Now let’s go to Revelation 2 and let’s see something here very interesting. Revelation 2:7, notice what He says to the church at Ephesus. Verse 7, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.” So when you had the tree of life in the midst of the Garden of Eden, now when we come to the final plan of God where ever paradise is going to be, there will be the tree of life there. Now we’ll see this. It’s going to be right close to God’s throne.

Let’s come back to Revelation 22 and let’s see that. It’s going to be right there just as it was in the midst of the garden, so it’s going to be in the midst of the paradise of God. And it’s going to be, how shall we say, fed by the waters that come right out from underneath God’s throne. Revelation 22:1, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations” (Rev. 22:1-2). Now that has to be for the maintaining of the spiritual health of the nations that were saved. Because see, the tree of life then is that which shows the way to live as a spirit being. And so this is what it’s talking about here. So in the beginning there was a tree of life, salvation was offered to man, man rejected it. Had to wait until the time Christ came and the way of salvation was opened up. Now when new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven, here is the throne of God and the tree of life. Very profound. Very interesting. So there it is with the trees.

Number six, we’ll just mention this, number six. We know that in Genesis 2 and 3, that God dwelt in the Garden of Eden and God was living with Adam and Eve until they sinned. Now when they sinned they were exiled and removed from the Garden of Eden. Apparently until the time of the flood of Noah God still lived there in the Garden of Eden. And those who would come to God would come to the entrance of the Garden of Eden where the two cherubim were. And we’ll talk about the two cherubim in just a little bit. Now then, let’s come back to Revelation 19. Since we’re here in Revelation 22 hold your place, we’ll be there in…

No, Revelation 21:1, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth:…” You see, that ties right back in with what we talked about at the beginning. God created the heaven and the earth and now here’s a new heaven and a new earth, you see. “…For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” And then new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. Now verse 3, “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Rev. 21:1,3). So just like Peter said, the restitution of all things. We have in the beginning the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were there – a type of Christ and the church living with God. And then in the end we have God and the church and all of them together living, and God dwelling with them.

Now let’s look at Revelation 22:4. “And they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads.” Now that’s living with God. And we’re going to live with God forever. So what God began in Genesis in the beginning, He is finishing in Revelation, which is the ending. And of course, whenever you come to an ending there’s always a new beginning. And so the new beginning here at the ending, God is yet going to have to reveal even more of that to us. And we’ll be able to understand that when we’re spirit beings and we’re living with God.

Ok, number seven – very important. Back in Genesis 3 what did we have? We had the serpent, didn’t we? Satan the devil. And he came along… Now let’s go back to Genesis 3 and let’s just rehearse that a little bit because Satan is really very clever in how he does things. And you know there are a lot of people who think, “Well, I know all about Satan.” And yet they’re the ones who get deceived. I remember a man said, “Well, I have been in the church so long that Satan has no more interest in me.” And kabam – Satan got him.

Now let’s go back to Genesis 3:1 and let’s understand something. When we get to the end Satan’s going to be gone. Here at the beginning he was there. Verse 1, “Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” A little bit of twisting, a little bit of turning. Of course we know that Satan is the father of lies, isn’t he? So here he comes lying. Very slick and clever lie. And so Eve had to answer that because obviously he was wrong. “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:…” (Gen. 3:1-4). That’s the way Satan always does. And we’ll see a little bit more about Satan on the seventh day because he still has an activity yet to do. In the beginning there was Satan. In the ending we’re going to see he’s not going to be around.

Now let’s go back to Revelation 20 and let’s see that. And then we will have absolute assurety that he won’t be there. First of all as the millennium begins, we know just before it begins, Satan is going to be cast into the abyss. And we find that in Revelation 20, and let’s pick it up here in verse 1. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit [or, the abyss] and a great chain in his hand.” So Satan is bound. Now he’s loosed after the millennium. We’ll explain that tomorrow. But then we find here in verse 10, “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [were cast] are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.” So Satan won’t be around. So that is a tremendous thing. No more Satan.

Now look over here, Revelation 21:27, and this verifies it. “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie:…” Satan is the liar, the father of it. “…But they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Now Revelation 22, it reiterates it again. Verse 15, “For without [and this Greek word means “excluded”] are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosever loveth and maketh a lie.” So Satan the devil is not going to be there. He’s going to be gone. So that’s going to be a tremendous thing. So when we go to the beginning, we go to the ending and we see how these things work.

Now number eight. Let’s go back and look at something here. This sort of backs up a little bit, but this talks about the cherubim. Let’s come to Genesis 3 and we will see this is the beginning format for, as we have understood in the past, for the temple. Back here in Genesis 3. Now we already read part of this but let’s read it again here. Verse 22, “And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of Us,…” Now that means, of course he didn’t become like God, but he became like God in this way: instead of believing what God said that God is right, His ways are right, His commandments are true, and to follow God’s way – Adam and Eve decided they would go their own way. That’s the only way that they were like God. And of course that’s what Satan appealed to. He says, “Well you’ll be like God. You can decide on yourself. You don’t need God to tell you. You’ll become God’s.” And so they were expelled from the Garden of Eden.

Now He says, “…now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever: therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and [with flaming swords] a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:22-24). In other words now this was God’s sole possession. Man can have the rest of the world outside of the Garden of Eden. Now when men would come to God they would come to where the cherubim were, and God would come out of the Garden of Eden and meet them. And I’m sure that it would be at specified times such as the Sabbath or holy days, and that’s where the altar was – the altar for burnt offerings. So it’s very similar to what we have in the design of the tabernacle and later the temple, which we have seen in years past about the design of it. And this is where it comes from, you see.

Now let’s look at the sacrificial system that they had in Genesis 4, because they would come to God, they would bring their offerings. I’m sure they would bring their tithes. They would do the things that God has said. And so we have the account of Cain and Abel. “And in the process of time [it says there in verse 3], it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:…” (Gen 4:3-4). Now why? Because Abel’s offering was according to the commandment that God gave them. That’s why. Firstlings. Now firstlings we find in the book of the law, and so here we have a very strong indication that the same laws that God gave to Israel God was using here at the beginning with Abel and with Cain. But Cain decided that he was going to do it his way. And there’s an everlasting lesson here. If you don’t do it God’s way, you’re going to be removed from God yet again.

Now then, let’s come back and let’s see here. Let’s come back to Revelation 21. Now instead of, we can say that the east of the entrance where the Cherubim were was the gate to the Garden of Eden. And no one could go into the Garden of Eden except God because the cherubim were there to keep the way. But now when we come back here to Revelation 21:11, now let’s see something else here that’s really important when we come to new Jerusalem. It’s going to be completely different, see because new Jerusalem is the finality of what began in the Garden of Eden.

So Revelation 21, and let’s pick it up here in verse 11. It’s talking about the city descending from God out of heaven. “…Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels,…” So just like there were cherubim at the gate going into the Garden of Eden, so here we have an angel at each one of the gates going into the new Jerusalem. And of course then it had the “…names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:…” (Rev. 21:11-14). Then later it talks about the foundation, which then is the apostles.

Now let’s come over here to verse 25. And here’s the difference. “And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it” (vs. 25-26). So they enter into the city, through one of the twelve gates. That’s very interesting because it shows Israel, the twelve tribes of Israel, and the twelve apostles. So there’s a direct parallel with what God did, and it’s all incorporated. Now what does this tell us in principle then? This is Old Testament and New Testament combined, is it not? Where does it mention about the twelve tribes of Israel? In the Old Testament of course. And the New Testament is built upon Jesus Christ Who’s the chief cornerstone, and then we have the apostles and the prophets, and the prophets were the inspired speakers. They weren’t those who just foretold the future, they were telling forth the Word and Truth of God. So it’s really quite an amazing thing how all of these parallels are. And it begins in Genesis and it ends in Revelation.

Now we already covered concerning the altar and the temple. Now let’s come to Revelation 21:22. Let’s see something very interesting. After it’s all said and done God is true to His Word, isn’t He? Because He says, “Where’s the temple that you will build for Me. My hands have made all of these.” And now God is dwelling in new Jerusalem, which is far better than the Garden of Eden. And all those who are saved dwelling on earth are going to live outside the city of new Jerusalem, but all of those in the first resurrection and all of those that come into the first resurrection that were from Abel all the way down until the beginning of the New Covenant with Christ, we’re all going to live in new Jerusalem. The nations that are saved are going to live on the rest of the earth, and they’re going to bring their glory and honor to new Jerusalem.

Now let’s read here, Revelation 21:22. “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it:…” It doesn’t say there won’t be a sun or a moon. It just says there’s no need that it shines there. “…For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof” (Rev. 21:22-23). So that’s quite a thing. We start out God is living with His people, Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. In the end God is living with His people who are now converted, who are spirit beings, changed at the resurrection, sharing in the glory of Jesus Christ, and living in new Jerusalem. So this is really quite a thing that the Bible is showing us here.

And so we’ve covered all the aspects of it. I know this is a little shorter than a regular sermon, but that’s ok. Sometimes having a little short will work out a little better. So we’ll go ahead and close here for today, and you come back tomorrow, which will then be the beginning of the end of the millennium.

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