Genesis 2:18-25 - God’s Complementarian Design of Mankind

Genesis 2:18-25

18 And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.” 19 Out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to Adam to see what he would call them. And whatever Adam called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So Adam gave names to all cattle, to the birds of the air, and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.

21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place. 22 Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made into a woman, and He brought her to the man.

23 And Adam said:

“This is now bone of my bones
And flesh of my flesh;
She shall be called Woman,
Because she was taken out of Man.”

24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.

25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

God made the man Adam and all the animals for him, yet something was missing as the first man began to realize and what God His Creator already knew and planned for.  God was not blindsided by this desire of Adam; He had put that desire in the man for a true and equal complementary companion and mate.  The Lord simply expressed His will in this statement for our account to understand the account of the creation of a complete man and woman designed to be united in the commitment and mutual support of one another in marriage between a man a woman as husband and wife.  That is God’s sole design and it is declared good by Him.  All other supposed unions suggested by fallen mankind after the temptation and deception which left all their children in broken relationships and ones never designed nor sanctioned by God according to His word are disobedience and even abominable (Leviticus 18:22, 20:13, Romans 1:26-27) when the design is broken completely.  God had made the animals as companions, but none of them satisfied the spiritual and deeply emotional need of Adam.  The man named all the animals created to give him some company, but had a greater fulfillment of the need to not be alone for His capstone creation.  No other companion was suitable for or comparable to be alongside Adam.  God then completed His design by putting the man to sleep and taking part of him who was created from the dust of the ground made by God and whose breath had given him life in God’s image, He took from him and created a suitable companion, the woman to be his wife.  The very words to describe man and woman, אִישׁ (ish) and אִשָּׁה (ishah), show us how the woman was part of man of his bone, his essence, his very substance made out of his own fleshy body and not separately out of the dust of the earth like Adam.  This shows the order of creation and the roles of man and wife as well as their relationship of interdependence (1 Corinthians 11:8-9, 12) and equality in bearing God’s image.  The union of a man with a woman in marriage as Adam and Eve in the beginning is to be continued in we who are their descendants.  We are to be united as one flesh and one in value of equal worth with different roles as designed in the order of creation and later amplified by the Fall of mankind in disobedience and rejection of God’s word (Genesis 3:16, 1 2 Corinthians 11:3, Timothy 2:12-13) and will which some still fight against this order and design today to satisfy their own desires over God’s perfectly designed creation.  In the beginning before the desire for such pleasures were taken out of context by the imperfect knowledge of good and evil plucked from the forbidden tree in defiance to God’s command, man and woman were naked and unafraid of their natural appearance and would have filled the earth in being fruitful to multiply in innocence.  Sin marred that and until we are in God’s presence again as in Eden, we shall be tempted by our revealed nakedness of body and soul.  Man’s attempts to force the issue in our way only magnify the results.  Therefore we are not to uncover another’s nakedness except in marriage as designed with its accompanying commitment as a man and woman are joined as one in body and soul.  This is God’s complementarian on and only design of man and woman, husband and wife, in His good design. 

Genesis 2:1-17 - The Day of Divine Rest

Genesis 2:1-17

1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.

4 This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the LORD God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.

7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

Life in God’s Garden

8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

10 Now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. 11 The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one which skirts the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 And the gold of that land is good. Bdellium and the onyx stone are there. 13 The name of the second river is Gihon; it is the one which goes around the whole land of Cush. 14 The name of the third river is Hiddekel; it is the one which goes toward the east of Assyria. The fourth river is the Euphrates.

15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

As we consider God resting on the sevenths day after creating the earth and heavens, do we rest in God’s Son, Jesus Christ, from our works that attempt to appease our Maker to earn salvation, or do we rest in His work on the cross (Hebrews 4:3-4, 9-10) as we do His work in creation?  When God Almighty had finished making the universe and our world and every living being, He rested.  It was not rest required because God was tired from the effort formHe had merely spoken according to His will and plan and everything was made at once without expending effort as we mortal creatures do to accomplish anything in our own ability.  He rested as a precursor and pattern for us to enter into as we trust His work and rest in Him instead of vainly striving to earn God’s favor in a perfect righteousness which only God possesses.  This is the grace of the gospel written from the beginning even before humanity’s fall into the rebellion of sin!  This is why our Lord blessed this day as holy sanctified in the beginning even before Jesus came to call us along with Him into this eternal rest.  He then had Moses record in God’s word what the Creator did next for us to stand in wonder and awe of His work beyond our abilities yet brought within our grasp.  He explains the creation of the earth in retrospect to review His work in Chapter 1 during the first six days of creation.  The ground was initially covered in a thick mist before rain ever fell vegetation was formed by His Word’s command (John 1:1, 14, Colossians 1:16) and before man was created and given life by the breath (Genesis 2:7) of His own Spirit.  God took the dust of the earth which He had already made and from its components formed the body of Adam and then breathed life from Himself into him to make us after His image and spiritual substance!  This adds a new dimension to consider of our being made in His image.  God then planted a garden by the work of His word of command and it was so.  This place would be our first home just in the East of the place called Eden.  He put Adam there where He made the plants grow in the mist and fed the man from those trees and herbs put there for us to live on.  This was not a random happenstance, but a well planned and orchestrated plan of creating a world for we who are the capstone of His creation.  This is where He introduced the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden before the allowance and prohibition of taking from each of these was explained.  The account goes on to describe the surrounding area of rivers to water the garden and provide food and shelter for Adam as he was put into this paradise garden.  Only then when all the stage was set was man’s formerly free will to be tested by the command to freely eat of any plant or tree but the prohibited one of the knowledge of good and evil, which only God Himself had knowledge of.  The penalty of assuming to know better what was right and wrong apart from God’s word telling the man (Hebrews 5:14) so to assume he knew as much or even more than the Creator was death.  We are now broken in our own wills and are required to learn right from wrong, good from evil, from the instruction of the word of God (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Philippians 1:9-10) due to our ancestors not heeding this simple command of God meant for our good.  We will see how our adversary later tries to twist this simple truth of truth into doubt through deceit into disobedience of disbelief.  The answer to these is God’s forgiveness in His work of Grace by the perfect righteousness of His Son’s sacrifice and our restored trust in His word to save us from our sin of disobedience and disbelief of His clear commands recorded in scripture.  May we rest in His Sabbath rest who is Jesus Christ instead of continuing to vainly attempt to earn God’s grace by our own works (Romans 3:23, 6:23) of shortcomings.  This is the gospel message of divine rest in the work of God from the beginning of creation and through the fall of man into sin until He sent His Son to redeem us from the curse of sin’s disobedience and disbelief.  The day of rest is before us as Hebrews 4:9-10 tell us.  We find this rest in Christ alone by faith alone in His work for us and not our efforts of our own fallible works. 

Genesis 1:26-31 - God’s Image in Man

Genesis 1:26-31

26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. 28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

29 And God said, “See, I have given you every herb that yields seed which is on the face of all the earth, and every tree whose fruit yields seed; to you it shall be for food. 30 Also, to every beast of the earth, to every bird of the air, and to everything that creeps on the earth, in which there is life, I have given every green herb for food”; and it was so. 31 Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

This passage gives us insight into what it means to be created in the image of God.  He tells us that God is a triune being, saying “Let Us make man in Our image (plural),” not “l will make man in My image (singular).  The verb for Let Us make is עשׂה, Our image is צֶלֶם, and Our likeness is דְּמוּת, all plural verb and nouns.  God is meticulous in recording His scripture with good grammar and meaning, so this is no accident or mistranslation of these words.  God is One (Deuteronomy 6:4) and also is described as a unity of Father, Son, and Spirit as three persons in that One God (as seen in Matthew 28:19, where the word ‘name’ into which we are baptized into these three is singular), hence the accurate use of the plural in this verse and yet negating this One God is in three distinct persons, equally divine.  This is the mystery of the Godhead shown us in the creation of man in his image which some have tried to describe similarly as body, mind, and spirit or soul.  It is not the same as three persons, yet it does echo the creative mind of God to fashion us after that aspect of His image, as well as the ability to reason and to create with our imagination and our hands in skills we are born with and develop with His wisdom and guidance.  Having made us in this image, God then gave us a stewardship over all He had created before us to fill the earth and seas with life just as Jesus has dominion over us as our Head.  This pattern is fully seen in the fact that the Son of God is the Head of the church and has sovereign dominion and authority over us.  We have been given this rule over the animals created under and for us; we are not animals as they are, but are made in God’s very image far above any mere animal.  This is not a popular fact among those seeking to discredit God’s word and right to rule over us with commandments and judgments.  Because we are not exactly like God, however, He made man male and female to be a united one in marriage and to fill the earth after our kind in a reproductive mandate to do so.  This design and command cannot be carried out by two men or two women as they cannot reproduce and do not have the blended unity of God’s complementarian design.  Those who argue against this are in the same camp as those who believe we are but another animal randomly appearing through evolution and not designed by our Maker in His image.  What God has made on the sixth day was described and designated by Him as good.  Any other description or change to that design is not good, what He calls evil in opposition to His will and word.  Everything that God has made is good!  Who are we to argue against our Creator and to twist the perfect design into something abominable and blasphemous?  As it is written, “Let God be true and every man a liar (Numbers 23:19, Romans 3:4)” to describe anyone who denies Him and His design according to the Bible.  God’s image is made in man, though sin has corrupted it enough as to make this difficult to see apart from redeeming grace to transform us back to reflect His face (2 Corinthians 3:18) as we are being transformed into that original sinless form.  We know this to be true because God told us and He is not a liar! 

Genesis 1:14-25 - What God Makes is Good!

Genesis 1:14-25

14 Then God said, “Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; 15 and let them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so. 16 Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He made the stars also. 17 God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, 18 and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 So the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 Then God said, “Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the face of the firmament of the heavens.” 21 So God created great sea creatures and every living thing that moves, with which the waters abounded, according to their kind, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 And God blessed them, saying, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.” 23 So the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind”; and it was so. 25 And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good.

On the fourth day of the world we see how God made the stars in the heavens already created and the sun with its reflective moon to give some light in the darkness of nighttime.  He made the stars and named them (Psalm 147:4, Isaiah 40:26) and they were put in place to give meaning and seasons (Psalm 104:19) for us to consider and to give a pace to living.  He divide day and night by the lights of heaven for us as a reminder that He brings light into darkness and to be able to tell time throughout the year by the monthly waxing and waning of the moon, the sunrise and sunset, and the constellation patterns and northern star to guide us in our travels.  This was a good fourth day.  Then the fifth day brought birds in the sky and fish swimming by in the seas of the third day.  He made them in abundance and with great variety, each after its own kind and not evolved on their own but by His original design.  The birds flew between heaven and earth to fill that empty space made for them while the seas swarmed with fish and other larger creatures in great numbers as well.  The Creator filled His world with living and active animals with a mandate to fill the waters and land with their children as fruitful in multiplying their populations.  This command to be fruitful and multiply was set in place before men and women were created to do the same as a pattern of God’s plan for us.  The sixth day began with the creation of the animals before man was crafted after God’s own image.  These animals were also created to propagate like offspring from the original and not morphing by imagined evolution on their own plan to become something other than what God intended.  They simply bred after their own kind as they continue to do to the present time.  God saw that His creation was good!  Our inclination to substitute another explanation to that given by God is our sinful nature attempting to find another explanation than what our Creator has told us; this is a matter of taking God at His word or choosing to invent our own ideas over His to attempt to prove that we know better what good and evil are in our hearts and minds.  Theorizing evolution by randomness or self-betterment over the Creator’s word as truth is the ultimate rejection of God as our Maker and demonstrates rebellion of disbelief in our thinking.  What God made is good; what we make of it is not.  Taking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil to be like God ourselves is not a shortcut, but a path leading over a cliff away from Him and His plan for us.  What God makes is good.  What ever make of it in opposition to what He says instead is not.  What matters is not our explanation or ideas, but what is found as it is written for us to believe and accept.

Genesis 1:1-11 - The History of Creation

Genesis 1:1-11

(Genesis 2:4–9; Job 38:4–11; John 1:1–5)

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. So the evening and the morning were the first day.

6 Then God said, “Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.” 7 Thus God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament; and it was so. 8 And God called the firmament Heaven. So the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 Then God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear”; and it was so. 10 And God called the dry land Earth, and the gathering together of the waters He called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb that yields seed, and the fruit tree that yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed is in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. 12 And the earth brought forth grass, the herb that yields seed according to its kind, and the tree that yields fruit, whose seed is in itself according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 13 So the evening and the morning were the third day.

This beginning is recorded by inspiration of God, likely by the hand of Moses, to open our eyes to understand that God made the universe and this world we inhabit by His hand of creation in his spoken word.  This word we find later in John 1:1 -2 is the Son of God Jesus Christ Himself and no mere vocal sound from God our Father.  Furthermore, we find out that all things in heaven and earth were created by Him (Colossians 1:16, Hebrews 1:2, 11:3) and are held together (Colossians 1:17) by His omnipotent will and sovereign authority.  God first made the earth as an empty slate of dust to build upon on the first day of creation.  His Spirit hovered and moved over the waters on the surface in the midst of darkness until He spoke the light into existence to illuminate His glorious creation.  How the light shone before the sun and moon (Genesis 1:16) were hung in place three days later is a mystery left unanswered, but we know that there was light of Day and darkness of Night as described for us.  We can speculate how or where this light emanated from, but we can compare the new creation where God Himself is the light (Revelation 22:5) where there is to be no sun or moon, and we can therefore rest assured this is true if left undefined for us presently.  All that God created was called ‘good’ by Him as each day brought new additions to the earth and sky.  The second day between the making of waters on the world on the first day and the third day of covering with vegetation on the soil of the newly minted planet saw sky separating the waters of the sea from the mist covering above the ground.  Then on the third day of creation we are told that the waters on earth gathered together into definable seas and dry land was brought out between them for the next step.  This identification of the good earth and seas makes clear that this was the state of the earth on this day.  He then made the grass, herbs, and trees to cover the exposed ground and caused them by intelligent design to be self-sustaining by seeds of the plant and in the fruits of the trees as we still see today.  He set all in motion according to His design from the very inception of each and did not merely create chemistry to randomly coagulate together to magically form into the vegetation we still have with us now.  These are all planned and designed and put on earth by the Maker of Heaven and earth Himself!  All God made is self-sustaining and unchanging in its kind, not transforming or evolving apart from His design.  We are no different in this regard, no matter what some would erroneously try to influence us to believe to discredit God and His word.  This history of creation is an account of God’s work as historically recorded for us by One who cannot lie or deceive us otherwise as the deceiver who later comes into paradise would have us believe by doubting (Genesis 3:1, 5, 2 Corinthians 11:3) instead of trusting the truth of His word to us.  Knowing these truths, why should we ever doubt the goodness and work of God and the verity and integrity of His word for us to live by?  The history of creation itself points us to faith that takes God at His word in making the world and us for His purposes and glory. 

Revelation 22:12-21 - He is Coming Quickly, Maranatha!

Revelation 22:12-21

Jesus Testifies to the Churches

12 “And behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to every one according to his work. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last.”

14 Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city. 15 But outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and whoever loves and practices a lie.

16 “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star.”

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.

A Warning

18 For I testify to everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this book; 19 and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

I Am Coming Quickly

20 He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming quickly.”
Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus!

21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

The Lord is certainly coming back.  As 1 Corinthians 16:22 also exclaims, O Lord, come (μαράνα θά, marana tha)!  We see here at the end of scripture that He answers our plea for His return with, “Surely I am coming quickly” (ἔρχομαι ταχύ) in both verses twelve and twenty to assure us of this anticipated truth we so long for.  He will reward us with crowns of righteousness (2 Timothy 4:8) and life (James 1:12) and glory (1 Peter 5:4) with which to honor and glorify Him who works in and through us in this life, and He promises this to each of us in Christ who are faithful to increase the symbolic talents He entrusts to our stewardship.  We are reminded that His name is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, that He is and was and always will be (Revelation 1:8) in existence and sovereign over all creation, from our inception in Genesis and our fall into sin to the final judgment and dwelling in His presence at last by the reconciling grace of covering our sin in the grace of eternal forgiveness!  We who have believed His word of the gospel of our deliverance from sin’s penalty and keep His word have this assurance to enter into the gates of the Celestial City with the right to eat of the tree of eternal life once denied (Genesis 2:16-17, 3:11, 22-23) us by sin but now freely given (Isaiah 55:1, 3) because of God’s Son, Jesus the Christ.  We keep His command (John 14:23, 1 John 2:24-25) of believing faith and receive His Son accordingly (John 1:12, 5:24) as the gospel tells us and so enter into His presence while those who disbelieve and disobey reject Christ and the gospel of grace and are kept out forever, those who chose occult practices, sexual immortality, who murder, worship idols, and whoever loves and practices a lie.  Jesus Christ, the promised Messiah through the channel of redemption given to us through Israel, sent His angel to John to record these things for us to read and take to heart before He returns in judgment on the earth that we might believe and receive Him and follow in willing obedience to please our Maker.  Our bright morning star calls us to come to Him to satisfy our thirst for righteousness and redemption, freely drinking deeply from the water of salvation by faith in His work for us (Isaiah 55:1, 3) that cleanses our souls and makes us acceptable in our calling.  We therefore are warned not to add to what Gods tells us here nor to take anything away from it, even if we are uncomfortable or fearful of the truth.  Salvation by any other means than that given by the whole counsel of scripture is ineffective and leaves us out of the Book of Life.  Only through Jesus Christ (John 14:6, Acts 4:12) can we be found in His book written by Him and enter into this glory.  We who have trusted and received Him as the Son of God, our Lord and divine Savior, have this unshakable hope and certain future to reside with Him in the New Jerusalem forever.  We therefore cry out without fear of judgment (1 John 4:18), “come Lord Jesus!”  We trust His promise of “Surely I am coming quickly” by faith and in hope as we love Him and one another (Mark 12:30-31, 1 John 4:7-10) in His grace.  Amen and amen!  He is coming quickly.  It will then be finished. 

Revelation 22:1-11 - The River and Trees of Life

Revelation 22:1-11

The River of Life

1 And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 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. 4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

The Time Is Near

6 Then he said to me, “These words are faithful and true.” And the Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show His servants the things which must shortly take place.

7 “Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

8 Now I, John, saw and heard these things. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

9 Then he said to me, “See that you do not do that. For I am your fellow servant, and of your brethren the prophets, and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.” 10 And he said to me, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand. 11 He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; 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.”

We see the vision heralding the River of Life coming from the throne of God and the Lamb that will water the Trees of Life that had previously been denied us in Eden’s Garden (Genesis 2:9, 3:22).  This shows us clearly that eternal life offered in the beginning will be fulfilled in the new Kingdom on earth for all who are in Christ in this life, unlike the perversion of the gospel taught by the Jehovah’s Witnesses that limit the number and offer no hope in their reasoning for God’s true children.  The water in this river flowing from where God sits are nearly as pure as His holiness in order to properly water the tree of life eternal.  These trees will bear twelve fruits each month, presumably different fruits that offer the promise of eternal life representing the twelve tribes of the founding people of God and the twelve founding apostles of our Lord, but this is not certain or clear yet.  When we are there all will be perfectly known (1 Corinthians 13:12) as will our deepest thoughts and intentions of our hearts.  Even the leaves of the trees giving unending life will bring healing to all from our of the nations who come to be there in Christ.  The healing spoken of is likely that of the spirits of men and women recovering from the sin that plagues this world since the fall and the corruption disfiguring us that also kept us from the tree of life in Eden because our ancestors took the wrong and forbidden fruit of self revelation of knowledge and who neglected to be fed the und of good and evil by God’s word (Hebrews 5:14) in His time.  What grace and love of the Father to save us by the grace of His Son that we might be restored to our uncorrupted image of Him as intended!  We will bathe in the waters of purity and be healed by the eating from the trees of the trees of life at last.  There will be no more curse of sin there in the presence of God the Father and His son the Passover Lamb who took away our sins forever.  Instead, we who are numbered as His own from the foundation of creation (Ephesians 1:4) will bask in the glory of worship before the throne of grace and reign with Him (Matthew 19:28-29, Romans 5:17, 2 Timothy 2:11-12, Revelation 20:4) in the light of that glory and grace forever!  That is something to look forward to that will never become boring as some say with the blurred vision of spiritual ignorance now.  This time of reckoning is swiftly approaching and all who read these faithful and true words are called to listen to the prophets and apostles of the gospel and keep His word in our journey of sanctification to align ourselves in His image of righteousness as preparation.  We worship Him and no other as the angel had to remind the apostle whom Jesus loved.  Worship God alone and keep His word!  That is our lesson to learn from the book of Revelation, not to figure out the times and seasons which only God knows and chooses to reveal over time as events unfold according to His plan.  Let us remain holy, just, and righteous in Christ because we have been saved out of sin to follow and be conformed to Him and look forward to the pure river from His throne and the trees of eternal life for our restoration.  This is for our sealing of sanctification and restoration of God’s original design for we who are His prize creation.  Amen!

Revelation 21:9-27 - The Celestial City

Revelation 21:9-27

The New Jerusalem (Ezekiel 48:30–35)

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 17 Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

The Glory of the New Jerusalem

22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. 25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. 27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

We who are now in Christ eagerly await the arrival of the Celestial City brought down from heaven to a new earth free of sin and full of the presence of Him whom we yearn to see face to face in worship!  As Ezekiel 48:35 described the earthly Jerusalem, “the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE,” we see and understand that the previous city was temporary and pointed to the pattern set in the heavenly celestial city of God.  The Lord will be present there before us at last (Job 19:26-27) as Revelation 21:22 and Revelation 22:3-5 confirm this anticipated truth to us.  John was given a tour of that heavenly country to come (Hebrews 11:16) by one of the seven angels delivering the bowls of judgment poured out on all those who reject the Son of God.  There he saw the bride of Christ the Lamb of God which is founded on the twelve apostles and with the names of the twelve tribes of God’s people written on the twelve pearly gates to enter into the celestial city set to rest forever on Earth, just as Israel was a channel of redemption to bring the Messiah-Christ for us all to enter in by.  We will not go into heaven to speak to Peter at one pearly gate as some erroneously believe, but through the gate of Christ Himself (John 10:7-9) and through these twelve gates of pearls into glory.  This city will house not only the physical children of Abraham known as Israel, but all others from out of the nations of the world who are made His children by the same faith of Abraham who took God at His word and anticipated that the Lord was able to raise up his only son as God raised His Son instead for us all to be united in Christ as His bride in this new world’s mansions (John 14:2-3, 23) as our dwelling place with Him.  The measurements are given to compare to the earthly sanctuary as proof of God’s design based on the heavenly Jerusalem and we are given a description of the grandeur with the jewels and the paved streets of transparent gold which we will enter into and walk on there.  Once in the Celestial City, we will worship in the new temple who is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, not a physical temple structure.  What a sight and experience that will be!  He will be the light instead of the sun and moon high will flee away in this re-creation whose presence walking among us was lost at Eden.  All will give their honor and glory to Him who sits on the throne in this glorious city whose gates never shut in perpetual light unaffected by night which will be gone forever in His illumination.  Nobody who has unforgiven and unrepentant sin will enter in because they are not recognized due to their na,es not being written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Only those washed clean of sin forgiven and redeemed by the Lamb have their names in the citizen registry there.  Is your name written in His blood on the pages of this book?  If so, you have all this to look forward to after the final judgment on the world and its re-creation to live in God’s grace and presence forevermore. These words give us a glimpse of the eternal hope of residency in The Celestial City to come to bathe in God’s eternal presence and see Him face to face at last!  Amen and amen!  Let it be so. 

Revelation 21:1-8 - The Faithful and True Makes all Things New!

Revelation 21:1-8

All Things Made New

1 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. 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. 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. 4 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.”

5 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.”

6 And He said to me, “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. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

We now are given a glimpse past the final judgment where those rejecting Christ and His gospel of eternal reprieve (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9) will suffer unending torment (Matthew 25:46), while we who take God at His word and received His forgiveness by Christ’s work of sacrificial death (Isaiah 44:22, 1 Corinthians 6:20, 1 John 4:18) will instead enter into the new creation.  It will be as if going back to the beginning when the Garden of Eden was our first home that was free from sin until the snake in the grass corrupted us with the disbelief and disobedience of that original rebellious sin to know better than our Maker.  That sin of deception and resulting corruption of sin on us and all creation (Romans 8:21) will be forgotten as all is made anew; the very earth we will stand on in His presence (Job 19:25-27, ) and the universe of stars and galaxies in the heavens above will be redone apart from the presence of sin at last!  We read in 1 John 5:20-21 that the Lord gives understanding to know Him who is the true God, Jesus Christ, and to be found in Him is knowing the true God and having eternal life.  We who therefore are found in Him as the bride which is the true church comprised of all in Christ and His righteousness will enter into the Celestial City, New Jerusalem, to be forever joined to the Lord and to love with Him there to worship in that holy place before His face with unending praise.  As His redeemed people, we will have Him with us as the eternal Immanuel and God will reach out to wipe away all our tears of sorrow and suffering because death has been defeated (1 Corinthians 15:26, 54-55, 56, 2 Timothy 1:10) with all the pain of sin that will be vanquished and vanish at last from our presence, unable to corrupt us or God’s entire creation anymore.  The One who alone is faithful to do all He says gave these promises to John for us to know that the word of God is likewise just as faithful and true as He is.  He will absolutely make all things new!  We can count on it.  He is the beginning of all things and the end of them as well, and offers to all who trust these words hidden in time but revealed in Christ by the gospel the fountain of life (Isaiah 12:3, 55:1, Revelation 7:17) to quench our thirst (Psalm 63:1) for Him.  We who now believe and receive Jesus Christ and His work on the cross have overcome the world (1 John 5:4-5) and will inherit everything in the new kingdom on earth as His beloved sons and daughters.  But those who refuse to accept this, who shrink back into sin away from Him and continue in disbelief and immortality will face the same fate as the deceiver the devil and spend forever in torment as a second death (Hebrews 9:27-28) after dying physically in this life.  Do not be deceived by those who tach there is a purgatory and a second chance; there is no chance other than that obtained in this life before we die.  Choose life by trusting the Lord’s word and work while you are alive and able (Deuteronomy 30:19, John 11:25, 14:6) and live forever!  Remember that the faithful and true will make all things new. 

Revelation 20:11-15 - The Book of Life and Lake of Fire

Revelation 20:11-15

The Great White Throne Judgment

11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. 

12 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. 

13 The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. 14 Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 

15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

After our adversary and the deceiver of all mankind is incarcerated with an eternal life sentence of torment in the lake of fire, we all will see the great white throne of the Lord God Almighty before us in the resurrection of the just and unjust (Daniel 12:2, Acts 24:15) with no heaven and earth around us to run to or distract us from seeing Him as is presently the case.  John was shown what will take place at that time as everyone will stand in judgment before God, whether great leaders or great spiritual men and women, or whether the lowly and poor of no distinction or repute in their life.  All who ever lived who ever lived will stand to answer before Him for their lives and response to the gospel and the Son of God.  We evidently each have a book that records all we have done and thought in a way far beyond the mythical Santa Clause, for only God our Maker knows our hearts and sees our deeds with their motives and desires.  John also observed that as our books of thoughts and deeds are opened, there will be the Lamb’s Book of Life opened alongside ours.  We will be judged by what works are recorded in our individual books of our lives and those not found written by God in the Book of Life will be sentenced to the Lake of Fire as promised (Matthew 25:41) for not being found in the righteousness (Romans 5:17, 21, 2 Corinthians 5:21, Philippians 3:9) of Jesus Christ.  This second death after our mortal coil is shed is for all who die outside of Christ, those not written in His Book before the foundation of the world.  The eternal life of those in Christ, those found in His Book of Life to be lived forever in the presence of God are there by predetermined grace as demonstrated by our repentance and faith to trust in the person and work of the Son of God to cover our sins and invite us in.  We are still accountable for our thoughts and deeds as found in our own books (1 Corinthians 3:12-13, 14-15), yet we have the certain hope of redemption in Jesus Christ for a pardon from sentencing to the eternal torment of all who die outside of faith in God’s work.  The Book of Life is God’s pardon by the grace of His choosing us to not be sentenced to the Lake of Fire which we all (Romans 3:23, 6:23) deserve.  May we who know Him then live acceptable lives in response after trusting in the Son of God who accepts us by His death on the cross of our sin’s curse! 

Revelation 20:1-10 - A Certain Judgment and Sentencing

Revelation 20:1-10

Satan Bound 1,000 Years

1 Then I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. 2 He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years; 3 and he cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal on him, so that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years were finished. But after these things he must be released for a little while.

The Saints Reign with Christ 1,000 Years

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. 6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Satanic Rebellion Crushed (Ezekiel 38; 39)

7 Now when the thousand years have expired, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea. 9 They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them. 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.

These things must come to pass after the dragon Satan is put in chains and thrown into the bottomless pit for a time represented here as a thousand years, though symbolism could be used for the exact interpretation of the word year.  What is important and relevant to our understanding is that after the beast and false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire as a final end, we see in a vague way how the dragon named as the Devil and Satan is to be incarcerated by God’s decree using another angel to lock him up for this thousand year sentence before he is also forever put down into the same lake of tormenting fire prepared for him already (Matthew 25:41) and for all those who choose not to worship the Almighty God through His Son who has the only keys (Revelation 1:18) to eternal life and death.  Where we enter depends on us being in Christ before death (Hebrews 9:27-28) or not.  Those who are deceived by the serpent of old who led us into sin in the Garden of Eden will spend eternal life as a living death of torment where they cry out to die but cannot because they refused to believe the gospel of God’s living word (John 8:24, 12:48, 50, 2 Corinthians 4:3-4) and turn from serving their sin to following Him (Mark 1:15, Acts 17:30-31) in willing obedience.  We are called to learn from the disobedience of the angels who have no opportunity to repent as we do (2 Peter 2:4, Jude 1:6, Revelation 12:9) that we may turn and not burn forever as His wrath on our sin; this is told us as a reminder of the consequences of disobedience and disbelief in worshiping any other but Him who made us for Himself.  Those of us who have turned to Jesus Christ as the Son of God and our Passover Lamb of eternal forgiveness by covering our sin with His righteousness will be ruling with the Lord for this first thousand years over the world, and then worship before His throne come to rest upon a new earth purged of the presence of sin forevermore after the dragon is released for the last time from the bottomless pit and cast forever into the lake of fire with the everlasting reminder of his cosmic rebellion against the sovereign King of kings and Lord over all lords on Heaven and earth.  We who know the Lord will not worship the beast as the created over the Creator, nor will we take the number of the beast to identify as his in body or soul, but remain true to worship the only God and no mere idol of any kind and serve as priests to the Lord God.  That is why we are able to rule under Him over these as told here.  The mystery is how only those who endure this will avoid the second death and reign and for a thousand years but the rest of God’s children in Christ have to wait that thousand years to be bodily resurrected to join these first ones.  What we do see here however this plays out is that when this time period is over that the devil will be released to deceive more people and gather another army to fight against God and the world but be soundly and forever defeated by fire from heaven and imprisoned eternally in the lake of fire where his former minions, the beast and false prophet, are already incarcerated.  They will be tormented day and night forever and ever, as will all who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God who has redeemed them and kept them for Himself (John 5:24) and out of this irreversible (Hebrews 9:27-28) judgment.  We will have no second chance after we die as some continue the lie just as the deceiver wants us to do and join him apart from God whom he rejected and rebelled against as if to take God’s place (Isaiah 14:13-14) and throne, which is impossible as a created being.  The devil will not ascend to God’s place to rule (Isaiah 14:15-16) but be looked at in astonishment after his defeat with wonder at how he ever thought such a rebellion was ever possible.  There is a certain judgment and sentencing forever for such who are deceived into not trusting the Son of God for covering their sin to enter in to God’s kingdom and presence.   Such pride keeps many people from the Lord as well in believing the deception.  Do not be one of them!