The Revelation 21:23 | Episode # 1185

May 1, 2026

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

The Revelation 21:23

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

If you would like to revisit today’s Bible study, please visit our website at https://hopealive.buzzsprout.com/ to download the transcript. 

If this podcast ministered to you, please subscribe, and leave us a review on Apple podcasts. Reviews help us reach more people and spread the wisdom of God. 

Please follow us:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hopealivewithgod/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/hopealiveministry/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LakeComChurch/ -Lake Community Church

Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Applying God's word to your daily life. Hi, this is Chad Harrison and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today, in Jesus name. He says the city had no need of a sun or moon to shine in it. Now, if you think about how big that city is, you know, if you didn't have a good lighting system, it'd be real dark. I mean, none of us has ever been in a building that was 140 miles tall, okay? And if you were 70 miles inside of it, you would. You would. Well, you would. It would be dark. Am I right? And you would think, well, they're going to need several nuclear reactors or not. They're not going to need nuclear reactor. In fact, they're not going to need the sun at all. In fact, I'm not sure that he turns it back on because, by the way, he shuts it off. Okay? When Jesus comes back, where we. Where we read about in his return, which we called his second Advent, and I discussed that and I explained that to you, okay? So many people are. They get mixed up. Jesus comes back to rule the. Rule the nations and to set up his millennial kingdom, and that is his second coming. Oftentimes people think that what we. If you're pre trib and I am, but like I said, those. There's three. There's three ideas about that. And there are some scriptures that would tend to indicate the other two. I don't think there's as much scripture, but there are scriptures that would tend to indicate the other two. No matter what you believe, if you believe in a rapture, that is not Jesus coming back, that's us going to him, okay? Which is a total different thing. When Jesus comes back riding the white horse with the host of heaven with him, okay? When he comes back, that is the second coming of Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament, that is the day of the Lord, okay? Whenever you read in the Old Testament, in that day, in the day of the Lord, in the day. Day of his coming, okay, that is talking about Jesus coming back for what purpose? To rule the earth, okay? And remember what it said earlier? He makes all things new, okay? And that's where I get the idea. And every passage. And I really have dug into that a little bit this week myself, just to make sure I was on the right path. Just. Just so happened in Judges, there was another passage that kind of indicated that, all right, oftentimes we believe that he's going to destroy the heavens and the Earth and make a new heaven and a new earth. And that is the predominant understanding of Christendom. And I'm not saying that it's not true, but there is an alternate idea. And the alternate idea is. And if you read the passages and you read the Greek and the Hebrew, it's not a bad idea. It's the idea that he makes everything back the way it is, way it was supposed to be, okay? And yeah, if y' all remember last year, I used the extra biblical material of Star Wars. I mean, Star Trek and the Genesis device when Khan took over. The Genesis device. And if you don't know anything about that, it's just because you're not a nerd, okay? And that's just the way it goes. And, you know, you just don't live on our level if you don't know anything about that. I'm just saying that that's the way it is, all right? And so the Genesis devices where they fire this thing into a planet and it brings a planet to life, okay? And in all actuality, sometimes fiction is stranger than the truth and may oftentimes mirror the truth more than then, you know, Anyway, it says that the city. The city doesn't have need of light because God's presence lights the city. In fact, notice what it says. The city has no need of sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminates it, the Lamb. Notice if you have your. If. If you're in a Bible that will give you an italicized word. Do y' all see that? How many of y' all got a Bible that italicizes? Is there? Okay? If anytime you see that, what they're saying is we put that word in there because the Hebrew or the Greek doesn't have a verb or a noun there, and it makes sense to add it, okay? But I will say this, that there is a word for is in Hebrew, I mean, in Greek, and it's not there. I want to read to you as it says it. It says the Lamb, the light, which I think is so cool, okay? He Says the lamb is the light. The lamb the light. And then that, what we've been talking about on Sunday morning. And that what we've been talking about. His presence is the light of a city that is a 1400 mile cube, okay? His. His presence is the light of that city. Now here's what's going on. When he comes back and fights the battle of Armageddon, he does not kill everybody that's on the earth. There are people who are still on the earth, okay? And, and when you. When you read the Olivet Discourse, and I always try to make sure I mention these things to you because some, some people, when I say these things, it piques their interest and they go and read and kind of study it. The Olivet Discourse is Jesus's teaching of his disciples on the Mount of Olives during the week of his. Of his crucifixion, okay? And it's called the Olivet Discourse because it's on the Mount of Olives. And it's called his discourse because he. He just literally goes through what you would say is a teach time, all right? And that teaching time is on the old, is on the. On the second, his second coming. And it starts, I think, in chapter 24 and ends in chapter 27. It's real easy to find. You just flip back here and it just gets all red. There ain't any black in there, okay? That's the Olivet Discourse, okay? It's very similar to. And it's in Matthew. And it's very similar because Matthew, remember, he's Roman and they're really big into treatises, right? They're really big into the law. And writing these things out, what else is a major teaching of Christ that's found in Matthew? That's several chapters have already. Okay, do y' all know it's the Sermon on the Mount, okay? And the Sermon on the Mount, I think, starts in chapter six of Matthew and it goes through chapter nine. All right? And how do I know it's the Sermon on the Mount? Well, you just turn to it. It's all red, okay? And you go, I thought the Sermon on the Mount was the blessed. No, it's not. It's the whole thing. It's the whole thing. He explains the law and its inability to suffice as far as redemption. It only identifies your need for redemption. That's why he says, you've heard it said, but I say unto you, he's quoting the Law. And then he is fulfilling the law with his teaching, okay? Because he is the fulfillment of the law. Remember, he doesn't abrogate the law. He doesn't destroy the law. He fulfills the law. All right? So when you get to Matthew 6, you are reading 5. It starts in chapter 5. When you get to Matthew 5, you are starting to read Jesus explaining himself to the world. Chapter the end of Matthew. Jesus explains how he's going to bring it all to an end. Then you have Romans and Hebrews, Romans to the Gentiles, Hebrews to the Jews. Both go from the Old Testament to the New Testament and explain to you Jesus theologically from beginning to end. All right? And so that's why I'm fixing to go to Hebrews, chapter 11. Cause it's the roll call of faith. Understanding those things are. And I say that to you, and some of you I know, if you're like me, I'm not a big reader, okay? Probably the main thing I read is the Bible and things lawyers send me and, and, and then I read. I do really read a lot tonight at night about current events and things that are happening in the world. I do spend a couple hours on that a day. But understanding, understanding these, how these things work out in the Bible, if you know, when you pick up Romans, it's, you know, as Nate Bergazzi says, it's just so many words. You know what I'm saying? It's just words. And it's like you're drowning in words, okay? And let me tell you something. There's some depth to it that requires you to read it over and over and over again. I mean, it's not easy. It's hard, okay? But I would say to you, if you said, you know, I would just like to spend some time immersing myself in God, well, go. Go to the, Go to. Go to the Sermon on the Mount. Read it three or four times through. Go to the Olivet Discourse. Read Romans, read Hebrews, okay? Read those books as almost like a study lesson because they not only will give you depth to what you understand about God, but they'll also give you a myriad of questions, okay? And those questions cause you to, in your heart and your mind as you go through life to explore what God is showing you, okay? Oftentimes, believers never explore God enough to ever have a question, okay? I would say to you that that is such, such a waste of being born again, okay? If you have a, if you have a new human spirit that is capable of receiving all of God's revelation and capable of speaking to God, to you about. To God about things that your mind still can even ponder. Why would you, why would you not explore God enough to have questions that you would ponder over a lifetime? Okay? And I can say this. Of all the things, of all the things, and they are myriad that God has blessed me with when I prayed to him as an 8 year old boy, when he said, if any of you lacks wisdom out of James, let him ask God, who gives abundantly without finding fault and truly or surely he shall give it to you. And I asked him genuinely, with only the faith of an eight year old could ask, please show me these things. And he has been faithful to do that. He didn't always answer my questions in the moment. There are things that I still wrestle with and you'll see me even wrestling with them while I'm preaching, you know what I'm saying? Because to ponder God is to ponder life. So many people say, well, I don't want to go to heaven. It's going to be boring. Can you imagine getting to spend a thousand years exploring a city that is two thirds the size of the United States of America's continental mainland? But it's not just that size. It's that size all the way up. It's that big. Can you imagine what it's going to be like to be able to explore what God has done in a city that big? Can you imagine that? It's amazing. You, you. And it's going to be full of his people. It's going to be full of them and they're going to be, they're going to be living in their dwelling places. And sure, the city, listen, the city's going to be, you know, gold. And it says, it says transparent gold. It's so such white, pure gold that it's translucent. The gates are 12 gates. They're pearly gates. They are. And the foundation. And on the gates are the names of the saint of the tribes of Israel and the foundations 12 layers thick. And on those is the names of the apostles. Yes. Do you think that the 12 hives will be the original 12 sons of Abraham? I mean, of Jacob? Or do you think it will be like, you know, how. Lisa, are you trying to get me, give me a Bible study to take me about four weeks to teach? Is that what you're trying to say? Because there's multiple lists. Yes, there are, there are multiple lists and some got cursed and are not on the list. And my answer is, my answer is the, the, the, the, the last list. Yeah, all right, but if you argued something else, I could, I could, I could ponder that for a while myself. Her question is, which, which what? 12 names, okay? You have the. You have the original 12 Hebrew children that were born of Jacob. And then. And then. And then one of them. Two of them kind of get cursed because of what they did, all right? And their names kind of over time pass out. And Joseph's two sons take to take one of their place. And then, and then there's. Say what Lisa did to me right there. Y' all see that? She's gotten me pondering all the different. And let me tell you something. Why would you say. You say, well, what does that matter? It matters. You know what? God said it. God said, I have so many people. I have so many people. That's right. I have so many people saying to say that. You say, he'll say to me, well, you know, that only says that once in the Bible. Well, if God told you to do something once, you, I mean, you think he don't. He didn't know he told you to do it? You think you don't remember telling you to do it? I mean, how many times he got to tell you to do it, right? I mean, how many times God got to tell you something? Just asking. Luckily, he's gracious and loving toward us, forbearing. He spends lots and lots of time patiently waiting on us, but the truth is, he ain't got to say it but once. When I'm on the. On the bench, if I say something to somebody from the bench, I'm going to tell you I'm enforcing. The one time I said it to them, I don't have to say it to them twice. If I told them to do it this month, they come back next month, they ain't doing it. They go into jail. They can't say, well, you only told me once. Sorry, I told you, all right? And let me tell you something. I'm not God. I'm not even close, okay? So if God says something, he said it. He means it. It's important. And just because you don't understand it does not mean that it's not important. It just means you don't know it yet, but he said it to you for you to know it so that you could learn. You're never going to know God completely. And I'm convinced after the thousand years, we're not going to totally get it all, okay? But it's going to be good. It says here, As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you and and that he will give you hope an