December 31st

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SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Each weekday, Dr. Crisp will be discussing biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Tune in daily to start your day right and deepen your understanding of how to better walk the way and enjoy the journey. Here's your host, Dr. Tony Crisp.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

Welcome to On the Way. This is Tony Crisp, and this is the 365 Bible Reading Plan. Today is December the 31st, the last day of the year, and the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation chapter 22. Before we get into the chapter and learn about heaven today, I want to tell you about what's coming up in the next couple of days. The 365 Bible reading plan will go on and on and on. Some of you got in at different times of the year, and you're going to want to start with Genesis 1, and you will want to do that on New Year's Day. Others of you say I want to go through it again. But for those of you who have already been through it a couple of times and maybe you're on another Bible reading plan, well, you've got all of the emails, and you can always go to TonyCrisp.org. You can listen to broadcasts that I've done. I've had over a hundred broadcasts on that site. Bible time. We will do more this year. But we also have all of the 365 Bible reading plan commentaries and all of the 365 podcasts that are on the website. You can go there and listen to those anytime that you want to. But I hope that you will continue to get the email because we're going to embed the 365 into an email, but we're also going to put out what will look like a mini newsletter every day. It's going to have two parts. It's going to have the 365 Bible reading plan and the on the way 365 commentary and podcast. However, this year, five days a week, as I started doing, we're going to go back to the original format every weekday of speaking to you about Bible people, places, and prophecies. Great events in the Bible, great people in the Bible, great places in the Bible, and what is coming down the pike as far as biblical prophecy. These will run anywhere from a few minutes to 15 to 20 minutes. We'll try not to go over 20 minutes because we certainly respect your time, but they'll probably average about 15 minutes. And we're going to have those five days a week. And on Friday, we will give you opportunity to write in to questions at TonyCrisp.org, just like the intro says, questions at TonyCrisp.org, and I will answer questions on Friday. Every Friday, I will answer questions that people are asking. In other words, I want to scratch where you're itching. And so if you want to know about a question, it doesn't matter where it is, if it is a Bible question related to the Bible, then I will deal with that. Nothing is off limits. I'm not afraid of any question that you're going to ask. You're not going to offend me. There's no question too small, no question too large, no question too complicated. I will give it my best shot. This is what I've spent almost 50 years doing, reading the Word of God, and I don't have all the answers, but God does. And if He gives the answers, we will find it. And I'll tell you what I know and then I'll research it more, but we will get right to those. And so I hope that you will continue to get our email, the constant contact that you get day after day, and these will all be on the website as well, where you can always go back. Now it's interesting that the podcast that we're going to start with on the first of January will be number 1,021. That's right. 1021 will be our first podcast that will have both the 365 on there. If you want to listen to that, you can listen to that. Or you can listen to the Five Day a Week podcast that deals with Bible people, Bible places, and Bible prophecies. And again, on Friday, I will answer your questions. And so you can write me at questions at TonyCrisp.org. Now we're going to get more information on that out to you as time goes along, and some of the things that we're going to be doing this year. Some will be videos that you will be able to tap into that will be taken, God willing, when we get back to Israel and when they open up and when this awful war is over, and hopefully we have wiped out Hamas and Hezbollah will be dealt with, and I pray that Iran will be, because that is the head of the serpent. So we'll be dealing with all of these things. I'm going to pull no punches this year. I'm going to be godly, I'm going to be loving, I'm going to be open, but I'm going to be very firm as you know. This is a day in which we're living where we need straight talk. People want to know what God says. It doesn't matter what Tony Crisp says or what you say. What matters is what God says. And I will always tell you, this is my opinion on this, this is what Tony believes, and you don't have to believe that. Listen, you don't have to agree with me, nor I you. Unlike politicians and even churchmen and people that are followers of Jesus who have the mistaken idea that if we don't agree with one another 100% that we can't have anything to do with each other, that's a lie from the pit of hell. And I want to tell you the truth. I love you enough to tell you the truth, and I will tell you what God says right from the book, and I'll give you my hermeneutic and the method by which I arrived at what I have arrived at in my thinking. So I pray that you will tune in. It's going to be a great time. Now let me spend just a few minutes in Revelation chapter 21 and 22. You see, Revelation chapter 22 actually begins if I was segmenting it at verse 9, because this is when one of the seven angels with the seven bowls filled with the last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, This is verse 9 of chapter 21. Come and I will show you the bride, the lamb's wife. Now this is in contrast to the harlot Babylon that has just been defeated and put down. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone clear as a crystal. Now let me explain this to you. Many times people say, Well, a jasper I thought was red, I thought it was this, I thought it was that. Well, the fact is the Jasper is like a diamond and it reflects whatever is in its background or in its forefront. So the walls and the streets of the city, this great celestial city, are going to be crystal clear and they're going to be golden. Sometimes you will read in the scriptures and hear of in ancient literature the Jasper taking on the appearance of blood because it has a red tint to it when the color spectrum is just right. And so you're going to hear all of these different kind of things, but the Jasper stone, look at what the scripture says, is clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Now you remember in Revelation chapter four that there were twenty-four elders, and I said, I believe that that represents the twelve apostles of the new covenant and the twelve tribes who are the sons of Israel, which represent Israel. And indeed that is the breakdown here in Revelation chapter 21. I just didn't come up with that. That's exactly what it says. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb of Jesus. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates and the wall. And when he laid it out, it was fourteen to fifteen hundred miles. That's right, fourteen to fifteen hundred miles. I believe it was closer to fifteen hundred by my calculations, but some would say fourteen hundred. But this is a cube. So it's fifteen hundred miles north, fifteen hundred miles west, fifteen hundred miles south, fifteen hundred miles east, and then it's fifteen hundred miles straight up. So it is a 1,500 mile cube. Now, if you want just some kind of general reference, if you go to Jacksonville, Florida, go directly north to Montreal, Canada, and 150 miles, that would be one side of the city. And then you can go from Pennsylvania Avenue in downtown Washington, D.C. to downtown Houston, Texas. That's about 1,500, 14,000, 1,500 miles. And so you're again talking about another wall of the city. I'm just trying to give you uh depth here with measurements that you can understand because most people don't drive 1,500 miles on a regular basis enough to know distances. And so all of these great stones are talked about, and it says, and look at what it says in verse 21. And the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass. You understand that the most pure gold that we have on earth today is only 57 to 60 percent pure gold. The rest of it is various alloys, some kind of mixture of whether it's nickel or other elements. But pure gold, evidently, pure gold, absolutely 100% pure, is transparent as glass. What the scripture says, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass, no alloy. It was absolutely pure. Now that's what the scripture says. And then he said, and I saw no temple, no holy of holies, that is, the word is not on. For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, they are the temple. That is, the Lamb of God, the person of Jesus Christ, he is the worship center, and had no sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And so the scripture goes on to describe this, and I know I'm going to get long here, so let's go immediately to 22 and pick up on the narrative there because of time. And he showed me a pure river of water of life. Living water is what that is. You see, in the nation of Israel today, and certainly in the ancient land of Israel, among the people of God, the Jewish people, water that was running, that was from a spring bubbling out, or a river, or what we would call a creek in America many times, or a run, that was living water. It came down from God, but that which is called in a cistern or that which is in a well, that's a different kind of water. That's not looked upon as living water. And so this is a pure river of water of life. It's living water, it's clear as a crystal, and it was proceeding from the throne of God and of the land. And in the middle of the street, and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And now look at this. That tree of life that was in the garden that God forbid Adam and Eve to partake of after they had eaten of the forbidden fruit, it is in the paradise of God. And God lifted that up to heaven, and you see, Paradiso, where we have all been, is going to be right in the middle of heaven. And this great boulevard that will have this river and on either side of it will be these trees. It must be a species of the tree of life. And God can do anything he wants to, but he said that it's going to bear different fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And quite honestly, I don't know what all of that means, but I do believe what God says is true. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him. Now listen to this. We're not going to be in heaven, we're not going to be even in that place that God has prepared for us, just twiddling our thumbs and sitting around and playing harps. We're going to serve the God of the universe, and there's no telling where God will assign you if you're his follower. But you will be serving God on this earth, or you'll be serving God. This is the new heaven, new earth I'm talking about. The renovated, rejuvenated, completely different heaven and earth, but the same, just renovated. If you listen to the last podcast, you remember that. And so this is the whole concept here. We're going to be serving God throughout eternity. Why? Because God made us on purpose, for purpose, with purpose. And so we're not going to be just sitting around throughout eternity. God's got a plan for our lives. And so this is not retirement in the sweet by-and-by. This is service that we will always do well. We will always accomplish that which God gives us to do. There's not going to be any night there. There's no lamp or a need for the sun, for the Lord God gives the light, and they shall reign forever and ever. That's all of us. It's talking about all of us. And so over and over again, people ask me, are we going to serve God in heaven? Yes. What are we going to do? I don't know. But it's going to be good. Whatever it is, it's going to be the best that it can be. It's not going to be a step down, it's going to be a step up. Because we're going to be perfected then. And we're going to be like Jesus. As you read through this closing chapter, you see that over and over again the Lord Jesus is reaching out, saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are those who do his commandments, that is, who live in obedience. That's what God saved us for is obedience. That they may have the right to the tree of life. Why? Because that has something to do with eternal life. I don't understand that, but God does, and one day you and I will. And may enter through the gates into the city, but outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie. In other words, they're not going to be a part of this. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you that these things in the churches, I am the root and the offspring of David. He was the one that brought David into existence, and yet he came through his line. You say, Well, that just blows my mind. Well, just let your mind be blown because that's the way God did it. He said, I am the bright and the morning star, the Spirit of God and the bride, the church of God, say come. We're always saying come and join us. Come and be a part of the family. And let him who hears say come. That is the one who listens. And let him who thirst come. And whoever desires, whoever wants to, let him take freely of the water of life. He who testifies of these things says, Surely I am coming quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. Now just give me two more minutes and I'll be finished. When Jesus was in the Passover chamber with his disciples the night he was betrayed, when he rebuked Peter and said, Peter, you're going to deny me three times before morning. The scripture says that immediately Jesus had to speak comfort to them. Why? Because the Bible, remember, is not a movie script. It's not complete in detail, so it doesn't say, and the disciples were shocked and stunned and became crestfallen. It doesn't say that, but we know they did. Why? Because Jesus said immediately in John 14, let not your heart get into a settled state of agitation. Our English Bible say, let not your heart be troubled. Don't worry, don't fret. Why? You trust in God, trust also in me. Why? Because I am God. If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. You believe in God, believe also in me. Now here's what he said. In my Father's house are many dwelling places, many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. Now I'm going to prepare a place, a room for you, and if I go and prepare a room for you, a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there you may be also. You see, Jesus has been working on this now for two millennia. Two millennia. He has been working for two thousand years on this. It's going to be a wonderful place. I hope that if I never see you here on this earth, and many I will never see who listen to this podcast. Let's remind one another of this when we get to heaven. We're going to be in this city of Jasper, where the walls are clear as crystal and the streets are gold. You say, Pastor, do you really believe that? I believe it now more than I've ever believed it in my life, and I'm looking forward to walking those streets with you one day. For on the way, for the last time this year, this is Tony Crisp.

SPEAKER_01 18:22

Thanks for listening to On the Way with Tony Crisp. Tune in every weekday for information on biblical passages, people, places, and prophecies. Fridays are for your questions. Email your questions to questions at TonyCrisp.org. Then just listen for your question to be answered on Friday's podcast. That's questions at TonyC R I S P dot org. Thanks for listening and have a blessed day on the way.