Let us this morning continue with our studies regarding the great truth relative to heaven. I want to read to you some verses from the book of Revelation chapter twenty-one. Thy saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. Thy John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Thy 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. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. There shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Right, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is the thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be. my son. And the Lord who blessed us, I'm sure, the reading of these verses. It was put on record regarding a certain man that he very seldom read his Bible. It was just like a blank book to him. He never bothered about it. And then something happened in his life. And his friends noticed that he was continually reading and seeking to study his Bible. Someone ventured to ask him one day why it was that he was so careful now in reading his Bible. What was it about the book that interested him? He said, well, it was like this. He had lost a little boy. And when his little boy died, he wanted to know something about the place where his little boy had gone. They realized that the boy had not reached the age of accountability, and so therefore he accepted the truth that the little boy had gone to be with the Lord. He was in heaven. So therefore he was anxious to know the kind of place that his little boy had gone to. Now that's a good reason for studying the Bible. Because remember this, the Bible is the only book that can give us information about heaven as to where it came from. and what it's like. When we go to the book of Genesis, you know, we open up our Bibles and we begin to read like this. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And then it would seem that God forgets about the heavens for a while because in that book, the Bible, you begin to read through and you read about man who was put on the earth and you have the history of what happened when he sinned. And you go on and you read through the Bible, and more or less it's the history of the earth, and the history of man who lives on the earth. And you would almost think that God had forgotten all about heaven. But when you come to the New Testament, you discover this, that God also has plans for the heavens. And when you come to the Epistle, to the Ephesians, you learn there that he has blessed us with every kind of spiritual blessing in Christ in the heavenlies. And so God has a heavenly people, destined to occupy the heavenly sphere. And so God has purposes for heaven. And the Bible is the only book that can tell us anything at all about heaven. Now, for a long time, men looked up from this earth, and they looked at a shining light that we called Moon. And then they had their telescopes, and they seemed to be able to look through the telescope and find out certain things about the Moon. And then at long last, they were able to make a rocket, right in our day and generation, a few years ago. And men were able to go with that rocket right up through space, and were able, by their scientific methods, to land on the moon. And these men were able to come back and tell us something, first-hand information, as to what the moon was like. Of course, we realized they weren't able to live on the moon. They had to come back. But now they come back with first-hand information as to what the moon is like. But let me remind you, my friend, no one has ever gone from this earth up into God's heaven and come back again to tell us what it's like. We've got to depend entirely upon the revelation of God's word. No man has ascended up into heaven at any time. The only begotten Son of God has come down and revealed the Father. So anything we want to know about heaven, you'd have to find it out from the revelation of God's book. So the man was quite right in reading his Bible. May I suggest, my friend, there's another reason why you should be interested in what the Bible has to say about heaven, and it's this. Most people, if they are intelligent at all, will tell you this, that when the time comes for them to bid farewell to this scene down here, when the little race on earth is run and they come to the end of their days, then they expect to move out from this sphere, take the immortal flight and arrive in heaven. We have seen a little perhaps of the take-off as we have bidden farewell to loved ones as has left us here, but we have never witnessed yet the landing up there. And so it is that as people think of leaving this scene, we have seen them go and we know that the way of all flesh lies before us. And sooner or later we've got to leave this scene down here. But then what about the touchdown? Are we quite sure that we'll arrive there in God's heaven? Now, if so, then we ought to be interested in what it's like. And I remember now reading away back in the book of Isaiah, chapter six. Now, I realize there the prophet said on that great vital day in his experience, he lifted up his eyes and he saw the Lord high and lifted up. and is sitting on a throne. Now isn't it strange that when we come over to the book of Revelation we discover that John also was given a vision at the open door and he looked in and there was a throne there I said the other week to you that heaven is a place of stable settled government. When I come here to the book of Revelation chapter twenty one Here I discover something of the design of the new creation. We've got to remember this. There will be the passing of the old creation. For he says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. Remember this old earth on which we live now will have to pass into oblivion. There will be the passing away of the heaven and the passing away of the earth. and God will bring in a new heaven and a new earth. But not only will there be the passing of the old, there will be the presentation of the new creation, and the great feature about it will be its perfection. It will be marked by perfection in every way. And then John says he saw the holy city. Now here we have the purity of the city, because the city looks like a bride and if there's one thing that marks the bride it's her purity so there will be the purity of that city but there will also be the presence of God in the city for God himself shall be with them and that reminds us that there will be the people of God associated with a city how could you have a city without people There will be the pledge of God regarding the city, for he says, I make. And then there will be the perpetuity of God who controls the city. He says, I am. And that is, he is the ever-existing one. There's the promise of God to the citizens of the city. He says, I will give. But there's one thing you must mark. When you come to verse eight, there will be those who will be precluded from that city. It says, But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone which is the second death. May I ask every listener this morning, as you contemplate the great coming day when you shall leave this scene And you think of heaven, my friend, have you settled the issue? Are you ready for God's heaven?