So we've made it to my favorite chapter
in the Book of Revelation.
And I don't know if you've got a favorite chapter, I do.
That might be really nerdy or weird;
but, I love this chapter
and the reason why is the Beast of the Sea is gone
and the Beast of the Land is gone.
Read Revelation and find out who they are.
The Dragon is the Devil.
I'll let you give that one.
He is gone.
And so now, John just spends, almost this entire chapter,
celebrating the fact that Jesus wins.
Telling us of this picturesque vision of what Heaven
is going to be like and it's incredible.
Let me just read a couple of words
here from Chapter 21, describing Heaven.
This is verse four.
"He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
"And there will be no more death, or mourning,
"or crying, or pain, for the old order of things
"has passed away."
And John goes into more and more details
as he looks up and he sees Heaven.
He says there's a street of gold
running right down the center.
I mean, that sounds pretty fantastic.
There's twelve gates into the city.
And he says the gates are always open.
And the reason why is Jesus wins.
Gates are there to shut out the bad
and keep everyone safe in the inside.
But, since Jesus destroyed the power
of sin, death, and the devil,
the Bible says the gates of Heaven are open.
Always.
Because death has been defeated.
Devil's been defeated.
It also says that there is no night, ever, in Heaven.
There is no sun, there's no moon.
There's no need for that
because Jesus, The Light of the World,
the light that no darkness can overcome,
will be our light and will be our joy.
Let me tell you, Heaven is joy
on top of joy, wrapped in joy
with a little more joy sprinkled on top of it.
It's going to be incredible.
Then John gets a little bit deeper.
And he says that the layout of the city
is 12,000 stadia by 12,000 stadia.
Now that's not a unit of measurement we really use.
Its about 607 feet.
So, if you do the math in that,
and don't check my math on this,
but if you do the math on that,
is 12,000 times 607 is about,
converting it to miles, about 1,379 miles.
That's one direction.
And then 1,379 miles in this direction.
So, just for fun, I've figured out the area,
the square footage, area of miles of that,
and its 1.9 million miles.
Now, remember this is figurative.
It doesn't necessarily mean that Heaven's
exactly 1.9 million miles.
But its huge.
Just by point of reference,
the largest city on the planet
is New York, New Jersey, Connecticut metro area.
That's 4,500 square miles.
Heaven is described as 1.9 million square miles.
It's colossal.
All that joy in there.
But then John says that's its 12,000 stadia this way,
12,000 stadia this way, and 12,000 stadia this way.
And its a perfect cube.
Now, put on your nerdy Bible hat,
that you know the Bible well.
And do you know what that means?
What the cool reference is here?
It goes back to the most holy place in the temple
of the Old Testament, where God's throne room
on Earth, where his presence with his people in the Earth was.
And that was in the shape of a perfect cube.
Because when you and I get to Heaven,
we will be in the presence of the Almighty.
Last really cool thing that I love from chapter 21
is we also learn that the twelve gates of the city,
we find out that there's three gates on each side.
So, no matter where you come from
the entrance is there for you.
That means it doesn't matter your background.
It doesn't matter if you are rich or poor on this Earth.
It didn't matter if you've been a life-long Christian
or came to faith just at the end,
like the thief on the cross.
Doesn't matter your ethnicity.
It doesn't matter any of these things.
What matters is that God loves you.
That Jesus won a victory for you.
And when you and I have faith in Him
the gates to Heaven are open for us.
And Heaven will be your home.
I encourage you to read Chapter 21 in God's word
and you will have incredible peace and Jesus wins.
So, I told you that Chapter 21 of Revelation,
one of my favorite chapters of the entire Bible,
and even the book of Revelation.
What's your favorite chapter?
Or maybe what's your favorite story?
Your favorite story in the Bible
that gives you comfort, give you peace?
Comment below.
Share it with other people.
And maybe you can give them an encouragement
in the way it has encouraged you.