there, God and the lamb who sits upon the throne, but it's blessed because of what is not there. Pain, sorrow, death, grief, agony, tears, sin.
What a beautiful concept.
The New Heaven and New Earth
Let's look first at the new heaven and the new earth, verse 1. John writes, now I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also, there was no more sea. You see, there's movement in the scripture.
The first Adam with the old earth failed. The first Adam was told to exercise dominion. The first Adam was told to extend that garden temple. The first Adam was told to take the worship of God and make it canvas the entirety of the earth.
We fail when we look at Adam moving about in the garden, and we derive from that a work ethic. We ought to derive a work ethic, but that's a corollary, that's a sideline thought. Adam wasn't first and foremost a gardener, Adam was first and foremost a priest. As he moves about that temple, that garden temple, he is acting on behalf of the living God to bring this world into captivity. and to present it unto his father.
But of course Adam sins, and Adam rebels, and Adam fails in this particular mandate. So God sends Christ. It is not for no reason that Christ is called the last Adam. That he's called the second Adam.
He is the victor. He is the champion. He is the one that inaugurates a new heaven and a new earth wherein righteousness dwells. He carries out His mandate, He carries out His task, He carries out His charge absolutely perfectly through His life and death and resurrection and through His current session at the right hand of God Most High.
It is Christ who is involved in making the earth His. It is Christ who uses the church as His Eve, as His helper, but it's ultimately Christ as second Adam that is carrying out the task of making the earth His own. So John is giving us this glimpse of this new heaven and a new earth. It's already been inaugurated through the ministry of Christ, but it's not yet been fully realized what we will enjoy.
And then notice as well, it speaks of there was no more sea. Oftentimes in the Old Testament scriptures, and even here in the book of Revelation, the sea has this representation of chaos and opposition to God. We don't have time. to go through all of the passages. But the idea here is, this new heaven, this new earth comes, there's no more sea.
There's no more opposition. There's no more chaos. There's no more rebellion against the living and true God. There is cosmos, not chaos.
There is order, not confusion. There is beauty, not ugliness. There is glory. There is majesty.
There is excellence. Not the depravity and the filth that so oftentimes punctuates this old heaven. and this old earth.
The Bride Prepared for Her Husband
Notice, secondly, he describes this city coming down. He says in verse 2, Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. See, the unholy city's already dead. The unholy city's already been judged.
Revelation 17 and 18. Babylon has fallen. The great whore is dead. And now the holy city, this one coming down out of heaven, this bride, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, is coming down out of heaven.
And something very important that we need to appreciate in this passage. Notice at the end of verse 2, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I've had two daughters get married and I've witnessed others get married. And that day before the wedding ceremony, what happens?
I've got to get my hair done, got to get my makeup on, I've got to get my dress right. Adornment in and of itself is not wicked. We see that here. This holy city is adorned as a bride for her bridegroom.
But what happens when this bride does this on Saturday? She's passive. She's prepared. The other ladies come with their little sticks or whatever they do, and they do the hair, and they paint the face, and if that sounds demeaning, please forgive me, whatever.
They're passive in this. They're prepared for this. What are we supposed to glean from this? We don't prepare ourselves for the mercy and grace of God.
God's grace and mercy prepares us. We are a blood-bought community. We are a blood-bought society. We are a prepared people.
Notice in Revelation 17, at verse 14. Revelation 17, verse 14. These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful. Why are they faithful?
Because they're called, because they're chosen. Note the order and the priority. We're not faithful and then we're called. We're not faithful and then we're chosen.
We are called and chosen in order to be faithful. The bride is prepared by God Himself for His blessed consummation. And then again in Revelation chapter 19, verses 7 to 9, just to see this concept of being prepared. It is God who prepares His bride.
Revelation 19, 7. Let us be glad and rejoice and give him glory. For the marriage supper of the Lamb has come, or the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready. That would be by grace.
And to her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Then he said to me, write, blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, these are the true sayings of God." So in Revelation 21, he sees this new heaven, he sees this new earth. It's identified further as being this holy city, the new Jerusalem.
When it comes down from heaven, later developed in chapter 21, you have to notice its shape. The stress doesn't fall upon how many square feet or square miles is this object. The stress is on its shape. It's rectangular, square.
Think Old Testament. Think tabernacle. Think temple. What God is saying is coming out of heaven is this temple city of God most high.
Because you know what a temple is. It is where God and sinners meet. When I read this though, when I get this verse 2, this bride, or prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband, we don't have time to go there, but if you want to write down for your later study in perusal, look at Ezekiel chapter 16, where God rehearses the history of the old covenant people. You know what God says to those old covenant people?
When I came upon you, you were lying there in your blood, You were a mess. You were horrible. You were wretched. You were in a bad state.
You were filthy. You were stinking. You were all manner of evil. And God says, I raised you up.
I said, live, live. And then he goes on to detail that I decked you with ornaments. I decked you with jewelry. I not only cleansed you and perfumed you, but I made you up special for myself." John, perhaps, is taking that image from Ezekiel 16.
He is saying that what God does to Old Covenant Israel, He does with New Covenant Israel. He does it in and through the church. They are a prepared bride. They are brought out of darkness into marvelous light.
They are blessed by God with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, so that they are made fit to stand in His presence, world without end. Amen. It is a beautiful vision.
The Announcement of Blessing
Notice thirdly, this announcement of blessing that comes in verses three and four. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, if you don't like loud, heaven may not be the place for you. You notice every time there's an announcement in heaven, it's loud. It's loud like the sound of many waters.
God ain't playing games. He wants you to hear. He wants you to understand. He wants you to know.
This heaven, on behalf of the Lord God Almighty, says in verse 3, and I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. for the former things have passed away." Three observations here.
The first is simply this,
Communion of God with Man Realized
the communion of God with man is realized. The communion of God with man is realized. Again, storyline. Why did God put Adam and Eve in the garden?
To subdue the earth, to extend that garden temple, to make worshipers of the living God. What does God do with Adam and Eve in the garden? He communes. He comes to them.
He has intimacy with them. He has Congress with them. He traffics with them. He has union with them.
They forfeit that with their sin and rebellion. And again, God institutes means by which He will restore that blessing. What we lose in paradise, we gain through Christ in a way that, in many respects, exceeds what we had in the first Adam. communion is here held out to the people of God. And may I dare say that Austin has realized stanza four of that hymn we just sang.
The bride eyes not her garment. She doesn't gaze at glory. You know, when you read through 21 there, those jaspers and those sapphires and those various stones give way to Christ, to Jesus. There's no temple there.
Why? Because God and Jesus are the temple. She doesn't gaze at her garment. She doesn't gaze at glory.
She gazes at her dear bridegroom's face. Not at the crown that he gifteth, but on his pierced hand. The Lamb is all the glory of Emmanuel's land. That young brother knows that hymn much better than we do.
As delightful as it was for us to sing that this morning, and I hope it was, he has already felt that for about 24 hours now. Communion with God. He dwelt with man in Eden. God dwells with man in the tabernacle.
God dwells with man in the temple. Above all, God dwells with man in and through our Lord Jesus Christ. Isn't this the point of John 2? When Jesus goes in and he drives out those money changers, and he sends out those animals, and we see applied to him that text from the Psalter, zeal for your house is consuming.
And then Jesus makes this statement that's a bit enigmatic, a bit puzzling, though John interprets it for us as he goes on in the gospel. Jesus says, destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up. What do they say? It's taken us 46 years to build this temple, and will you raise it again in three days?
What does the apostle tell us? What does the theologian tell us? He was talking about the temple of his body. It is through Christ that God and sinners come together.
It is through Christ that God and sinners are reconciled. It is through Christ that we have Revelation 21 and 22. So we have the communion of God with man. Secondly, with reference to this announcement of blessing,
Fulfillment of Covenant Blessings
we have the fulfillment of covenant blessings. If I say the two words to you, covenant theology, where does your mind go? If you happen to be one of our dear dispensational brothers, your mind might go this way. Well, you know, those people impose a grid upon the scripture.
And that grid ultimately cheats the Jews out of some promises. That's really not a cool way to do interpretation. You're not a dispensational brother and you don't happen to read in covenant theology, you might say, well, that's that dry, sort of dusty, academic theology that Reformed people like. No covenant theology, no Revelation 21 and 22.
No covenantal promise. No new heavens and new earth. No sworn promise by God to save his people in and through the Lord Jesus Christ and give them everything. There's no Revelation 21 and 22.
This is the fruition, this is the consummation, this is the application of every promise God made in terms of his union with his people. Leviticus 26, in an Old Testament setting, Old Covenant setting. I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God, and you shall be my people.
Isn't that beautiful? Jeremiah 31, 33, a promise of the new covenant. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. Ezekiel 37, 26 and 27, moreover, I will make a covenant of peace with them and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them.
I will establish them and multiply them and I will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My tabernacle also shall be with them. Indeed, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." You see what's happening, brethren? You see the movement and the storyline of Scripture?
What is promised in Genesis 1-3 is realized in the second Adam. It is brought to pass in Jesus the Lord, the one who lived and died and rose again, so that all of his people might have everlasting life. He brings this new heaven. He brings this new earth.
Later on in Revelation 21-22, But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Revelation 22-3, And 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. That's it. It's the covenant.
Come to fruition. Come to pass. In Christ, all the promises of God are yea and amen. May I just suggest to you, be you reformed, be you dispensational, read covenant theology.
It sturdies the soul. It comforts the heart. It promotes in the believer a great confidence in his God who makes promises and fulfills them.
Removal of the Curse
Notice thirdly, with reference to this announcement of blessing, the removal of the curse. I like to go to the keg because they don't sell hot dogs. I like to visit my son because on Air Force bases they don't have graffiti all over the place. I like to go certain places where certain things aren't.
Look what's absent in the new heaven and new earth. And look at who the agent is who makes it so. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Dads, do you ever wipe tears away from the eyes of your children?
Oh, that's my wife's job. Be like God. Be like the sovereign. the omnipotent Lord who created this world and everything in it, the God of absolute sovereignty that upholds this world and everything in it, and who, when one of his saints enters into heaven, God takes the hanky out of his pocket, I speak as a man, and wipes the tears from their eyes. That's a beautiful picture.
If your doctrine of being a manly man does not involve wiping tears out of the eyes of your children, then you're not like God. Because that's what God holds forth. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Notice, there shall be no more death.
What does Paul celebrate in 1 Corinthians chapter 15? Death, where is your sting? Grave, where is your victory? Christ the Lord has taken the sting out of death.
Christ the Lord has taken victory out of the grave. Christ the Lord has made it such that when his people enter into the new heaven and the new earth, they will never die again. There will never be that loss. There will never be that grief.
You'll never look at the deathbed of someone that you love and esteem. You will never have your heart broken over that reality because in the new heaven and the new earth, it's not only what's there, God and Christ, that is blessed, but it's what's not there that is blessed. No more sorrow. None.
That's inconceivable, isn't it? No more sorrow? No more anguish, no more grief. I mean, this is a valley of tears at best, isn't it?
There's a lot to sorrow over. The physical challenges, the spiritual challenges, the trials that we face, the people that we love that face those particular things. The reality that brothers and sisters are suffering for the cause of Christ right now, sitting in prison cells or perhaps on death row because of the crime of preaching Jesus Christ. This is a world punctuated with many sorrows.
But the new world isn't. The new heavens and the new earth is a place where there's no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain. I've often thought, when I've read Revelation 7, where the great multitude is amassed before the throne, and they're not only rehearsing these things, they also add there'll be no more hunger, I've often thought in North America, we probably don't feel that promise the way we would if we were in the Sudan, the way we would if we were in Ethiopia, the way we would in another country where you can't just walk over and turn on the water tap. I'm sure our brothers and sisters that are suffering with hunger and thirst, who don't get a lot of water in a given day, read Revelation 7 and they're beaming.
You mean I'm going to a place where there's no more hunger? There's no more thirst? So then conversely, or in addition to that, I read this particular passage where it says, there shall be no more pain. And I wonder if for the majority of us who don't suffer pain on a regular basis, if we value and prize that text as much as some of our other brethren who have chronic pain, who have chronic suffering do.
They're probably chomping at the bit, waiting, desirous. death wish, not in some suicidal, sick fashion, but the reality that when I pass from this world into the next, the aches, the pains, the chronic, the illness, the issues are gone. You see, it's not only blessed for what it is, God and the Lamb are there, it's blessed for what it isn't. Sorrow, tears, pain. Think again of our young brother.
No more heart problems. No more Crohn's. No more liquid diet. Brother Howie yesterday, I don't know if you'd want me to share this, I'm going to take some liberty.
He said he's eating burgers in the presence of God now. And he qualified it. You know, these people that say, I'm going to play basketball for eternity. If you know Austin, you know he wanted his burgers.
I imagine any of us who had a liquid diet for about 30 seconds would want burgers. In fact, one of the last bits of correspondence I had with him, I said, when you're feeling up to it, we're going to go out and punish some burgers. He sent back an email. I like that phrase, punish burgers.
As I suspect he would have, and he probably would have punished burgers. You see what God is saying? The things that infest a sin-cursed world do not enter into the new heaven and the new earth. The things associated with the sin and the rebellion and the failure of Adam the first are absolutely eradicated due to Adam the second.
There is a removal of the curse There is a throwing out of these things. And when we ask the question, why in this world is there sorrow? Why in this world is there pain? Why in this world is there suffering and all those things?
What can we ultimately trace it back to? If those are the streams, if those are the corollaries, what is the fountainhead? Sin, right? Sin.
So in the new heaven and in the new earth, guess what else won't be there? Sin. I know, that's just amazing. When we read in Revelation 22, 5, and they shall serve Him, whole sold, completely devoted, absolutely involved, 24-7, world without end.
Amen. And if you're thinking carnally, well, won't that get a little boring about year 58? No, because the object of our worship, the one whom we bow to, the one whom we praise, the one whom we sing to, is worthy of a great multitude who worship forever and ever. We cannot exhaust his glory, we cannot spend his majesty, we cannot be finished with how wonderful our God. is.
It's as Rick Anderson used to explain, what it will be like when the sinner, redeemed by grace, enters into heaven. It's like when you take your kids to Disneyland, or you take your kids to the Peony, or you take your kids to a museum, if that's what floats their boat. Around every turn of the corner, they're like, there's something new to take their breath away. Every time you move, you say, there's something new and amazing.
You see that animal. Wow! You see that ride. Wow!
You see that museum artifact. Wow! That's what heaven is for the redeemed. You actually think you're going to get tired of Christ?
You're going to get tired of looking at that pierced hand? You're going to get tired of being in the presence of the one who was the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? The one who loves us to the uttermost? The one who dies for us?
The one who rises again? You will not get tired of that. You will not exhaust that. You will worship and glorify and praise for all eternity.
That's what the new heaven and the new earth is all about.
The Voice from the Throne
So we've seen the new heaven and the new earth, the bride prepared for her husband, the announcement of blessing, fourthly, by way of large observation, the voice from the throne. We have an angelic being, I suspect, in verse 3. I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, here in verses 5 and following, it is God most high. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new.
And he said to me, write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, it is done. Now, readers of John's Gospel will remember a statement made by Jesus on the cross in John 19.30, where he says, it is finished. Now, the verb is different, but the concept is the same.
What Christ accomplishes in 19.30 is here published in Revelation 21. It is done. It is finished. It is over.
There is a new heaven. There is a new earth. There is a new Jerusalem. There is this city coming down from God wherein all the people will live and dwell in righteousness and enjoy His presence and power and glory forever.
It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. Freely to him who thirsts.
You thirst today, come to the Lord Jesus. You thirst today, come to the one alone who can save you from your sins. You thirst today, flee. Don't wait, don't stop, don't wonder, don't ponder.
Because in the final analysis, do you know what really matters in this world? Is what thinking of Christ. That's it. That's it.
Whether you're 18 and a godly young man, or whether you're not 18. We all have that to look forward to. That's it. I'm not telling young people, don't think about school.
Go get Fs. Don't worry about a job. Just lay on the couch. Your parents will be fine.
I'm not saying that. Think priority. What's most important? Popularity?
Money? Where am I going to live? What am I going to do? Who am I going to marry?
Again, not bad things. Not bad thoughts. You need to think about these things. But they pale in significance to what think I of Christ.
Have I closed with them? Have I believed on him? Have I, by the grace, tasted and seen that the Lord is good? I mean, in this passage, the Lord God Almighty, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, says, I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
There is a promise here in verse 7 to he who overcomes. Readers of the book of Revelation will know that each of the seven letters written to those churches ended with this emphasis, overcome, overcome, overcome. overcome, overcome, overcome. Why? Because in the context that the book was written there was pressure upon the people of God to not overcome.
They had the beastly Roman Empire, they had unbelieving Israel, they had religious pressure, they had economic pressure, they had all manner of pressure upon them. So John takes pen to paper to write to the church, overcome! Don't give in! Don't join the beast system.
Don't go back to apostate Israel. Overcome! It is Christ alone who is everything. It is Christ alone who is majesty.
It is Christ alone to whom you must fly and in whom you must stay. There is this promise from the throne.
Promise to the Overcomer
He who overcomes shall inherit all things. And there's that covenantal blessing again. And I will be his God and he shall be my son. And then notice how the section ends.
The Bible is a lot more realistic, I think, than we are. We like to preach the gospel. We like to tell people of the kingdom. We like to tell them of entrance into our savior's presence through his blood, by the power of the spirit, response to his word.
See, the Bible never lets us forget. There is exclusion as well.
Warning to the Excluded
Verse 8, but the cowardly, let me just stop there for a moment, because if you're a child or a young person who hasn't been in our church, you'll think, cowardly? Everybody's cowardly. I'm afraid of spiders. I'm not really.
I'm just giving you an example here. I'm afraid of bears. Yeah, that perplexes me. I'm afraid of what these things could do to me.
That's not the cowardly in the context. How does verse 7 address people? To him who overcomes. The cowardly are those who profess faith in Christ and then reject.
The cowardly are those who do not endure, those who do not persevere, those who by grace do not run with endurance the race that is set before them. They are those people that when the cares of this world come along, or when riches come along, they say later to Jesus Christ and they turn back. That's the cowardly in the context. That's who God, through the Apostle, is addressing in verse 8.
So don't think that God puts people in the lake of fire just because they have an otherwise healthy fear of lions. That's not what's going on. It is the theme, it is the recurring emphasis on overcome. Unbelieving.
You see, he's going to list some pretty perverse behaviors coming up in the following section. Abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars. You see, you may say, well, I don't do that. I'm not an idolater.
I'm not a liar. I'm not an abominable person. But do you realize if you are not a believer in Christ, you're in the same camp with these people? We saw this last week in our studies in Matthew.
Jesus makes this alarming statement. He says there's a sin worse than sodomy. He says, truly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for those who refuse your words. You see, the Bible sets forth in the new heaven and the new earth not only what is blessed, God and the Lamb, but what is cursed, what is bad, what is wretched, and what is horrible.
It is excluded from the presence of the Lamb of God Most High. In other words, there was another death that occurred this week. Austin Jones is not going to sit in the marriage supper of the Lamb with Henry Morgenthaler, who for all we know was unwashed, unsanctified, and unjustified. God is a righteous God.
God is a just God. Yes, Austin is a sinner too, cleansed by the blood. That's the point. That's the emphasis.
That's where the stress lie. Cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars who have not, by the grace of God, believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the text is teaching us.
Application
So in conclusion, My dear brothers and sisters, this is what our young brother is enjoying. And this is what, by God's grace, we look forward to. Some of the elderly among us, you're probably closer, just humanly speaking, naturally, it's the way it tends to go. Be encouraged.
Don't have some zany, goofy death wish. But you know, a Christian is resolved by the grace of God to realize that when I leave this world, I enter into the presence of the Lamb. If you're not a believer here this morning, look at the two alternatives. Look at the only two positions.
You're either in Christ, you're either an inheritor of the new heaven and the new earth, You receive those covenant blessings where God is your God and you are His people or you are excluded. And note the language, note the text. shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Up to this point, we have been told who's in the lake of fire. It's the beast. It's the false prophet.
It's unbelievers. It is those who reject the Lord Jesus Christ. Note the contrast, the stark contrast. Lake of fire, these characters, New Jerusalem, God and the Lamb are the temple.
If you are in your sin today, I would like to come along and shake you, but I can't. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. Pastor Porter and I reckoned yesterday, at the death of this young man, it was a time of worship. It was a time of rejoicing on the one hand.
It was grieving and sorrowful to be sure. To watch Brother Howie and to watch Sister Camille is absolutely incredible. How in the world could they do that? Not by God's grace, but by mercy, by gospel, by truth, by blood, To know it's a stark difference when you go to a funeral or around a deathbed where there is no peace, there is no comfort, there is no closure, there is no Christ, there is no joy, there is no eternal life.
You see scared people, terrified people, people around them that are scared and terrified. Why is that? If we're just a mass of molecules that stop existing, what difference does it make? Men know.
Men know of a truth. Men understand because God has put eternity into their hearts, as the preacher says. They know of a truth. When they die, they will fly away.
The question is, where? Where will you fly? May God, in mercy, reach down and save. May God, in mercy, give grace.
May God, in mercy, give you the gift of faith and repentance if you have, as yet, believed on Him.
Closing Prayer
Well, let us pray. And let us ask the Lord God Almighty to seal these things to our hearts. Oh, Father in heaven, the occasion is solemn. We think of our brother, we think of our dear young brother.
We thank you for his life. We thank you for your work in his heart. We thank you that John 6, 37 was such a special and important text to him. All that the Father gives to me will come to me, and the one who comes I will certainly not cast out.
God, may you use the scripture in the hearts of young people here. May you use the scripture and the spirit to work and to soften and to mold and to cause there to be faith and repentance. And our Father, again, we just commit to you, our dear brother Howie and our dear sister Camille, we pray that Revelation 21 and 22 would be a great encouragement to them, that you would strengthen them, that you would build them up, that you would cause them to continue to exemplify Christian grace in the midst of suffering and hardship and trial. We know they're grieving, we know their hearts are hurting, and we know, Lord God, that this is natural.
We pray that you would just continue to sustain them and support them, use their family god to minister words of comfort and encouragement to them. And may in the midst of all of these things, may you indeed be glorified, may you indeed be honored, and may you indeed be praised. May we see you the way Job saw you. May we worship, may we reckon, and may we realize that we come into this world naked.
We will return naked. You give, you take away. But as that dear man of God said, blessed be the name of the Lord. May this never leave our hearts and our minds.
And I pray for my brothers and sisters here. God, as Pastor Cam reminded us, we lost a member of our church. And yet, Father, we know heaven has gained a godly young man. And we praise you through Christ our Lord.
Amen.