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That age to which we will go from this age today
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글쓴이 :
관리자
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Revelation 21:1-7, Ephesians 2:12-22
Being vigorous and energetic, a man in his days of youth avoids the idea of the afterlife. He believes in his strength, intelligence, power, and material wealth. As he gets older, however, headaches become frequent, his memory becomes clouded, and even digesting food becomes increasingly difficult. It is then that he begins to think about where his soul will go at the completion of his life on this earth. Let’s say we were moving from a tiny house to a large mansion. Would anyone of us be clueless to the location of our new home or what it looked like? We must not vaguely think, “When I die I’ll go to heaven.” We need to know with confidence and accuracy. The Bible does not testify of something beyond our reach but of realities that exist. Hebrews 11:1 states that faith is “the conviction of things not seen.” We need to know with conviction where we are going in order to leave with peace of mind. That’s why we can know what kind of life a person has led by seeing if he passes away with a peaceful mind and a heart of faith.
There is not even the slightest margin of error in God’s great providence and plan of redemption(to recover by payment) to save mankind. Although people may babble, “Where is God? I don’t believe in Him!” God continues to advance the work perfectly according to His plans. Thus the center of the world is the history of redemption, and the center of the history of redemption is Jesus Christ. Jesus was with God from the beginning (John 1:1). All of history began with Jesus, continues with Jesus, and will conclude with Jesus. He is the pinnacle, the highest peak of the mountain.
This age where we currently live in is not the glorious golden age yearned by humanity. It is filled with sin. There are only pain, tears, suffering, deceit, worries, and concerns. On the contrary, in that age where we will go, there are no worries, cares, death, or pain (Revelation 21:3-4). It is the glorious age. It is the age that has completely done away with sadness (Isaiah 60:20, Revelation 21:4). “And the ransomed of the Lord will return and come with joyful shouting to Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing will flee away” (Isaiah 35:10). This age is the first heaven and the first earth, while the age to come is the new heaven and new earth. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea” (Revelation 21:1). The new heaven and new earth is Paradise regained. There is no need to eat. Try fasting for just a day. Your house stays clean. There is no work to be done. There is no need to go to the bathroom. There is no odor or stench. The sun and moon of this age cause food to spoil and rot. However, in the age to come, we don’t need the sun, moon, or the stars, because it is filled with the glory of God. “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23). That light is seven times brighter than the sun. As any illness that receives that light is healed, there is no such thing as illness in that age. “The light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the bruise He has inflicted” (Isaiah 30:26). The light is so brilliant that sinners cannot enter that age nor can they even stand before it. It is the age that only those without sin, those who repent can enter (Isaiah 35:1-10, Isaiah 60:19-20).
In this age, if you want to see someone you have to call or go find the person. If you want to eat a banana, you have to go buy one and peel the skin off before eating it. In that age, however, the one whom you want to see is already standing before you. When you crave bananas, it is already in your mouth. “It will also come to pass that before they call, I will answer; and while they are still speaking, I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24). There is no growing old or wrinkles either. As nothing rots nor decays, there is no need to brush your teeth or wash your face. There is no foul odor but only a pleasant fragrance that resonates throughout. How wonderful is the scent of the Acacia flower that fills the world these days? You can spray perfume worth thousands of dollars in this world, but it cannot come close to such fragrance. Heaven is such a world. It is a brilliant world of glory in which our entire bodies become luminous bodies that emit light. Even the most beautiful flower in this world becomes boring to look at after about a minute. In the Kingdom of Heaven, however, everything constantly transforms itself. There is no getting married or being given in marriage in heaven (Matthew 22:30). In this age, even at the age of seven the physical body reacts to the opposite sex. That is why Confucius stated that, “A boy and a girl should not sit together after they have reached the age of seven.” However, in that age there is no sin of lusting after the opposite sex. No matter how much you like the opposite sex, you become regretful and shameful of it in your old age. However, heaven is a place in which we are constantly living in love. The relationship between man and woman in this age pierces like a thorn. However, the agape love of God is incomparably better than the fleshly human relationships. Therefore, you cannot sin even if you tried. “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). How elegant is a bride on her wedding day? Heaven is such a world. Those with sin cannot enter through the gates of heaven. After Adam sinned, God did not want him to take and eat from the tree of life and thus live forever. Therefore, He placed a flaming sword and cherubim to prevent Adam from going to the tree of life. But the coming of the Holy Spirit did away with this so that we would be able to go to the tree of life once again. Those who overcome?oneself, the world, and sin?can go before the tree of life(Revelation 2:7, 22:14). “Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). “This is the gate of the Lord; the righteous will enter through it” (Psalm 118:20).
I am fully convinced of that age! That is why I give thanks even if I were to pass away tonight. I am not anxious. I was diagnosed with cancer twice, yet I gave thanks. Upon hearing the word “cancer,” 80-90% of people already die mentally. But there is no need for that. We will not live forever in this age. Even Adam’s seventh descendent, Methuselah, who lived the longest in the history of mankind, could not reach 1,000 years on this earth. Why are we afraid when heaven is an eternal world? All we need to do is give thanks to God.
The price of sin has cursed this earth and caused it to produce thorns and thistles. The earth produced thorns and thistles out of anger to mankind. Therefore, no matter how much of nutritious foods we may eat, we will eventually die even as we eat them. Wherever we go, we humans are destined to meet thorns and thistles?in other words, our enemies. As we are pierced from every direction, we cannot hold ourselves together (Genesis 3:17-19). Only Jesus can resolve all of these problems. In the new heaven and earth that we will enter, the river of life flows forth to revive all nations. The fruit and leaves of the trees are medicinal. The fallen age in the Book of Genesis is a cursed, finite age. The finite age has curse and death. However, the age to come in Revelation is without curse. As death no longer exists, we will live eternally and become kings like Jesus (Revelation 22:5). Why do we fail to believe that there is such a world? Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (John 11:25-26). Therefore, we need to be alert and have a solid faith. Our parents, children, and spouse are destined to be born once and then die. Afterwards there lies judgment according to our action and faith (Hebrews 9:27). We must give thanks to God while we are alive. Failure comes when we cease to give thanksgiving. We need to give thanks for the grace we have received, for the oxygen to breathe, and for the radiant beauty of all creation in this world which we see the moment we open our eyes in the morning. We will die if we lose the Word of God. Even our parents are in the Word. If we serve our parents without the Word, we will lose them as well. If we serve our parents in the Word, they will go with us for all eternity. We should love our family in the Word. If we discard the Word and love them in just the physical world, we will be exhausted and feel empty after they leave. Jesus says, “Take heart! I have placed my words in your mouth.” These are such precious words. Those who have and believe in the Word of God will never fail. God will absolutely safeguard them.
They will taste the new heaven and earth, the world without death.
The age to come is a new world. “New heaven and new earth” in Greek is recorded as “kainos” (complete newness in regards to quality), not “neos” (newness in regards to time). It is a world in which heaven and earth are completely changed. “Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:12-13). “The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island were moved out of their places” (Revelation 6:14). In other words, the world will become completely new. “And Jesus said to them, ‘Truly I say to you, that you who have followed Me, in the regeneration when the Son of Man will sit on His glorious throne, you also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel’” (Matthew 19:28). “Kainos” also means restoration of all creation. “Whom heaven must receive until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from ancient time” (Acts 3:21). This world is full of shakings?earthquakes, wars, and accidents ceaselessly occur. However, we have inherited a world that cannot be shaken. “This expression, ‘Yet once more,’ denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe” (Hebrews 12:27-28).
The Book of Hebrews declares that Jesus is “a better hope, a better covenant” (Hebrews 7:19, 7:22, 8:6, 9:23). We have a better home, a lasting city (Hebrews 11:16, 13:14). We look to a better resurrection (Hebrews 11:35) in the end times that does not perish, rot, nor destruct. Therefore, our worship is a better sacrifice like Abel’s was (Hebrews 11:4). “Because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40). The blood of Jesus pardoned us from our sins and even now holds and protects us within the light. The Word is my refuge, my fortress. This age is incomplete and imperfect. However, the age to come is complete and perfect.
God dwells where His Word goes and He stays where His Word stops. If I receive that Word in faith, God dwells within me. Money is not eternal. Rather, it is the root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10). Yet God’s great agape love does not change. The love of man changes when the environment or conditions change. God’s love does not change, wilt, grow old, nor spoil. As parents give money to their children without recording how much and when they gave, God gives us generously without any calculation. God’s love is greater than that of parents. He forgives us unconditionally. Although He knew about all of our unsightly sins, He took those sins upon Himself and clothed us in His righteousness. And He proclaimed to us, “You have no sin.” That is how we become righteous and enter into His Kingdom, and how our names are recorded in God’s genealogy. “When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things” (1 Corinthians 13:11). Currently, we can only faintly see that age because we hear about it through the Word. But, when the Word eventually becomes the Lord over us, we will be able to see it clearly. It will be like waking up from a dream. Look to the age to come. That is the world we must go to. We are Christians who are being sanctified in this age called “present.” “Present” is the church that fights against the devil. It is the church on this incomplete, imperfect earth. “That age” is the time when Christ returns. It is a glorious age. “Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed” (1 Corinthians 15:50-52).
When “that time” comes, Satan will be unable to draw near us, being petrified by the very presence of the Word of God. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:55). We will live forever because death cannot come near us. That time will surely come before this world passes away and before mankind is destroyed. Just as the first-coming Jesus came in accordance with ceaseless prophesy of His coming, the second-coming Christ will also come in accordance with the Bible. We must wait for that day with a preparing heart in faith. We cannot know whether He will come today or tomorrow.
There is no curse, sorrow, and worries where the Word of God and the history of redemption exist (Revelations 21:3-4). Believers must be without blame or blemish. They must be completely preserved by the Word (1 Thessalonians 5:23). To such men, today’s sorrow will become tomorrow’s joy; today’s despair will become tomorrow’s hope; today’s failure will become tomorrow’s success; today’s poverty will become tomorrow’s prosperity; today’s lamentation will become tomorrow’s delight. In fact, when we receive the Word it is not tomorrow but already “today.” Though today’s battles are thoroughly agonizing, the pain, suffering, and struggles become joy, delight, and victory through faith in the word of the Lord. How joyous are we when thinking about going from this finite tent to the infinite world, the eternal heaven that is not built by the hands of men? This is why the great theologian John Knox testified before he passed away that “if you live in Christ, there is no fear of death.” The late author John Bunyan also left the words before leaving, “Why are you crying while God is receiving me? Sing a new song.” Hymn 226 beautifully expresses the sentiment of ‘the age to come,’ not ‘this age.’ My brethren, we are the owners of the age to come. We are true sons and daughters of God. We are wealthy beyond our imagination. We are heirs of heaven. On this earth, be envious of nothing else but of great faith in Jesus Christ. Be envious of those who read the Bible a lot.
Great are the contributions of those who love God and ceaselessly pray, cherish and serve His church out of such love. While living on this earth, overcome the world, sin, and yourself. Let us become men and women of gospel and be determined with martyr’s spirit to risk our lives to proclaim the gospel for the age to come, for the nation and her people, for our family, relatives, and friends who do not yet believe. I pray this blessing upon all of us in the name of the Lord. May 26, 2013, Lord’s Day Second Service Sermon
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