In the sermon titled 'Heaven is Understandable' by Scott Brown, the speaker explores the understanding of heaven based on Revelation 22. He emphasizes that heaven is relatable and understandable, drawing parallels between the earthly experiences and heavenly descriptions. The sermon covers the themes of God's service, seeing God's face, God's light, and believers reigning in heaven. Brown encourages believers to prioritize the study of heaven and recognize the relatable beauties of earth as reflections of heaven. He concludes by highlighting the importance of worship and the transformative power of experiencing God's presence.

Please take your Bibles, open them to Revelation chapter 22. I'll be reading the first five verses. Our focus, however, this morning will be on verses three through five. This is the inerrant, all sufficient, sweeter than honey word of God. Revelation 22 verse one.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, 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. They shall see His face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.

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. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we pray that you would give us such glimpses of glory that that glory would flow down heavily on the earth through your children. I pray Lord that you would take these words, equip the saints, comfort the broken-hearted, set the devil to flight, Come and teach your people today by your word.

Lord, we know that we are so dependent on the work of your spirit today. So we lay ourselves before him. Amen. Please be seated. So our focus is Revelation 22 verses 3 through 5.

These are the final words of John's very vivid descriptions of heaven. This description started in 21 verse 1 and has run all the way here to where we find ourselves landing in the last words of that description in 22, 1 through 5. When we get to the next verse which Will begin it at some point there there there various instructions for how we respond to the prophecy I plan to spend next Sunday dealing with some of the unanswered questions and questions that I've been asked some very difficult questions about heaven, so next week will sort of be question and answer time. And if you have any questions, send them to me and I'd be happy to at least consider them. If they're too hard, I just don't know if I'll deal with them.

There are many hard questions. But what we'll see here in these verses is how heaven teaches us about earth and how earth teaches us about heaven every day, every day, almost everywhere we look. This makes it so clear that heaven is a relatable place because God is revealing himself to us on the earth. We know that the heavens declare the glory of God and so does everything else that he has created you have an outline in front of you in which I've divided these these verses into four major areas and one is God's service in heaven and and again I want us to to understand that the exit Our existence in heaven is understandable. It's a place of seeing, seeing the face of Jesus.

And then thirdly, God's light in heaven. Again, our existence in heaven is understandable, where it is actually enlightening in similar ways that we are enlightened here on the earth. And then fourth and finally, God's reign in heaven. Our existence in heaven understandable because we there are ways that we reign on the earth in very particular ways that believers Reign in the world. So there it is And so as we read these things, these wonderful things about heaven, of course we remember that we experienced these things in part, but then face to face.

And all, but all of these glorious things in heaven in some ways characterize the Christian life on earth and that's why Jesus taught his disciples to pray thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven earth is meant to replicate heaven And so it's very important that Christians are well aware, well studied on the doctrine of heaven. We've already seen so many of the relatable beauties of heaven in rivers of water of life and mountain temples and precious stones and glistening cities. We've seen all these things here and these things that we see here are reflective of heaven. And I've been wanting to make it very clear in this congregation that heaven, it ought to be an understandable category of doctrine. It should be understandable to us.

I've wanted to try to spend quite a bit of time to explain that heaven is not some ethereal, otherworldly, ghost-like, non-physical experience. It's a physical experience of real things, but real things we've experienced in many ways here on the earth in their short form. And so I've wanted to try to make it clear that that we as a congregation, we see that heaven is understandable and it's actually such a beautiful thing. And these remarkably beautiful complex things that we see in the earth, they really are four tastes of heaven. I wanted us to see the blessings of earth.

I wanted us to understand that heaven, that earth is gilded with heavenly things, and that God has given us everything on earth to believe in heaven. We shouldn't we shouldn't think well heaven is just so out there for me. No, it ought to be relatable because God has given us these relatable matters on the earth. And I've wanted to say and have said many times, let's quit saying this world is not my home. This world is your home.

The purpose of this world is to teach you what glories there are that exist, not just here, but absolutely in heaven. Heaven is merely a transfer to a location from what was a dim reflection of it also, I Want I want this congregation to enjoy this world maybe more than they did. I know we do enjoy what God has made, but I wanted us to quit saying this world is not my home. I wanted us to say this is the world that God put me in. He's put me here to rule and reign and serve and take dominion and see the face of Jesus Christ.

He's put me here for a purpose. And it is a wonderful world. We do often find ourselves obsessing about the difficulties in the world, but God has them all in his hands. And he will make all of it right. And, You know, something happens to you when you become a Christian, and that is that you see everything differently.

I felt this so distinctly even in my teens when God was opening up my eyes. And I remember walking outside one day and I'm thinking, that sky is so blue. That grass is so beautiful, like more than ever in my life. I just noticed it more. And there's a song about it that we used to sing.

I am His and He is mine. You know that song. I don't know if we've seen it that much here, but maybe we should sing it more. Heaven above is softer blue, earth around is sweeter green. Something lives in every hue, Christless eyes have never seen.

Birds with gladder songs overflow, flowers with deeper beauty shine. Since I know as now I know, I am his and he is mine. I think it's appropriate to banish the rapture escapism and resignation that this world is just a bad place going to hell in a handbasket. Because it's not doing that around you in your life, because you're a force of light and darkness and the glory of Jesus Christ wherever you walk, even in the darkest dungeon. And so, I wanted us not to think of our lives here in terms of escapism and resignation from our work that's here, because it's a beautiful work, it's a good work.

We're here to do so many things and experience so many good things. You know, I was directed today to, or not today, this week in the coffee shop, somebody was telling me about a Puritan sermon by Thomas Watson, and I went to my library and I grabbed the sermon, I read it, And the name of the sermon is, a Christian on earth still in heaven. A Christian on earth still in heaven. And he starts out, Thomas Watson does, with Psalm 139, 18, when I awake, I am still with thee. He's talking about waking up in the morning and being with God, you know, in this world.

And here's what he says, it shows us how to be in heaven before our time, namely by being still with God. A good Christian begins his heaven here. Grace translates him into the paradise of God. This is what the grace of God does. It opens your eyes to see His glory all around you.

You know, before you were convicted, converted, you were, all of us were, as the apostle Paul said, they were having no hope and without God in the world. But now we are with hope and we are with God in the world, God is with us. Heaven has actually injected itself into earth. And we have God on the earth. So that's what I've been hoping to do during this section in Revelation.

We're winding it down. We're gonna end. We're gonna leave heaven next week with that final message on this section of heaven and move into some of the very practical applications that John brings to the church. What do you do about this teaching? And so well let's go into the outline here.

Let's begin in verse three, God's service. 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. Now, in this one verse, there are three elements that I want to draw out. First, there is no more curse. Second, the throne of God and of the lamb.

And then finally, and I'd like to camp on this one For a bit his servants shall serve him there shall be no more curse imagine life without the curse imagine life without sin and death hanging over you and the ridiculous things of your background and your sins messing with you, that will all be gone. You will not be messed with by the devil anymore. Praise the Lord. You won't be messed with with your bad memories of what's happened in your life and the things that you've done wrong. You won't be messed with anymore.

It's over. What a joy that will be. There is no more curse. And then there's a throne. The reason is that there is a throne that dominates here, and the throne of God and of the lamb shall be in it.

And what we've learned so far in Revelation in chapter five, chapter six, and chapter seven, is that the people before the throne of God, they just can't get enough of God. And the joy, not just in the people who've been redeemed, but the creatures and the angels, they just cannot get enough of God. That's what heaven will be like before the throne of God. And there are so many descriptions of this. I commend to you chapter seven, verses 14 and 15.

It's just, actually almost the whole chapter is full of the people before the throne of God. They're just saying, amen, blessing and glory and honor and wisdom and thanksgiving and power and strength to our God. He's everything. He's just everything good and beautiful. But this phrase, the throne of God shall be in it, is so critical, I think, to just camp on.

The throne of God does two things. First of all, it banishes, it scatters evil. The authority of God moves evil out of the way, and it does that here on the earth as well. It banishes evil from your heart, from your home, from your church, but it doesn't just banish evil. The throne of God, it draws you.

It draws you to him in praise, in thanksgiving. When the throne of God is mighty in your soul, you're drawn in to God, to worship God. And to be a Christian is to live in light of the throne of God To operate under the authority of God. There's something there's someone above you That's a realization that The unbeliever who becomes a believer finally has because the unsaved person doesn't have God on the throne. The unsaved person is on the throne.

Now I was, I was reading a W tozer some time ago. He, who spoke, who spoke about how men set their will against God and they dethrone God. And they live by their own rules. This is the life with no sense of the throne of God. And men live by their own rules.

But then Tozer talks about what happens to so many. They finally realize that they've been in defiance to the one who made them. They realize they've dethroned God. They realize that they've made themselves God and they finally realize I don't want any more of my own throne. It never did me any good, but God is good That's what it means to become a Christian you You just it occurs to you that God is good that Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world that your sins can be forgiven if you turn to him and you can enter into his rest and Actually he who believes in him has everlasting life.

That's what it means to be a Christian. But the throne is so critical. Man finally realizes, says Tozer, that he is a usurper and sits on a stolen throne. And he realizes that he must be dethroned and then he is because he realizes that he was an affront to God as a king on his own throne but anyway the throne is in heaven and men will no longer struggle with that. And then, what do they do?

What do the people do before the throne of God? They, and his servants shall serve him. His servants shall serve him. The word servant is the word for slave. It's used for slave all over the Bible.

It's kind of a word that translators don't like to use. They don't like to translate it slave anymore. But that's literally what the word means. Many years ago, John MacArthur wrote a book called Slave in order to try to correct a culture that has forgotten actually the good part of slavery, that Christians become slaves of God. And that's the best thing that could ever happen to them.

Of course, to speak of the evils of the kind of slavery that man exerts is so clear to everyone. But the kind of slavery to God is a slavery of benefit. It's a slavery of perfect felicity and joy. And so they are slaves who serve God. Now, this word serve is used many times in the Bible and it's always about caring about religious duties.

This has to do with the worship of God. It's never used in terms of serving man. The word is always used of serving God. Man in servitude to God. And that's the kind of service that he's talking about.

It never occurs in terms of human relationships, but in terms of God. And that's why in Exodus chapter three, verse 12, we learn that the purpose of the Exodus was to set people free to worship God. The word serve is used, Exodus 312. So he said, God said, I will certainly be with you, and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you. When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.

Here's the people of God are worshiping God, and that's the purpose of the Exodus. In Joshua 22, we learn that this same kind of gathering for worship distinguishes God's people from the nations. And to let them know, to let the nations know that they do not have a part with the Lord. One reason God's people gather as his people is to say, there is a people that God owns and you are not part of that people. And really when an unbeliever comes into a church they should recognize this is strange.

I'm not part of this people. I don't know these things. What's happened to these people? This is so odd. I've never seen anything like this.

But the worship of God, the gathered worship of God is actually meant to draw a line and a distinction between the people of God and the people of the world. That's why in Joshua 22, seven, we read these, that this worship would be a witness between you and us and our generations after us, that we may perform the service of the Lord before him with our burnt offerings, with our sacrifices, and our peace offerings. How weird is that? Why? That your descendants may not say to, that your descendants may not say to our descendants in time to come, you have no part in the Lord.

You have no part in the Lord. So this has to do with serving God in worship. This was the same realization that came to Zacharias when he was filled with the Spirit in Luke chapter one. And here we learn that the serving of God begins on earth. And this marvelous prayer, this marvelous declaration of Zacharias, Zacharias uses the same word serve, to grant us that we being delivered from the hand of our enemies might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

So the service begins on earth because Jesus Christ has come. We desire to serve God. We desire to worship God and gather together for worship. You know, what is serving in worship? Well, it includes this kind of thing, But God makes it clear that even our work is a form of worship of God.

You know, so much of what we do is either in worship of man or worship of God. And, you know, even you children think about this for a minute. What does it mean for you to serve God, to worship God? Well, obedience is the way that everyone serves God and worships God. We obey because we're worshiping Him.

We set him high above our own desires. But children, when they obey their parents, hopefully you're consciously serving God, but when you obey your parents with a genuine heart, you are serving God, you are worshiping God, just like what is spoken of here. In heaven, you will serve God, and you'll do so because you'll see that his plans are always the best. You'll see that he's the wisest. You'll see that everything that he has commanded is beneficial and good.

And that's why we serve God, because we believe he really is a good and exalted king. All this brings us down to three things, I think. The sacredness of the worship of God. We've tried to communicate that in various ways in our church over the last months. It's such a sacred thing.

We've been saying, you know, come, be on the edge of your seat, be early. Don't miss a single prayer, Don't miss a single song. There's a sacredness of the gathering of the people of God. Take it heavy, don't take it lightly. And then there is the prioritization of the worship of God.

This is the thing, the corporate worship of God is something that should be prioritized. And then finally, it's a foretaste of heaven. It is a dim foretaste, but the things that we eat at this banquet table are things that are true. We hope that they are encouraging and convicting and invigorating and instructive and comforting and all those kinds of things. But these are all fortes of heaven when we gather together and our singing is such a wonderful reflection of it.

Here's Jonathan Edwards. He says, these are the happy labors of heaven. These are the happy labors of heaven. So there you have it. He also says this, by all this you may be directed how to live a pleasant life here in this world and inform you what is the likeliest way for you to enjoy much comfort, to be watchful and diligent, fervent in spirit, serving of God." Well, we worship God and we serve him here and it is a foretaste of heaven.

In other words, heaven is understandable. It's like feeding on truth. It's like proclaiming good things to one another. It's like the comfort of God. It's like seeing the beauty of God, even in one another, in his people, even though we're such a dim reflection of it.

Okay, so existence in heaven is understandable. In heaven, we will be serving, but on earth, we're also serving as well. We've been given a glimpse of it, of heaven. And then God's face, verse four. They shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads.

Heaven is a place of seeing, seeing God's face. Earth is a place of seeing. Some people have been deprived of their sight but not very many people. But earth is a place of seeing. Even the people who have their eyesight deprived of them can actually see things at least figuratively and they know where things are.

It's remarkable what happens to people who can't see the way that most of us can see. But they shall see his face. Have you ever seen a face? Has it ever made you glad to see someone's face? We can relate to it in a dim way compared to what it will be.

You know, Moses pleaded with God to see his face and then God said, no man can see my face and live. And I don't understand how all of this works out. God is spirit, do you really see the face of God's spirit? I don't know, This is one of the questions that I've been asked about heaven, about seeing, will we really see the face of God the Father and God the Son? It's a very complex question and I don't really know the answer.

But God let his goodness pass before Moses instead of his face. But the Lord Jesus Christ says, you will see my face. So you figure it out. You tell me how it all works out. One of the commentators talked about this matter of seeing God's face like this.

It signifies their preciousness to God that none will be unknown, that none will be unloved, that none, none will have their identity lost. None will miss seeing him face to face. So it has something to do with personal recognition and intimacy and acceptance. Something like that, at minimum. To see God's face in heaven is a sign of believers on earth of a personal relationship, of assurance, and of acceptance on the earth.

And we see these things in part And I think it has to do something with the believer's attentiveness. When you see his face, there's an, you're attentive. There's like a rivetedness. You are, you're, you're highly focused on him. And you know, this happens in part to us on the earth.

We lift our eyes up to heaven and we ask our Father for guidance and we seek his face. It's almost the same thing I think of when we cry, Abba, Father, our spirit cries out within us, Oh, Father, show me your way. We do that so regularly in times in the earth. And so what we see in heaven is what we experience on earth, you know, at any moment you can become aware of his mercy and his majesty and his truth. We have our eyes riveted on his face.

You know, my dog on his best days is staring at me waiting for me to give him a command and I'll give him voice commands or hand or visual commands and he will most of the time do it. But there are times when he will just look at me waiting and waiting and waiting And I think there's something like that. But unfortunately with us on earth, we're a little bit like my dog, where he's not always riveted on me. And he might disobey me. That happens.

But on earth, we're told that the pure in heart will see God. As a believer, you can see God in a sense in the world. Jesus said, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. On earth, his face gives peace in number 624. The Lord bless you, the Lord keep you, the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious unto you.

The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. His countenance on the earth is a is a is a peaceful countenance. In Psalm 27 verse 1 we learn that God's face makes you fearless. If you've ever been in a difficult moment, go to Psalm 27, verse one. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Whom shall I fear? In Psalm 31, 16 and 17, His face is a source of mercy. Your face, make your face shine on your servant. Save me for your mercy's sake. In Psalm four, verse six, on earth, his face is a source of gladness.

Lord lift up the light of your countenance upon us. You have put gladness in my heart." In Psalm 89 15 on earth his face makes his children rejoice. Blessed are the people who know the joyful sound. They walk, O Lord, in the light of your countenance. In your name they rejoice all day long.

How beneficial is the face of Jesus Christ on the earth, even more in heaven. In 1 John 3 verse 2, on earth his face when we behold it is a purifying face. Beloved we are now we are the children of God but it has not yet been revealed what we shall be but we know that when he is revealed we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is and everyone who has this hope in him on earth purifies himself just as he is pure. It's a purifying face. On earth His face is a transforming face in 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18.

We are told, but we all with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. On earth, God says, seek my face. In Psalm 27, David says, one thing I have desired of the Lord that will I seek that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in his temple and then later on in the chapter David says Lord hear Lord when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer me. When you said seek my face, my heart said, Lord, your face will I seek. That's life on earth.

It really is a foretaste of heaven. And then it says in that same verse that His name shall be on their foreheads. That's a sign of ownership. You look into His face and you know who you belong to and His name is written on your forehead. The name represents the person, what a person is.

And in heaven, it means that you will fully represent God. Today, we're just dim representatives of God. We want to be better, but then, but then His name, His entire being, His entire work and ethic and truth will be upon our heads, and we will be his. So existence in heaven is understandable. In heaven, you will be seeing, you'll be seeing his face, just like you see faces today.

Did you ever think that maybe when you see the face of someone that makes you glad, that it actually is trying to tell you something about heaven, maybe to draw you there. Third, God's light, God's light. We've seen God's service and God's face, now God's light. And again, I just wanna say that heaven is understandable because it's a place of enlightening. It's full of light.

Verse five. There shall be no night there. They need no lamp nor light of the sun for the Lord God gives them light." So heaven is a place of light but the light of heaven is not dependent on the light of the sun. Earlier in Revelation we read there's no need for the sun. Doesn't say the sun doesn't exist.

It just says that there's no need for it because the Lord Jesus Christ is the light. The light is such a blessing. You know, I've been reading a book recently called Gulag Archipelago by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. He talks about the torturers in the communist regime and He talks about how they always did it at night. And Solzhenitsyn calls the torturers and what they do, the institution of the night.

But God gives light. God makes things plain and beautiful and colorful and there's texture. That's what God does. He shows you reality. And that's what happens in the light.

But the sun, the light of the sun on earth is meant to teach us about everlasting light. We do live in a dark world, we know that, but the Lord God gives light in the midst of the darkness. The light does shine in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. That's what Jesus said, or John said in the Gospel of John. In John eight, verse 12, we learn that Jesus is the light of the world.

Today, Jesus is the light of the world. You don't have to wait for heaven to find the light of the world, although it will be in brilliance like we've never known. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. You have that today if you're a believer.

You have the light of life. In Luke chapter one, verse 79, we learn that Jesus gives light in the midst of the darkness. He says that, it says that Jesus came to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way. In Romans 13 verse 11, on earth, believers are actually bathed, and get this, in an armor of light. An armor of light?

Well, that's what it says. He says, the night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore, let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill its lusts. Here on earth we make no provision for the flesh we put no open doors so that we would walk in the light not in darkness.

In Ephesians 5, 8, on earth, actually the believer himself is light because he walks in the light. For you were once darkness but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light, for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth. So there's a tip off, walking in the light is like walking in the Spirit, where there's love and joy and peace and patience and so forth. In 1st Thessalonians 5, on earth, believers are sons, they are actually offspring of light.

The believer is offspring, sons and daughters of light. 1st Thessalonians 5,5, you are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as others do, but let us watch and be sober. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith." And then he says, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him in the day.

So on earth, believers are called to walk in the light. That's why in Isaiah chapter 2 verse 5, God says, oh house of Jacob, come and let us walk in the light of the Lord. Again, all of this to say, heaven is understandable. It's understandable because on earth there's light and on earth there is enlightenment and in heaven there's everlasting enlightenment and I take that to mean that living in everlasting light is just an unfolding of more and more clarity for all eternity and you'll never get to the end of the beauty and complexity and wisdom of God. You'll always ever be enlightened and thrilled by what you see and the light will be so beautiful but you've already got a foretaste of it now so don't say I don't really understand heaven look around There's light here for a reason today is to tell you that there's everlasting light.

If you're not a believer, don't take for granted what God has given you. Don't take for granted the light and the rivers and the clouds and the skies and the grass, all these things are there to say, come, here I am, come and worship me. And then finally, God's rain. What does it mean to rain? To rain in heaven?

Verse five, and they shall reign forever and ever. What in the world does it mean to reign in heaven? And again, I want to just say the same thing. Heaven is an understandable place. It's raining, and we know what that's like here in the world, at least to a degree.

In heaven, you will reign forever. And what does that mean? What does the scripture say about reigning in heaven or reigning on earth in Luke 19 verse 17 in heaven believers may reign over cities and He said to him well done good sir good and faithful servant, because you are faithful and very little, have authority over 10 cities. This has to do with authority over realms of some kind. In Luke 22 verse 29 and 30, Christ is actually conferring a kingdom to his children.

He says, I bestow upon you a kingdom just as my father bestowed one on me that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In Revelation chapter 321, we read this, to him who overcomes, I will grant to sit with me on my throne as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. In 2nd Timothy 2, 11 and 12 we're actually taught that our reigning begins on the earth. This is a faithful saying, for if we died with him, we shall also live with him. If we endure, we shall also reign with him.

Now, God's original plan at creation was for man to reign, for man to take dominion. This is man's purpose of being alive in the world to take dominion. In Genesis 1.28 we read, And then God blessed them and 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." In Genesis, God gives man the authority to rule on the earth. He grants a husband and wife the authority to take dominion over the things that surround them, the fish of the sea, and this is for every believer, not just married people, you know, wouldn't it be a blessing to take dominion in a world without the troubles of sin? Well, that's not today, but it will come, but that doesn't mean that we still can't rule and reign on the earth.

One of the commentators said this, it is redemption that makes us kings and priests. It's redemption that sets us free to rule rightly. But in Revelation five, nine and ten in heaven, the people are around the throne and they're rejoicing around the throne about what God had done for them on the earth. And he made them kings on the earth. And the church is a kingdom of priests.

And he made us kings on the earth, not only that we would take dominion here, but it would be a foretaste of the reigning in heaven. And he has made us kings and priests to our God and we shall reign on the earth and that means that the earth is meant to be ruled Christians are dominion takers and redemption means that you will become a ruler in God's place. Redemption reverses man's failure. Pascal described man as a king who lost his crown, but redemption brings it back and he's crowned and he's given authority and and actually seated at the right hand of God with Christ. And God elevates his children to begin to take dominion and he rules through us and he gives us various areas of authority.

He gives every person the authority over their heart and over their eyes and over the steps of their feet and over their work. Every believer has authority. He's been given authority to deal with their relationships. You know, fathers and mothers have authority over their families, their children, and they rule their children with the grace of God. And even, You know, even in the church, in Matthew 16 verse 19, Jesus grants authority to the church to rule in a particular way.

People today think the church has no authority. Well, that's not the way God actually designed the church to function. The church is designed to function with authority. Even the preaching of the Word is a matter of reigning and having authority. We bring the authority of God in preaching.

It's not man's authority. And so in Matthew 16 19, Jesus says, and I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. And so even the church, by virtue of receiving the keys, rules and reigns on the earth, it's a limited reigning. It's an imperfect reigning, but it's reigning nonetheless in the same way that a father rules and rains, not perfectly, but he's actually been granted authority to govern his family. When two people get married, a new government is established and the husband is the head of the wife, just as Christ is the head of the church.

So ruling and reigning is common in the world. We're very aware of the nations of the world attempting to rule and reign over one another. That should just remind us of heaven. It shouldn't scare you too much even though it might be a little bit disturbing when you see them doing it as you see them doing it now in pride rattling their sabers and terrifying the rest of the world. They're ruling and reigning but they're ruling and reigning with the with the devil's rule, but the believers rule with God's ways.

And how will God rule the world? How will God judge the world? You know, in the Corinthian church, in 1 Corinthians 6, Paul actually, he chastises the Corinthians for using their rulership incorrectly, using their reign, they're judging unrighteously, and he's accusing them of poor judgment they're not ruling right and so he says do you not know that the saints will judge the world and if the world will be judged by you Are you unworthy to judge in the smallest matters? Man often rules and reigns. The church might even rule and reign in an unrighteous way.

But here the Apostle Paul is saying, you've been given the power of judgment. Why are you using your power of judgment so poorly? That was the Corinthian church. John Calvin comments on this. He says, whenever believers meet in one place under the auspices of Christ, there is in their assembly an image of the future judgment, which will be perfectly brought about in the last day.

You know, how do believers primarily rule and reign? By the word of God. That's the best authority. It's really the only true authority that exists in the world. And I was very taken by a book that Thomas Watson wrote called Heaven Taken by Storm.

And he's saying that on earth you take heaven by storm. So hence the book, Taking Heaven by Storm. And How do you take heaven by storm? Well, he quotes Matthew 11, 12. The kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violence take it by force.

He says, heaven is inherited by the violent, a zeal for holiness in following God. And then he talks about how the violent take heaven by force. And he says, it's the violence of the reading of the word of God That takes heaven by storm. It's the violence of hearing the word of God. That takes heaven by storm.

Another whole chapter, the violence of prayer. Prayer takes heaven by storm. Another chapter, the violence of meditation. Meditation takes heaven by storm. Another chapter, self-examination, the violence of self-examination.

Self-examination takes heaven by storm as you edge out evil practices. Then the next chapter, the violence of sanctifying the Lord's day takes heaven by storm. And then the next chapter, the violence of holy conversation. That's the fellowship of the saints, like a gathering that we have today that that takes heaven by storm today when we have our fellowship meal Hopefully this congregation will be taking heaven by storm in their conversation with one another to edge away from the trivialities and speak of the great things of God to one another, to really encourage one another in the word and to speak of the word. There's plenty to speak about because we've had so much of the word of God laid upon us today.

Take those things, share them. Take heaven by storm in your conversation today. Then next chapter, the violence of offering violence to Satan, in other words, turning away from Satan. And then finally, the violence of examining, in other words, discerning good and evil, takes heaven by storm. We take heaven by storm by the word of God.

And we have been put on the earth to have four tastes of heaven. The apostle Paul spoke of this in 1 Corinthians 13. He said, for we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when that which is perfect has come, then that which is in part will be done away. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I am also known.

All of this to say that what the apostle, Paul said to the Philippian church, he said, we are citizens of heaven. Live on earth as a citizen of heaven. He says, our citizenship is in heaven from which we also eagerly await for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to his glorious body according to the working by which he is able even to subdue all things to himself. I was reading a sermon by Charles Spurgeon. He said, it is a well-known rule that heaven must be in us before we can be in heaven.

We must be heavenly if we hope to sit in heavenly places. Those in heaven are full of life. There is no dead worshiper there, no dull, cold heart that does not respond to the praise by which is surrounded. So, heaven is understandable. It's a place of serving.

It's a place of seeing. It's a place of being enlightened by light. And it's a place of reigning. And now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy and keep those things which are written in it.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Let's pray. Father, Lord, we just so desire to find ourselves with more of heaven and less of the earth, but to delight in the great and beautiful gifts of the earth to lead us as foretastes to heaven. We thank you for this beautiful world.

I pray that the enjoyment of it would rise, that it would be so sweet to this congregation to be alive in the world, even though there are troubles, but we still have the light of your word. Amen.