Peter Barnes: Revelation 21:5-8 NO AUDIO
(24 June 2018)
SERMON NOTES : THE PROMISES OF GOD (Revelation 21:5-8)
The gospel comes to sinners to make all things new – 2 Cor.5:17; Rev.21:5a.
1. These promises are true.
– 21:5 (22:6).
– 21:6. ‘It is done’ is literally ‘They are done’. When people make wonderful promises to us, we naturally ask whether they can deliver the goods. God is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the A and the Z, the First and the Last, the eternal one. God and Christ speak the same language – 1:8, 17-18; 22:13.
– this is the sober truth – Acts 26:24-25. God will dwell with His people (21:7). Because of who God is, you can believe His promises are true.
2. These promises are free.
– 21:6 (22:17). ‘Without payment’ means ‘for nothing’. Compare Galatians 2:21 and Romans 3:24. The same Greek word is used in both verses. Christ died for nothing or Christ died for free.
– Matt.11:28-30.
3. These promises are holy.
– 21:8. God is holy.
– Adoniram Judson died in 1850 after 38 years as a missionary to Burma (Myanmar). He wrote: ‘when Christ calls me home, I shall go with the gladness of a boy bounding away from his school.’
– The seven seals, the seven trumpets, and the seven bowls are warnings. These promises are true; these promises are free; and these promises are holy.