I want to remind us that we all need to remember that the church is victorious in the end. We are on the winning side!! The work of the Holy Spirit is to usher in the full sovereign rule of God is in the process of becoming complete. How often has this been put aside in our church sermons, Easter and Christmas services, worship songs, and daily devotions! Jesus is the King now as Paul preached and as John gave us the future – Jesus will assert himself as King of the earth. John seems to be screaming this out from the Island of Patmos when he writes my favorite passage Revelation 19:11-16 – go on read it!

What I am advising is that the New Testament image of the future hope of the whole cosmos, grounded in the resurrection of Jesus, gives as coherent a picture as we need on a daily basis. A picture of the future that is promised to the whole world, a future in which …decay and death will be done away with and a new creation born, to which the present one will stand as mother to child.” Then heaven and earth will be joined as in marriage. So it’s not about how we just follow Jesus into heaven but it’s about Jesus coming back to complete His rule on earth. From my studies the rapture in 1 Thessalonians 4:15 is a mis-translation of the word parousia. The rapture is not the living saved souls coming to meet Jesus, rather it is the coming parousia – the royal presence of a King – in this case Jesus. This passage needs to be examined in light of other New Testament passages.
Let me continue to say that the purpose of Jesus’ Kingdom inauguration is so we could enjoy, already in the present, that renewal of creation which is God’s ultimate purpose – manage the environment not worship it!! Furthermore, Jesus’ Resurrection was actually the birthing of a new world. The creating Logos of John 1:3 has begun his new creation at the Resurrection. Now we are co-redeemers, participating with God in renewing earth and all of heaven throughout eternity. To this end we can begin to invest now and begin to bring hope to our world because our works will last to the new creation. The surprising future hope held out to us in Jesus Christ leads directly…to a vision of the present hope that is the basis of all Christian mission.
Wow. Let Hope Rise! Not only does the church come out as the vindicated group at the end of this age, but the Lord will avenge her adversaries! Then also, the hope of Israel is also met in the return of the King. Then the whole world is consumed by his glory as “the waters cover the sea.” Then true presence and being is revealed to the potential beings. This is my most forceful thrust into tonight topic – that the inaugurated already but not yet kingdom, to which we live and move and have our being, will become complete and actualized…THEN!
Behold the coming King. “Behold, I make all things new.” (Rev 21:5)
This teaching can’t be taken lightly because it changes everything on how we live today. For instance, how many of you were so unhappy about Denver getting undone on Saturday, we can get over quicker, because we already know what the future holds – we win.

Hope is what you get when you suddenly realize that a different worldview is possible, a worldview in which the rich, the powerful, the evil violent men and the unscrupulous do not after all have the last word.
I want to sum it all up by saying; Life after death, it seems, can be a serious distraction not only from the ultimate life after life after death, but also from life before death (Thank you N.T. Wright and Steve Burger – Franklin TN). Basically, I do not just need to prepare for a life after death, but I need to prepare for life after life after death, the new heaven and earth conjoined together. This gives such a new perspective on my actions in the here and now. My present work for the kingdom, however insignificant, however much like a drop in the ocean it seems, matters in the winning and eternal kingdom of the true King. My hope for my own life is that what we do in this life matters into God’s future. It’s all “building for God’s kingdom.” This is also an answer to Solomon’s meanderings in Ecclesiastes, that what I “do for the Lord is not in vain. You are not oiling the wheels of a machine that’s about to roll over a cliff. You are not planting roses in a garden that is about to be dug up for a building site. You are accomplishing something that will become in due course part of God’s new world.”
How refreshing! How enlightening! The candles of all of history are overtaken by the light of the sun of Jesus’ resurrection and our future one where we have life after life after death a NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH!! The future resurrection matters incomprehensibly; thus everything in this life matters in preparation for such a bright future – King Jesus will find faith!!!

Rev 21:1-7: A New Heaven and a New Earth:   “Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’[b] or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”