All Things New

The God family is engaged in a new project. Having lived forever, God the Father and the Logos the Word devised the plan of salvation for billions of people through creating a physical realm and offering them a chance to be part of the God family. This project is no doubt, undoubtedly, the greatest project ever undertaken by the God family, because the end result is greater than anything we see written about heaven. It involves projects underway on at least three levels in the physical and spirit realms, plus another level, which is in the cerebral mental character development realm.

When it's completed, it's all going to come together with a grand opening, we might say. We, as humans, could put it in that term. A grand opening, a celebration, a rollout of things that are unique and new. This plan of God is moving along and everything is right on schedule. The ultimate goal for you and for me and for all humans who have ever lived will be the words, welcome to the kingdom of God.

Welcome with a door wide open for us. That is what God wants and that's what we want. Something new is in the air. Something new is about to happen. It's going to change things. It's going to change a lot of things. In fact, it's going to change everything that currently is. Things everywhere will never be the same as they are today. Not just here in our realm, but also in God's realm.

In the third heaven, the coming changes will be so profound that they will impact even the throne of God in heaven. They will even impact the Son of God as we know it. In fact, heaven itself will change forever. All of this change must be very, very exciting when looked at from the perspective of the God family because they're the ones that came up with the plan. They're the ones that are going through all the work.

We are just part of that. We are participants in a greater plan that they have. Today, I'd like to take a look at the plan of God from His perspective, from the Father's perspective, and from His Son, now Jesus the Christ, and look at what their expectations are so that we can better understand how we are to perform now and to hopefully fulfill their will.

We humans tend to hope to join that which always has existed, that which has been forever, to sort of slide in and slip in and show up into what already exists. We hope to be inserted into an already existing heavenly realm. But is that what God is planning? If we just take the Scriptures and the Bible today without interpreting them, just take the Scriptures at face value that talk about what God is doing. Let's try to get a glimpse that we can't know for sure, and God doesn't go to great lengths to explain in detail everything.

But let's get a glimpse that hopefully will not only encourage and motivate us in our calling, but also help us understand how important it is that we are busy about our Father's business now. What is God planning? And what will He change in preparation for this grand opening for the children of God and the coming kingdom of God? There's a statement that's commonly used in many circles applied to many things, out with the old and in with the new.

There's no specific thing that that refers to. It's applied, quoted by so many people and applied in so many different ways. But the general concept is there's something that's taken place up to this point that there needs to be a transition, and that's finished. That's done. We need to now go forward. We can see this in a statement that the Apostle Paul was inspired to make back in Philippians 3 in verse 12. God actually lives by this motto. At least we can deduce that, because He inspires it in us, and we also see it in the things that He has placed in the new covenant and also in the future for us.

In Philippians 3, in verse 12, Paul says, Not that I have already attained. I haven't made it to the end. I've not reached the goal, but I'm not already perfected, he said, but I press on that I may lay hold of that which Christ has also laid hold of me. So he says Christ has laid hold of me for something. And then thinking about what He's done, he says, I need to be busy about that. So I need to press on. I need to move forward.

Brethren, I do not count myself to have reached or apprehended that goal, but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead. Out with the old, in with the new.

I'm becoming something new. I was called as an old man. I am transitioning into a new man. We were called of something physical that will corrupt, and God wants to transition us and focus on the kingdom of God as our priority and His righteousness.

God wants things to change. He said in Revelation 21 and verse 1, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. That is, out with the old and in with the new.

God is wanting everything and everyone to move forward to this grand opening, to this time of newness, and so that everything and everyone is ready when He determines that it is to begin. Now, that's pretty exciting. What all is to be new? Well, He says in Revelation 21 5, Behold, in other words, look, I create all things new. Now therein lies part of the challenge for you and me that if we remain as we are, we will not exist because God is only making things new.

So you and I and every human ultimately will have a choice. Do we want to stay the old and not be there? Or do we want to be the new? Do we want to be part of what God is doing? Let's examine the context of the word new in the New Testament. One of the first things we find, Jesus says, that you don't put new wine in an old wineskin. You don't come up with a new covenant that is spirit-based, that takes a commandment and then expands it.

And with God's Holy Spirit, not just don't hate anymore, but love your neighbor as yourself, love your enemy, bless those who curse you. See? These things now are expanding. You don't put a new covenant in an old wineskin.

He says, no. You put a new wine in a new wineskin so that it can be what it needs to be. And you leave the old wine in the old wineskin so that they can exist together. In this new covenant that he made, he said in Mark chapter 14 in verse 24, that he was an agent of something new. He came as an agent of something new.

And he wants to make you and me new. You know, this new rollout that the family of God has, the new creation, can't just happen by fiat. We have to participate and do our part. But God is an agent of newness. In Mark chapter 14 in verse 24, Jesus said to them, this is my blood of the new covenant.

That's how involved, that's how connected he was to you and me becoming new people, not just new physically and not just new character-wise, but actually new in the kingdom. Spirit beings, he shed his blood for us. And at Passover, the wine is representative of his blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many, shed for everyone, everyone who will repent. Everyone throughout time who has ever been born will have an opportunity to experience that blood for giving their sins and God's Holy Spirit beginning to make them into a new person of a new mindset that ultimately can inherit a new heaven and new earth.

Assuredly, he said, I'm telling you, assuredly means you can believe me. I say to you, he says, I will no longer drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it, new in the kingdom of God. There's something even about the wine that will be new.

There is something being prepared for those who step in with the bridegroom and with his father and celebrate. There are things that are going to be new in every detail, as he said, new in the kingdom of God. Jesus Christ himself was also an agent of another type of newness. He was a representative of the new man or the new woman that you and I need to be. It says over in Ephesians 2 verse 15 that he created in himself one new man from the two, thus making peace. You had those who were of the covenant that God had with Israel and those who were not. Yet he came in the new covenant and in shedding his blood he came representing the one new man from the two, joining. Then he calls us to follow and become agents of that as well. Let's pick it up in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 9. Rather than just sitting around and waiting and saying, oh yeah, bring the kingdom. I'm ready to step in there and get my cloud and my harp, join whatever's there. No, actually, we are called to be in the newness and making things new in preparation for a new kingdom to come. It says in Colossians chapter 3 and verse 9, do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds and have put on the new man. Ah, the new man! Jesus Christ, we just read, was a new man that made one from the two.

Here it says, you put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of him who created him. We're to follow like that other new man was. Where there is no, there is neither Jew or Greek, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free, male, female, the Bible says, another place. But Christ is all in all. We then are also to become that new type of individual that joins like he does, that now is agents of this new mindset of a new kingdom.

We have to be doing our part. If we do that, there's a reward. It's called being in the first resurrection. We've got to realize that being in that first resurrection, though, is something we work for. That it's for the new men and the new women who have gotten rid of the old man. They're getting rid of it. That are out with the old and in with the new. Like Paul said, I put those things which are behind. I put them away and I press forward for this calling, for this oneness that the family of God wants to have with everything. In 1 Corinthians 15 and verse 23, we see, for as in Adam all died, but even so in Christ all shall be made alive.

Every person that's ever lived will be made alive.

In one way or another, one time or another, this grand opening is coming.

It has various stages. There are some who are being called now to serve with Christ and reign with Him for a thousand years. Another resurrection will come later. As we see here in verse 20, Christ has risen from the dead and has become the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. Dropping down now to verse 23. But each one in his own order, Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ at His coming. Verse 50, Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God.

What's he saying? Flesh and blood are physical elements. Things of old will not inherit the new.

Things of the physical realm won't be in the kingdom of God. So we are offered the opportunity, we have this one-time opportunity to change into new spirit beings, children of God at Christ's return. That's yours and my opportunity. And just realize that flesh and blood, physical elements, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. So you and I need to know right up front, we can't stay as we are and be in the kingdom of God. We might say we like the kingdom of God. We might like kingdom and heaven and eternal life and all kinds of things. But as we are, we won't be part of it.

And it's important to know that. Nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed.

You know, the first mention of the resurrected saints, Paul's referring there at the last Trump, first mention, we find something new. Let's find it over in Revelation chapter 5 and verse 9.

The seventh trumpet when the first fruits rise. Let's see what first mention here. Again, just reading what it says. Revelation 5 verse 9, and they, the first fruits, sang a new song. New. This is something brand new. They've risen, they're the first children of God, and they sing a new song. And the song goes like this. Talking to God, you are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain and you have redeemed us to God by your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation and have made us a kingdom of priests is what the trans the margin there says to our God.

And we shall reign on the earth. This is what they're saying. Now, in comparison, the angels speak afterward in verse 11. They don't sing, they speak. Remember that the first fruit sang a new song. Angels here speak verse 11. Then I looked and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures and the elders and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands of thousands. Lots of angels. Verse 12, saying, not singing, saying with a loud voice, worthy is the lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. This is a transition within the God family of the first children coming up. And there's something unique about God's children that's different than angels.

Let's look in Revelation 14 and verse 1. There's something about the new song that's very different. It's limited only to the members of the God family. They're the only ones that can understand it. Revelation 14 verse 1. Then I looked and behold a lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000, having his father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a voice from heaven like the voice of many waters and like the voice of loud thunder. And I heard the sound of harpists playing their harps. They sang, as it were, a new song before the throne.

So before the throne, they sang a new song before the four living creatures and before the 24 elders. And no one could learn that song except the 144,000 who were redeemed from the earth.

Things are changing even right then and there as a new group, a new generation of God's family, is communicating in ways that cannot be perceived by anyone else. These are the ones who are not defiled with women, for they are virgins. They do not get into false religions. They do not get led astray by the agents of Satan. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever he goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are without fault before the throne of God. Just in reading those verses, you see something very exciting happening there with those individuals. There's something very special about these individuals. It's found in Revelation chapter 20 and verse 6. Revelation chapter 20 and verse 6 gives us a clue about the new things that are coming and the old things that will be leaving, the old things that will be removing. Blessed and holy is he who has a part in the first resurrection. Put an exclamation point on that. So exciting. Blessed and holy, supremely blessed are those who have part in the first resurrection. On, as we go on, over such the second death has no power. Why would that be said? Because the second death is going to eliminate everything and only those who are made new spirit beings will survive. The only things that will survive. People, things will be new. And what is being said here is, wow, this is the first of the first. Well, the second of the first. Christ was the first of the first. These first fruits are the next. And they will not be burned up. They will not be affected by the burning that's coming. All old things will be burned. Not just some things. All old things will be burned. Let's go back to 2 Peter chapter 3. 2 Peter chapter 3 is a warning and also an encouragement for us to realize what God is doing. Because of the great new, you might say, grand opening of the kingdom of God, we have the encouragement to seek the kingdom and his righteousness. We have the welcome. We have Jesus Christ saying, I want to count you as a sheep and say, well done, good and faithful servant. Enter the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the Word. That's what we want to hear. But at the same time, as Paul is inspired to say here in 2 Peter, in verse 1, Beloved, I write to you this second epistle, in both of which I stir up your minds by way of a reminder. Sometimes we need to be stirred up. That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets and of the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. So we need to understand and be very diligent. In verse 7, it says, But the heavens and earth which are now preserved by the same word are reserved for fire. The heavens and the earth are reserved for fire.

Old things are going to be burned up. I think we probably understand that to a degree, but there's no alternative to being burned up. It's not like you can hang around and not be burned up.

If you hang around, everything is going to be burned up. And these things are reserved for fire until the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men, of the destruction of ungodly men. In the end of verse 9, God is not willing that any should perish. It is not His will that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. So God's will for you and me is that we change, is that we become new. New mind, newness, ultimately a new spirit body, and live in the kingdom as new individuals. In verse 10, The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which this is one day of the Lord. There's several days of the Lord. This is one of them. And it'll come at a time when people aren't necessarily expecting that. And the heavens will pass away. You can look up the term pass away and you can find what's going to happen with a great noise and the elements will melt with fervent heat. You know, I don't know. I'm not a person at the throne of God. So I don't know. But I do know that we as human beings know a certain amount about the molecules and the atoms that make up the molecules that make up ourselves and our world. And one thing we know, you can split one of those atoms and you can break a few things apart and energize it a little bit, or just let it fly free. And what you end up with, if you remember what atomic and nuclear weapons are, just a fission from one piece, one tiny, tiny fragment of matter, are some of these things here.

Fire, elements melting with fervent heat, elements dissolving. When the physical realm is gone and it goes out with noise and heat and fire, then that's the end of that. Verse 13, Nevertheless, we who are pursuing newness, we look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. God is making things new. Things are going to change completely and totally on every level. Adam Clark says the ancient Jews believed that God would renew the heavens and the earth at the end of 7,000 years. The ancient Jews did not have the New Testament. They did not have the words that we are reading here. There is obviously nothing in this passage that says the word renewal or renew. We have a God who is saying things are going to get new. And you and I really need to be involved in the process that Jesus Christ created as the new man himself, bringing together those who God the Father is calling. Let's look in Romans 6. The whole 6th chapter of Romans is talking about individuals who are transitioning from the old carnal, sinful self to one who is righteous and one who will be in the kingdom of God.

And if you read through this passage and get the context all the way through, you'll see from beginning to end. That is the theme. He begins talking about sin. And shall we stay in that? And then we find in verse 4 that we are buried with Christ through baptism so that we have a death out with the old. The old person, the old self dies symbolically in a watery grave.

We are now connected to a new way of life, a new mindset. And just as Jesus Christ in verse 4 was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. We have to be about new now, if we're going to be new later. For if we have been united together in the likeness of his death, certainly we shall be in the likeness of his resurrection. We will be like him, John says. We're no longer to be slaves of sin. It says we're to reckon ourselves to be dead to sin and alive for Christ. In verse 14, sin shall not have dominion over you. Going on down in verse 17, but God be thanked that though you were slaves of sin, yet you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine to which you were delivered and have been set free from sin and become slaves of righteousness. Jesus Christ's blood unshackled us from slavery, a mindset to selfishness and sin. And now with God's Spirit, we have the opportunity to move forward as a new individual. In verse 22, now having been set free from sin and having become slaves of God, you have your fruit to holiness and the end everlasting life. That's the good news. Verse 23, for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. We need to be pursuing that. We need to get the old man out. We are in a converting state, just as it says, you are not under Paul says, for we are not under law but under grace. What he's saying? You're not sentenced to the lake of fire. If you are repenting, overcoming, forgiven person, you are not sentenced like those who habitually break the law of God, but rather you're under Cheris, which Strongs defines as the conversion process, the calling from God, the inspiration, the forgiveness, and leading us into righteousness towards his kingdom. It's a very, very important thing that we understand that things of sin cause death. Let's go to Revelation 21.8, just to be reminded of this real quick. Old things will burn. All old things will burn.

Verse 7 says, he who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he will be my son. And this is after we've heard in verse 1 that there's a new heaven and a new earth. But verse 8, but the cowardly, those who don't trust God, they don't have the courage to get rid of the old self and quit trying to make their life something for themselves, but trust God to do that.

The cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in a lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. That's burning up. The world, the earth, and the works in it will be burned up.

That's what the old man has as a future. This principle was laid down long ago. We go to Isaiah chapter 30.

Isaiah chapter 30 and we'll begin in verse 1. Verse 1 is a bit of a background here.

Isaiah 31 says, Woe to the rebellious children, says the Lord.

Woe. We're going to rebel against God. We're going to keep the old ways.

Who take counsel, intellect and logic, they take counsel, but not of me.

And who devise plans, but not of my spirit. Let's drop down to verse 33. For tofet was established of old.

Tofet refers to a place called the Valley of Hinnom, the Valley of Gehenna, the Valley of the Lake of Fire, a physical valley that's right on the southwest side of the Temple Mount, that back in that day and will again be used for burning in a local way, those who transgress and do so in a not in an oops situation, but by their own will or intent.

You'll see that forecast once again in the millennial reign, it looks like.

But this process was laid down. We come here for the Lake of Fire, burning, burning of those things that sin or burnings for sin. All these things are related within the sacrificial system, the burning of offerings and all. You can either have your sins atoned for by the burning or the sacrifice of someone or something else, or you can burn yourself. And that's the lesson of tofet. Yes, for the king it is prepared. He has made it deep and large. Its pyre is fire with much wood. The breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, kindles it.

Go to Isaiah 33 in verse 12. The people shall be like the burnings of lime.

Like thorns cut up, they shall be burned in the fire. Here, you who are afar off, what I have done, and you who are near, acknowledge my might.

The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness has seized the hypocrites.

The question here, for me, you can share in the question if you want, is this.

Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? When God lights the heavens and the earth on fire, and that fire is going to burn all of those who do not have a sacrifice done for them, something else that was burned, something else that atoned, then who can dwell with that devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings? They're not going to last forever, but they're not going to be quenched or burned out.

The answer to that is, he who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, he who despises the gain of oppressions, he who gestures with his hands refusing bribes, stops his ears from hearing bloodshed. It's not his form of entertainment or what he wants to know about. Shuts his eyes from seeing evil. He will dwell on high. The place of defense, his place of defense, will be the fortress of rocks. Bread will be given him, as water will be sure. Your eyes will see the king in his beauty. They will see the land that is very far off. Those individuals are going to be welcomed into the new kingdom of God that God is creating. When we think about this new heavens and earth, this land that is very far off, it's pretty exciting what God is actually preparing. It doesn't tell us a lot about it, but once again, if we read the scriptures the way they're written, we begin to find out that this is going to be pretty exciting, but at the same time, the rest is simply going to go away.

Paul looked ahead and he saw, wow, we've got to communicate this to the people. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5. Paul realized what the score was. Either you repent or you burn.

Either Jesus Christ, in a sense, burns for you as the sacrifice, or you burn for yourself, for your own sins. Let's go to Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 1. I know there are types involved in the sacrificial system, but let's see them come together here in Ephesians chapter 5.

Verse 1, therefore be imitators of God as dear children. That's what we want. That's what we need to be. We've got to be imitators of God. We've got to put on this new mindset for us, like the new man that Jesus was. We've got to be bringing together others as new individuals in the God family and walk in agape love, the mindset of the God family, as Christ also has loved us and given himself for us, and offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. Now, we can have that type of burning, or I can burn for my own sins. But all things old, one way or the other, get burned. And then the new kingdom comes.

If we look in verse 3, we see some of the things that really we need not be part of. And dropping down in verse 5, for this you know that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ in God.

Wow! We need to be clear about that.

We need to be clear. Don't go dancing around commandments and saying, well, I don't have to do this because there's no penalty stated.

Coveting, for instance, is something that you can't tell when someone's coveting. It's something up here in the mind. But we can see right here, no covetous man will be in the kingdom of God. We really need to be cleansed. We need to be new people from what we have been in the flesh.

Verse 6, let no one deceive you with empty words.

Here's what Paul's saying. Come on, you've got to understand. There's a point we're making here. For because of these things, the wrath of God. What's the wrath of God? That's the burning.

That is the burning of all things. That is the universe burning up.

The wrath of God speaks to the destruction that God is bringing comes upon the sons of disobedience. They will be caught in that.

We read that in Revelation 21, verse 8. Those who do these very things will be part of the lake of fire. Therefore, do not be partakers with them. For you are once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light. In verse 14, therefore he says, Awake you who sleep. Arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time.

Don't let any of the get away, but use it to its fullest because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

In verse 20, giving things always for all things to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another in the name of the Lord. You know, we here have a God that wants to see us in his family.

In Jesus Christ, verse 25, gave and loved the Church, gave himself for her, that he might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of the water by the Word.

It's important that we are cleaned up. It's only those individuals, as we read back in Revelation 20, verse 6, who the second death has no power over. That's a big event, the second death. The big event is the heavens on fire. The big event of the old is going away. All of it is going away. Jesus wants us to be part of that family. We have work to do.

In verse 27, that he might present her to himself a glorious church.

Glorious is the Greek word in doxos. It means in glory or in brightness.

What's going to happen to his New Testament church, the saints, that become firstfruits? When they become firstfruits, they will be glorified. They will take on his brightness. That's what he wants to do. Talk about new. Talk about being something new. We haven't even begun to understand what that is. He doesn't even try to describe what it's going to be. But we're going to be like him, and he's going to glorify him just as he is glorified.

He wants us to join him and give us the same glory that he has.

Let's look in Hebrews 2, verses 9-15, and see how he helps us with this.

Not only does he help us, but he shows us that we've got to get out of this physical realm.

He actually stepped into it to help us get out of it. That's what we're going to read here in Hebrews 9. Think about that. It's so important that you and I get out of here before the old is done away with. That he himself stepped into this to help us get out of it.

In Hebrews 2, verse 9, it says, But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death.

And now he was crowned with glory and honor, that he, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

It's a possibility here that we can all not have to burn, because he tasted that death for us.

Verse 10, For it was fitting for him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory. Same word again. To brightness, to the shining brightness of a member of the family of God.

To make the captain of their salvation perfect. In other words, to fulfill what he was sent to do through sufferings. Verse 14, Inasmuch then as children, that's you and me, the children have been partakers of flesh and blood, physical.

Human. Stuff that's not going to last.

As we, and as much then as the children, have partaken of flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared in the same, that through death he might destroy him who had the power of death that is the devil.

So he came, was combated by Satan, he won, and he is now the first of the firstfruits. We get to go and join him if we do follow.

But here's something else that won't be in the new heaven, the new kingdom of God, the new heavenly realm. That's the devil. It says that he might destroy him, that is the devil.

The new heavenly environment will not have Satan the demons in it.

We've already read before God's kingdom in which righteousness dwells.

And that all these other things are going to be burnt up. Let's take a little brief look at Jude chapter, I'm sorry, Jude, the only chapter, verse 6 through 7. Jude verses 6 through 7.

Again, just glimpses that we see here, taking as it says, it says, The angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

There's a judgment that's coming.

The saints, the firstfruits, are to judge those angels. And then in the next phrase, he mentions as Sodom and Gomorrah, two cities that were burned, that were destroyed, that were sinful and annihilated.

Let's go to Revelation chapter 20 and verse 10.

Revelation 20 verse 10, at the end of the millennial reign of Christ, right towards the end of that thousand years, Satan will be released for a little season, and he will go out and deceive the masses.

The devil, verse 10, who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.

We find that this lake is referred to as the second death at the end of the chapter, beginning of the next chapter.

But it says, he was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet, notice the word ours in italics, should say were cast, had previously been cast a thousand years before, and they died. They were burned up there.

And he will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. Not in the fire.

He will be tormented, it says.

Or they will be tormented.

Not sure exactly what that means, but the beasts and false prophet are dead.

If Satan will be done away with, then their torment will be the fact that they don't exist. Let's go to Matthew 25, verse 41, for one more scripture that Jesus Christ says about this.

Matthew, chapter 25, and verse 41. In a warning to us about actually living this way of life and being what he considers sheep that are welcome into the kingdom of God, he also gives a warning that we should not be like goats and be absent as far as having the new man, the new woman, that new character.

Those who do not live as they should, do not turn into new individuals and their character. Verse 46, These will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

We have a requirement here to not go into everlasting punishment. It's not burning in hell like we just read. No, that everlasting punishment is punishment that is everlasting, because if we sin and we don't repent, we just won't be there. We will have burned up with everything else.

Will Satan and his demons... Well, let's just look in verse 41. And he will say to those on his left hand, Depart from me, you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

See, everything is going to be burned up.

How that takes place, we will see when the time comes. I have an answer for everything. All of your questions. Simple thing. Show up.

Everything will be answered. Just be there.

Be there and be a member of the God family at the resurrection, and everything will be crystal clear.

For now, we see through a glass quite darkly.

What is Christ's purpose? What is his goal? What should we see from his and the Father's perspective?

You know, before this grand opening, God is going to give an opportunity for everyone to be there, to be part of it.

We see in Revelation 20, verses 11-15, in Revelation 20, some of what the autumn festivals speak to.

Verse 15 is the trumpets, the return of Christ, the resurrection of the first fruits, the atonement, the removal of Satan, the onement that God can now have with humanity. We see the thousand-year reign represented by the piece of tabernacles. We see the second resurrection, which we'll read about now, here in Revelation 20, verse 11.

We've seen up in verse 5, the rest of the dead, other than the first fruits, the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. So now we come down to verse 11, after the devil is thrown in the lake of fire. Then I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them.

So the earth and the heaven were gone, and there was no place found for them. Simply gone, as we read in Peter.

And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The word Bible means books. Maybe this is what they will have, or maybe more that's created for them, between now and then. But they will have the book of life. Their names will be written, which indicates they will have God's Holy Spirit. They will have truth, and they will be judged by how they live their life.

And then the dead were judged according to their works. They're not dead anymore, by those things which were written in the books. And then ultimately, the sea gave up the dead, which were in it, and death and the grave were delivered. Or they delivered up the dead, who were in them. Each were judged according everyone to his works. And then death and the grave were cast into the lake of fire. And this is the second death. Anyone not found in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire. So if everything physical just is gone, just heat and light and noise, and it's all gone, what remains? In chapter 21 verse 1, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Wow! There it is! All new! Everything new!

For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

Let's go to Isaiah chapter 65 as we wrap this up. Isaiah 65 verse 17.

It's important to get the context of the new heavens and new earth with some other things that will be new. Isaiah 65 verse 17. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth. See, the people of old could have, had they read the book of Isaiah, had they not been rebelling and being taken captive into Assyria and then rebelling and not reading the words of the God, they could have understood that God is going to create new heavens and new earth. And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. There's the ultimate out with the old, in with the new. All things of the former will be gone, no place found for them. All things that took place, he says here, shall not be remembered or come to mind. Verse 18, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create.

He's going to create new, a new environment, a new heavenly environment for a new family of, it looks like billions, who knows how many tens of billions of people will now come in. If you think of God's throne and you read how God's throne has looked in the Old Testament and you see the temple or the tabernacle is a pattern of those things in the heaven, you see how they are now. You don't see how they will be. You see 24 elders around the throne in a sea of glass.

You don't see 100 billion members of the family of God in a home where everybody has a room and positions of responsibility who can be advisors and one with God and working as a family on who knows what in a city that's big enough to hold them. This is going to be new. It's going to be changing everything, everything that exists everywhere. He says, for behold, I create Jerusalem. We'll read about New Jerusalem in a minute. He's going to create a whole new realm where he is and it looks nothing like the one that currently is. I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing and our people a joy. We note just the new things in this passage. We've got new heavens, new earth, new memories, new Jerusalem, and new people. It's new. This has got to be exciting for God. He's got to be planning or building or constructing. Duties, responsibilities will be new.

What will the angels do then? If you have 100 billion God beings, what will the angels do?

We don't have any reference to the angels at that point or after that point. We know that Satan and the demons won't be there. We know that there will be no sin. Everything will be righteousness.

I shouldn't say there's no references, but the obvious thing that's spoken of in Revelation as we go forward is the sons of God and him dwelling with them. So what happens there are a lot of really new things. Let's go to Revelation 21 and read the first five verses. Let's just see this in its context now. We have a bit of a background that the old is going. Revelation 21 verse 1, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, gone. Then I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

You know, some of these statements he makes we don't even fully understand.

In one sense, he says, you know, this is like a bride. It's really nice looking, very adorned, very, very beautifully. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the dwelling, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. Totally new environment, dwelling with these individuals.

In verse 4, the former things have passed away. Verse 5, Then he who sat on the throne, not sure who's sitting on the throne, looks like it could be Jesus Christ, but John just says, I see the one sitting on the throne. New Jerusalem comes down, and he says, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, write, for these words are true and faithful. You can believe this. They're true. I make all things new, and they're faithful.

I make all things new. And he said to me, it is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the fountain of water of life freely to him who thirsts. So that would indicate that would be Jesus Christ if that's the same he. And I guess there's a question there. But then verse 10, he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. And he starts describing this unique place. It looks nothing like heaven has ever been described in Ezekiel or other places in the Bible. We see down in verse 22, I saw no temple in it. For the Lord Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or the moon to shine in it. For the glory of God illuminated the Lamb as its light. In verse 27, there will be by no means anything that deviles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. Now, if we want to look at how it describes the throne of God, compare this to the throne that we would see of a sea of glass and the 24 elders. In verse 22, he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

In verse 3, there will be no curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it.

Verse 4, they shall see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.

In verse 7, Behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is He who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book. It is one thing to get excited about it. The other thing is the ones who are supremely blessed are the ones who do what is told or commanded of us. The goal here is that you will be a new child in the family of God, in His whole new creation. We know in 1 John 3.2, we shall be like Him.

We know in Daniel 2, verses 2 and 3, we will shine like the sun. We will shine like the stars.

In Revelation 19, we will be given a new name. In Revelation 3, we will have God's name written on us, but we will also have Jesus Christ's new name. He will be getting a new name. If He doesn't have it already, we will have that new name. So, there are a lot of exciting things that are going on at the throne of God. A lot of work, a lot of preparation. Everything is coming together right on time. We are coming down to the time when that grand opening will take place. Even so, you and I only have the amount of time that our physical bodies, or God's timing of this phase of humanity allows and permits. It's a short time, and we need to be busy. In conclusion, I'd like to take a brief look here in Revelation 22 at some things in this new heavenly environment.

It's going to be a new beginning for us. It's going to be a fabulous new chapter for the family of God.

In Revelation 22, he says that, verse 11, you and I have an important job to do. We need to show God whether we burn or whether we are made new. That's a tough choice he has to make.

You know, Jesus Christ is the one who has to make that choice, and it's very difficult for Him.

All you have to do is read through His words in Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and in Revelation, and you find out He has a terrible task ahead. On the one hand, it's real exciting to say, Welcome, come on in. Let me show you around. Let me show you new quarters. Let me show you how to work some of those gadgets you've got in your body. Let me show you the Father. Let me show you where your room is and your responsibilities. Let's show you around. Let's be involved as family forever. It's so exciting. On the other hand, He does have the responsibility to burn. Those who do not measure up. And that's not a positive thing. That's not something He looks forward to. And in most of His parables are warnings about that very thing. He doesn't want to do that to you. He doesn't want to do that to me. So please, don't be a tear. Don't be a goat. Don't be a foolish virgin. Don't be one who gets false prey to Satan, but stand up and really be growing and doing. And so He says in verse 11, here's what I need from you. Here's what I need from you. John, this is what I need. He who is unjust, let him be unjust still. It's time to choose here. Who gets nude, renewed, not renewed. Who gets to be made nude, new. And who gets to burn. So He who is filthy, let him be filthy still. He who is righteous, let him be righteous still. He who is holy, let him be holy still. And behold, I am coming quickly and my reward is with me to give to everyone according to His work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life. They may enter through the gates into the city. Verse 17, and the Spirit and the bride say, come and let him who hears say, come and let him who thirsts come and whoever desires let him take of the water of life freely.

That is what we need to be about as we look forward to all things new.

All things will be new or they won't exist.

And so, as Peter said in 2 Peter chapter 3, knowing these things, what manner of person should you be in holy conduct as the day of the Lord approaches?