Eden to Eternity | Ep. 7

Hey everybody, welcome to episode seven of From Eden to Eternity. We are in the final week of our study, walking through the story of the Bible. And through these seven weeks, we have just been through an incredible story of history, looking at how God created everything perfectly, mankind fell into sin and what God did to redeem us and save us from that. Last week, we went through the story of the early church, how this community formed around what Jesus had done, some of the obstacles they faced, some of the distractions, the disunity that they went through. But today, what we're going to close up with is talking about what makes that all worth it, I think, guys. And when we talk about the stories that we tell, whether it's movies or books, almost every story has some sort of conflict in it, right? There's some sort of difficulty, there's something to be overcome. But we always know that that difficulty is going to be worth it because of the ending, right? We want there to be some sort of happy ending, some sort of closure that brings the story to an end. So what we're going to talk about today is how God's story ends. But before we get there, I wanted to stop for just a minute and talk about what makes a good ending, right? When you guys think about some of the stories you love, maybe some of the movies, what makes a satisfying ending when all is said and done? I think the cliche is to say they lived happily ever after, like with all the Disney movies. But I also think about just everything being resolved. We've talked about this theme of Jesus being a quote-unquote hero of some sorts. And I think through, if there's a movie with a hero, then this person is going to fix all the problems, make it right in the end. And I think there was a book I read a couple of years ago, and nothing was resolved. And I felt like it was the biggest waste of time. And it was so frustrating because I was thinking, well, they're still in the same situation.

And in a weird way, that's kind of where we are right now. We live on this side of the cross, right? We live in this tension of, okay, Jesus has risen from the dead, but the story's not over quite yet. We just live in that tension of the in-between. And I think that's what makes it really challenging at times. Yeah, for sure. And then there are other stories that have... They're these celebratory moments at the end. There's an older football movie, maybe 20, 25 years ago, I guess at this point, called Remember the Titans. And it was kind of during the civil rights... It's a great movie. Yeah. Strong side. Yeah. It was during the civil rights time in the United States. And you kind of had these two schools merging together. And kind of both sides of the equation there had to learn to play with the other person because they had kind of a team of people that were white, and you had a team of people that were African American, and they had to learn to work together in order to be on this team. And there was a lot of conflict in that entire movie, not only with... I mean, think about that, like with their families, and then with their coaches, and then with one another as teammates. And kind of the culmination of that movie is all of them getting on the same page, and they start winning, right? And then over the course of their winning, they have to continue to overcome obstacles. But then in the end, they win the championship, they're all excited. And there's even some heartbreaking moments, like one of the main characters dies.

But it's that they have overcome, not just from a football perspective, but from a relationship perspective, that they persevered and had all these relationships stay together, even in the midst of a culture that maybe didn't agree with that. Yeah. That's good. I think all those things describe what we look for in an ending, right? Because there's nothing more frustrating than going to a movie or something where the bad guy wins, right? Where you're like, this is so... I remember... Like Avengers Infinity War? Yeah. I was going to say, I remember going to see that with a friend, and he was so mad. Spoiler alert. Yeah, sorry for that. Yeah. Where he was like, oh, Thanos wins? And I was like, well, I mean, there's a sequel, so I'm sure that's probably not going to stick. But there is that frustrating element of we want to see things set right. We want to see the relationships restored. We want to see justice measured out. And I think one of the things that is very popular in stories anymore, when they end, is we kind of want a sense of continuation too, right? Like, okay, we may never get a sequel to this movie, but these characters continue to go on, right? Yeah. There's some measure of hope at the end of it. There's some measure of life will continue to go on. Things have been restored. Everything's right, and things are just going to continue on the way they need to be.

So with that in mind, let's talk about the end of God's story. Now, last week, we talked about the idea of, you know... the church facing persecution. At the beginning of the book of Acts, they were facing persecution from the Jewish authorities in Jerusalem, and Paul was even chased as far as Rome to stand trial under Caesar and the leader of the Roman Empire. As we get further into the Roman Empire, Rome itself starts to persecute the church, and they begin to have trouble to where our emperors like Nero will throw Christians in the Colosseum and burn them for sport and things like that. They're just about persecuting the church for their faith, for their proclamation of Jesus. I think so often we think of the end times, we think of Judgment Day as such a scary thing, but into that culture where the church is being persecuted, into that culture where they are facing this sort of opposition, why would it be good news for them? Why would they look at maybe the idea of revelation in the end of all things a little differently than we might? Well, I think on one hand, they're gonna be reunited with Christ that not only would they be with Him, but that... Gosh, the suffering they're going through would end, but that justice would prevail, that the evil one would be defeated. And that's what we would believe that... I don't want to over-spiritualize every bad thing that happens in the world, because I don't think any of us can answer that question. But I think as much as we believe that there is a God who is good, we also believe that there is an enemy who... Let me just say this, because I don't want it to sound any different. He is not nearly as powerful or holy. Even in iota, it yields nothing to the Lord, but there is an enemy who lies in wait to destroy the church, and he will use people and cause things to happen that... Golly, it's... I mean, you think of someone like Brandon just mentioned, Emperor Nero. So it was an emperor in Rome back at that time, and he would set Christians on fire on these posts, just like light his dinner parties, and blamed them for burning down much of the city, even though they didn't do that. And you just see that over and over and over again, where these Christians... And I was reading a church history book a little while ago, and it was almost to the point where Christians being martyred for their faith was so common that it was almost like a rite of passage at that time, and that it wasn't something that they necessarily looked forward to, but that it was so much of a reality in their life that it was like, okay, well, that would actually be an honor for me to do that, which is crazy for us to think about. Yeah. I just keep thinking about Jesus' last words to

disciples in... Is it John 16, where he says, you know, in this world, you're going to have trouble. Like, unfortunately, we're never promised like the quote-unquote good life, and I think, you know, even for them, like back in that time, you know, they knew from the very start that following Jesus would cost them something, because when the early church started, you know, we talked about this last episode, there was so much persecution, not only culturally, but even from the religious leaders, and I think that they just had to remember like, but Jesus says he's overcome the world, and there has to be that hope that they were clinging to, and they've also, you know, if they're believing that Jesus like defeated death, then what is, you know, my suffering? He's so much greater than that, you know, in a sense. And so, yeah, it's very sobering to think about, honestly, like very sobering. Yeah, yeah, you know, and I think the book of Revelation, which is where we often turn to to talk about the end of time, like it opens chapters two and three... Well, actually, let's... I'll back up a little bit further. Chapter one opens with... It's a good place to start. Yeah, the very beginning. It opens with a vision of Jesus, like in his glory, and it's one of those things, like to Christians who are undergoing such immense persecution to think about like, oh, this is the Lord we serve. This is what he is like in his glory and his power fully revealed, like even... So the Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John, he's said to be the writer of Revelation. He is described in John as the disciple Jesus loved. And even when John sees Jesus in his glory, he's like... Whoa. Yeah, a little scared, like, whoa, whoa, whoa. But to think how much confidence that would give you as a Christian in that sort of culture, to be like, hey, this is the Lord that we serve. This is the Lord that I am following who's gonna deliver me from this. And even you get into Revelation two and three, it's letters to seven churches, and each of them gives a promise. Jesus gives a promise to the church and is like, hey, if you overcome, if you stand firm, this is what's gonna happen for you. And I think in the midst of that persecution, to be able to hold onto that hope, to think like, hey, everything is gonna be okay. Like Jesus is in control.

He has my ultimate future in his hands. It's gonna be all right. Now, in our day and age, I don't think we worry too much about that because we don't deal with persecution in that way, right? There are places in the world where it happens. Places, but not here. Yeah, yeah, we don't deal with that. But at the same token, I think there's an element of our lives where we need to look at the fact is that as sobering as it is, that death is coming for all of us, right? Like from a purely naturalistic, humanistic standpoint of things, there is an end to the story coming. And what is there after that, right? Is there anything after that? And I think that's where the gospel even holds out hope for us who aren't undergoing that persecution is, like, hey, if we stand firm, if we hold to our faith, these are the same promises that are available to me today. So. You know what's funny is that I think that, you know, you bring that up, Brandon. So many of us are scared of death. And I think it's something that's so demonic, actually, in our culture, all the anti-aging thing.

Because I think the enemy is really working hard of, you don't have to die. Like you can do everything you can not to die because I think that there's part of this just culture that's like, oh, like we can defeat death. Like there's literally a guy right now who's trying to quote unquote, live forever. And that guy doesn't look healthy at all. I'm just saying it. But it's just so crazy to me that like, why is this the undercurrent of our culture? This whole anti-aging, trying to look as young as possible. But I think it's because we're so scared of eternity and that we are gonna have to face death one day. But I really just sense like this plot from the enemy because he knows that as Christians, we have the hope of heaven, right? And so like on the one side, we really shouldn't have that fear. And I like tell myself that all the time of like, okay, you shouldn't be scared today, but I think it's just more of like, we're scared of pain or how we're gonna go out. But there's also this sense of like, okay, like we get to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus, but what does that look like? Eternity kind of freaks us out too. So it's like all of these things kind of mash together with the death and with the eternity thing.

I don't know if you have anything. Yeah, no, when you were saying that, I started thinking about something Jesus said to his disciples in John 13, talking about the Lord's supper or the last supper. He's comforting his disciples, because he's just telling him that he's gonna have to go to a place that they can't go yet, right? And Jesus, his words, he says, do not let your heart be troubled. Believe in God and also in me. In my father's house, there are many dwelling places. There are many rooms, right? If it were not so, I would have told you. For I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also. And going down a couple of verses and Thomas, being the one who's questioning again, asking the question, Lord, we don't know where you're going. Like, you're speaking in this way, like, where are you going? And it's a question I would have had. Like, how do we know? And Jesus said, well, I am the way. Like, if you've ever heard this next verse, this is where it comes from. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me.

And so when you put that promise together with what Brandon just talked about in terms of the Apostle John seeing Jesus in all of his glory. Like, if we believe in a Jesus who is resurrected and alive and who is the king of the universe and exists in incredible majestic glory, and he has promised his disciples that he's preparing a place for us, what do you think that place will be like? Yeah, there's this really cool book that I really love. It's called What If It's True. It's by an author named Charles Martin, and he writes about kind of the flip side of this moment before Jesus actually like steps out of heaven and comes to earth as a baby. And there's one line in there, and it wrecked me. The first time I read it, I literally closed my book and cried. And it says like that Jesus is about to like step off into heaven, like come to earth. And he turns around, he says, make sure you make lots of rooms because I'm bringing them all with me. Like, it just like stopped me in my tracks of like, that's the goal. Or he's like, it's a rescue mission. He's like, make sure there's lots of rooms because I'm bringing them all back with me. And it's just like, man, if we actually believed that,

like how different would our lives be of like Jesus, like the Lord had this plan from the start for a rescue mission for us. And so like, when we think about it in that. perspective of like, there's a mansion with many rooms for all of us, then we shouldn't have fear, we should give us hope, and that should help us live with that intention of like, yeah, I've got trouble in this world, but man, there's a hope that I have that one day there's gonna be a room for me in heaven. Yeah, because I think the, what you both are saying, there's an ultimate truth in our life that at one day our bodies will give way and we will die. Like, that is unfortunately a reality for everything that exists around us, the people we love, the pets we love, all the things, right, will pass away. That scripture tells us that our life is nothing but a vapor. And gosh, like the things we're talking about, like it's easier said, right, than done, right? Because, you know, given certain circumstances, like yeah, absolutely, I'm afraid of death, I'm afraid of dying, I don't wanna leave my family, I don't wanna leave the things that I love, but I think as a Christian, the hope that we can, where we can place our hope and knowing that God has promised this place, He's prepared a room for us,

He's prepared many rooms for us to be together. And for me, it always becomes not so much of, hey, what does that specifically look like, as much as trusting in the one who's preparing the place of like, whatever it is, like, it'll be fine, it'll be great, because I know that ultimately, the one who fulfills me is the one that is preparing a place for that. And for the Christian, and you see this in the early church, is that they vividly understood that death was not the end. Death was not, like, you did not have this period at the end of death, that it was like, that's it. You know, it's that because of Jesus, death is now just this doorway into this marvelous life that we will live with the Lord for eternity. And it's hard to wrap our brains around that. Yeah, it's hard for us to fathom, like, what the particulars of that look like, because we don't get a lot of details of what heaven looks like, right? But, you know, one thing that I heard, you know, a couple of years ago, is like, we can't fathom what heaven is, because we just don't know how good it will be. And it talks about, like, the streets of gold, and I've always thought about, like, oh, that's so pretty, like, the streets are gonna be gold. But they said, no, like, gold is, like, our most valuable, one of the most valuable resources on earth, and that's just pavement in heaven.

And I was like, oh, that's different when you think about it that way, of just, like, man, we can't even fathom how good it's gonna be. That's really good. Well, Derek, I appreciate how you shared the, you know, we don't know what it's gonna be like, but we know the builder. It kind of made me think of, you know, whenever my mom or my parents will invite us over for dinner, I don't ask what we're having, because it's one of those, like- Whatever it is, it'll be good. Yeah, I guess it's gonna be great, you know? And I think that's a, to me, that just gives me kind of a picture of what you're talking about there. It's like, ah, it's gonna be fine. We'll be taken care of regardless of how it goes. Yeah, that's good. So let's talk a little bit about, I know Revelation is kind of the quintessential place where we go for end time stuff, but there are a lot of things that talk about what's gonna happen towards the end. And, you know, Jesus talks about it himself in Luke 21 and Matthew 24. 1 Thessalonians 4, 2 Thessalonians 2 talk about it. 1 Corinthians 15 we can get into as well. It kind of talks about the resurrection body. Maybe we'll get there by the time we're done.

But, you know, what the Bible talks about is this idea that we kind of live in a world in conflict, right? There's the kingdom of God that is advancing through the cross of Christ. There is the kingdoms of the world, though. There's the kingdom of the enemy that we've seen from the very beginning as the serpent tempted and tricked Adam and Eve into rebelling against God. So as you guys think about that, what ultimately brings those kingdoms into conflict? Like why is it ultimately that God once and for all has to deal with this kingdom of rebellion? I mean, it starts from the very beginning. You know, like we've been talking about this ever since Genesis 3 is, it's this ultimate question of are we gonna trust God's wisdom? Are we gonna determine good and evil for ourselves? And that's the question that Eve had to wrestle with all the way back in the garden. And it's just this continuation of this rebelling against God, but also like now we have kind of this culmination of there's kingdoms on earth and all of this rebellion, but it all goes back to that ultimate question back in the garden. But yeah, it's gonna ultimately be resolved though, right? Because all of it kind of stems from that same question and it all comes down to that, you know? And that's just true of our own lives too.

Like we have to wrestle with that. We have to wrestle with, in my own life, am I gonna trust God's wisdom? Am I gonna define good and evil for myself? Yeah. Yeah, I don't have anything to add because I- Honestly, speechless. But I think that's so right, though, because it is. I think ultimately these types of things come down to which side are you on? Do you know the Lord? Are you following the Lord? And probably even deeper than that is, do you trust? And whom do you trust? Do you trust the Lord, or do you trust yourself? And a lot of times those can't coexist together. And that's been the tension we talked about very early in Genesis, right? There's this idea of this is how God has created things to run, this is how God has created things to work, and are we gonna trust that His ways work out, or are we gonna go to another way? Amen. And again, when we talk about the continuation of themes in Scripture, that's a big one. I mean, golly, you look at the kings of Israel, whether it's in the Northern Kingdom or in the Southern Kingdom, it's most of the time... Well, this is what I'll say. Every single time there was a king that disobeyed the Lord, did not follow the Lord, things did not go well. Right, yeah. Every time that the king did follow the Lord, most of the time things went well, right? It went well with them. There were some moments of lapse that caused some bad moments, but it truly... This is the same issue in us of, hey, are we gonna trust that we're so self-dependent that we don't even need to consider the fact that there may be a God who loves you that has an actual better plan for your life than you do, or do you wanna live in the way that you wanna live? And it's really Revelation 12 that peels that back for us a little bit, because in Revelation 12, John is writing, and he has this vision of the rebellion at the heart of all rebellion, that he sees like, oh, this is when Satan or the serpent from Genesis 3, this is when he rebelled against God. This is what he pulled us into with this war. This is how he dragged

us into sin with him and rebellion against God. And I think ultimately what it becomes is God sees what sin... God more than anyone else understands what sin has done to the world. Yeah. God sees what it was intended to be. God, more than anyone else, sees what sin has done to us. You think about... There are times where we see people or we see people who've gotten caught up in things, and we see what sin can do to somebody, but God sees that on every one of us. This is who I created Brandon to be, and this is what sin is doing to him. God sees that with every one of us, and we can sit here and say, well, why can't... Why doesn't he just wipe out the sin? Why doesn't he just get rid of it? It's a good question. Yeah, but it's because it's in all of us. He would be wiping us out to get rid of it. So he has to deal with it by punishing Christ for it. And then in Revelation, what we read is just the rebellion gets out of hand, almost like in the days of Noah where God was like, we gotta do something about this. This has to be dealt with once and for all, which is... I think what Revelation and what passages like 2 Thessalonians 2 and the man of lawlessness ultimately point us towards this idea of at some point in our future, whether that's in five years or 500 years or 5,000 years, the rebellion just reaches a tipping point where God is like, this has to end. Sin has got to end. And so that's what I think happens in the back chapters of Revelation. We could go on for a long time about the different ways to read Revelation, and I don't wanna do that. But I think ultimately... Well, I kinda do wanna do that, but we're not gonna do that. Maybe an interesting online study one of these days. Yeah, maybe one of these days, coming soon. It'll take five years to develop. Yeah, for real. But I think what it's ultimately meant to point us towards... Sarah, you talked about at the very beginning, the idea of resolution. It finally reaches a point where God wants that resolution. We've gotta deal with this. We gotta set things right. We gotta ultimately bring everything back. I don't wanna say to the factory settings, because I think it's

gonna be better, but it's time to remake the earth as it's meant to be. So Revelation, kinda beginning there in verse... Or in chapter 18, starts to tell this story of how things are falling apart. But I just wanna highlight what I think is just kinda cool, is the return of Jesus. This is ultimately what history is building towards, is that He is gonna return, He's gonna come back. And Revelation just paints a very vivid picture of that. Revelation chapter 19, beginning in verse 11, says, Then I saw heaven opened, and a white horse was standing there. Its rider was named Faithful and True, for he judges fairly and rages a righteous war. His eyes were like... flames of fire, and on his head were many crowns. A name was written on him that no one understood except himself. He wore a robe dipped in blood and his title was the Word of God. The armies of heaven dressed in the finest of pure white linen followed him on white horses. From his mouth came a sharp sword to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod." Like there is just, you know, when we think of the first arrival of Jesus, like the baby in the manger, this is cute. Like this is a little terrifying. I had to think like, this is how Jesus is revealed as this King coming in power, coming to set things right. So, you know, as you guys think about Judgment Day, as you think about that end of time, what are some things that are challenging for us? What are some things that bring us comfort out of that? I think it's so interesting that, you know, we do have an end to the story.

We just don't know how it's gonna come about. And I think that's something that we struggle with the most is like, okay, yeah, we know that like, it's gonna end well. You know, we know that there's gonna be a resolution that like Jesus is gonna return. But what does that look like? Are we still gonna be here? Like all of these things that I wrestle with, but I think that's just, you know, the logistical part of our brains that wanna know how exactly it's gonna turn out. And that's part of this faith, right? It's just trusting like, you know, Derek and you both mentioned it's like, okay, if I were actually trust God, if I trust the builder, then I'm just gonna trust that he's gonna, you know, take care of whatever it is and erase all those fears. But yeah, I just, I love that we do have a little bit of an end to the story, right? Like we have that resolution and I think that's what gives all of us, you know, so much hope when we're, you know, in this world that, you know, we just see so much like heartache and trouble. And even in our own lives, it's just so frustrating at times to be like, God, where are you?

And I think that's why, you know, one of the songs that our worship team wrote is Lord come quickly. Like we just think in those moments, like, okay, but there's something better. Like there is something that we are clinging to and longing for in these moments. And I love that, you know, it didn't end with just, you know, the letters from Paul, like that the Lord gave us this of like, no, one day it's all gonna be made new. You know, I love that because I think one of our frustrations with Revelation is that we want it to be a map. Yeah. And it's not a map. It's not. It's not a map of, it just shows us the destination. It's like the most frustrating, like map quest thing ever. Like, well, here's where you're going, but you'll just have to, yeah, you'll just have to see what the journey's like. And so I, yeah, that can be a little aggravating. Derek, what do you kind of take away from that return of Jesus? Yeah, I'm pretty simple minded when it comes to stuff like this,

knowing I think there's a part of my brain that just shuts off when I'm trying to understand all that this means, other than just knowing that like our King is returning. And, you know, I think that it can be sometimes hard for our brain to wrap our heads around, like, even as we've gone through this, the study together of like Jesus existing before all creation. And then yet, you know, we have some moments of him showing up as the angel of the Lord, this like pre-incarnate Jesus, to then entering into history as a baby, to then growing up, starting his ministry, performing miracles, being beaten and dying on a cross, then being resurrected, right? And then we see him returning like as this victorious warrior king on this white horse. Like, and it can bring a little bit of like, oh, okay, you know, like, all right. But at the same token, it gives me a sense of peace of knowing that like, well, that's my King, you know, like that's my King. And ultimately, because of what he's done for me, right, I'm gonna be okay. All right, whatever it is, like, I'm gonna be okay. And so for me, like, that's the thing that comes to mind is that like, yeah, like, is that, like, does that seem almost otherworldly?

Sure, it does to me too. But it gives me peace knowing that like, hey, he is the one that accomplished everything necessary to be a part of his kingdom for me. Yeah, it blows my mind. So Revelation goes on and talks about this appearance of Jesus as being the definitive defeat of evil. We talk about the battle of Armageddon. If you read Revelation, it's pretty clear on the fact, it's like, it's not really a battle. Like, Jesus just shows up and is like, I've had enough. Like, I mean, it's kind of like when you hear your kids bickering downstairs and you walk down, like, We're done. We are done. And this is the defeat of Satan. He is judged finally. And then we read about this final judgment and get this hint that the ending of the story really isn't the ending of the story. That we all stand before God to give an account of our life, that he declares his judgment, and that at the end of the day, there are two eternal destinations, heaven and hell, that there's this place of judgment that is created and reserved for Satan and his angels, but that men get tied up in. And then there's this heaven that's pictured as, we'll talk about here in a little bit, kind of almost a remade Garden of Eden, that it's the world as it was created to be. So as you guys think about the end of the story and how it continues on, what comes to mind for you? Yeah, I think this imagery... And forgive me if I'm jumping too far ahead, but this imagery of the new heavens and the new earth and this judgment of the Lord and those whose names aren't written in this book of... Anyone's name not written in the book of life being thrown into the lake of fire, along with death and Hades being thrown into the lake of fire as well, being the second death. But oftentimes at funerals, it's always hard to know what to say, because there's never necessarily anything you can specifically say that's gonna comfort someone.

Whether that's there in the hospital or whether you're at their funeral, there's never really the right words. But there's a couple of verses here in Revelation 21 that just encourage me of knowing of what's to come. It said, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth has passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them. And this is the verse I'm talking about. It says, And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain, for the first things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. I don't know if that answers your question. No, that's a great answer. That's what came to mind. What was your question? What was my question? I don't remember. I think you were just talking about... No, yeah, as you think about the end of the story and how it continues on, what resonates or stands out to you as you think about what happens after the end? Yeah, it's so hard for us to wrap our minds around that because this is all we know. This physical world is all that we know. And there's so many verses about our lives here being just like a vapor and a mist of what's to come. And my brain actually hurts a little bit when I think about eternity, just because it's something that we can't really fathom. But man, it just gives me so much hope. It really does. And like Derek was saying, even just the thought of never crying again and never mourning again, that sounds so nice, especially when there's really hard days here on Earth. But I just keep going back to the fact that we all have a choice, though. Some of us are going to reject that. And I think this should be a warning sign for all of us of, hey, that's not this daydream. That day is coming for one of us, or sorry, for every single one of us. And we all have to make that choice. And you alluded to it, Brandon, a little bit earlier, but it all goes back to a tree. In the very first episode, we talked about Genesis 3,

about the choice Eve had to make with a tree. And now we have to make that same choice again with Jesus dying on the tree. And we have to either reject Him, or we accept Him and believe in Him. And we get to live with Him eternally, because that's something we all have to face. And I think that's something we don't want to face at times, because we don't want to think about after death. And again, we just live in this culture that thinks we're invincible. And I think that's so much of our pride. But we have to face that. There's only one person that defeated death. Everybody else has died and has not come back to life. And so we're all going to have to make that choice one day. And I think it's just something that we really need to talk about more, I think. You know, I think even in my own life, like, am I convicted enough? with the people that I love, who I don't know if they are following Jesus, to like share this with them. And I just think that this should give us an urgency to share more, you know? Yeah, for sure. You know, I'm glad that you brought up the tree there because, you know, Derek, one of the things I love about the description of heaven you shared is that John describes heaven so much in terms of what is not there. Like there is no more death, there is no more mourning, there is no more crying, there is no more pain. And that's, like you said, Sarah, that's hard to imagine, is like, oh, these things that are such a part of our lives, they're gone. Like to think about never having to say goodbye at a graveside again, never having to cry over a regret, never having to worry about what's gonna happen the next day, all those things are gone. But the one thing that John says is there,

is in, I shouldn't say the one thing, one of the things John says is there, is Revelation 22 too. He talks about how there's a river there that flows down the main street, but he says on each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing 12 crops of fruit with a fresh crop every month. The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations. And I love that image on so many levels because one of it is, like, this whole thing started when we got kicked away from the tree of life, right? And now John is saying, like, not only that it's there, but there's one on each side of the river. Basically, I think the imagery there is telling us, like, we can never be separated from it again. Like, it's always gonna be accessible to us. We're gonna have life eternal. But I love the leaves are used for the medicine to heal the nations. Like, whatever we have gone through in our time here, like, he's gonna heal that up. He's gonna use eternity to mend those wounds, to help us know him better, to understand him better. And in those times, sometimes, I mean, we all know this, life hits us with some horrible things that we have to deal with. But in those times when we're going through those difficulties, I think we can think about that. Paul writes in Romans 8, 18, he says, "'What we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory that will be revealed on us later.'"

Like, this idea of, hey, no matter what I go through here, whether it's persecution or illness or death or whatever, no matter what it is, like, there is healing from the leaves of the tree of life available one day. When Jesus returns and when he makes all things right, he's gonna make me right. And I think for us, personally, that's some of the best news of all, to think like, oh, this is what he's gonna do. So as we wrap up this study, as we think about the story as a whole, what would you guys say has been kind of your biggest takeaway as you think about the broad story that the Bible tells? How does it reassure you, comfort you, in your own walk? You gave us no time to think about that, honestly. I have an answer. Yeah, do you have your answer? Yeah, no, I think that every time I go through Scripture, there's one theme, there's kind of like one question that comes to mind for me, and it is not that I am hearing the audible voice of God, that is not what I'm saying. But the question that comes to mind from God's perspective is, do you trust me? Mm, that's good. Yeah. Do you trust me? Like, after everything you've read,

after everything you've learned, out of all these people that I have shown you in Scripture about how I have worked in every part of their life, do you trust me? And I think that's the application for us, is that, gosh, we can know our Bibles inside and out, right? But if we have not trusted our life in its fullness, to the Lord of all creation, right, then we've missed the whole point of this, right? Of Jesus has accomplished everything necessary for our salvation. We don't add a single thing to it, right? It is because of His Son on His cross and His death and His resurrection, not ours, but His. And so for me, ultimately, it's, do you trust me? Do you trust me? And that's a question that should be in our mind, God saying that to us in every moment of every good season, bad season, season in between, when ultimately you make the decision to follow Christ or not, right? When you lose that person that you love so much, right? When you have a diagnosis that comes your way, when you have those big doubts, do you trust me? Yeah, that's good. Yeah, I think I'm constantly reminded that this book is all about God. It's not about, you know, it's a book about God for us. And I think we, sometimes we try to cherry pick verses

or things to fit our own wisdom, as you're saying, but ultimately it is that question. and you know we it's that question back in Genesis 3 that we've talked about so many times and I'm just continually reminded that like God's will will reign and he will do what he needs to do and he will use the people he needs to use and he uses the most unlikely people and I think it's a reminder just for me like there's so much grace and hope for us in that and that he uses people that are broken that are messy and you know he uses us and he chooses to use us and why does he do that because he loves us and I just remember like Romans 5 but God demonstrates his love toward us and that while we were still sinners Christ died for us and so that is the best demonstration of his love is sending Jesus and no one is too far gone like we talked about Paul in the last episode like I mean he literally used a guy who was terror who was a terrorist against Christians right almost the entirety of the New Testament and so like no one's story is too far gone but we do have a choice to make and so it's it's both things right like there's so much grace and hope for us and there's a hope of heaven but do you trust him like Derek said yeah yes sir you kind of took what I was gonna say sorry I'll pick you back off it just for a minute I think what I take away from it is that so often like when you read through the Bible everything seems like a mess right it just seems like an absolute mess like from Abraham's life and that is some of the decisions he makes to Jacob especially to you know Israel being in Egypt and slavery to Saul persecuting the church to you know the the Christians being persecuted for their faith so often you know things seem like a mess and yet it's always that God is working through it and he's doing something in it and his purposes ultimately prevail prevail his will as you said is always done and I think that gives me some amount of hope to think like okay like whatever mess I'm in it's gonna be fine he's gonna work it out but it also gives me confidence to think hey like no matter what no matter what mistake I make he's gonna figure it out yeah like he has already you know budgeted in my stupidity he's gonna do

what he's gonna do yes praise the Lord but you know I think there's there's just that confidence and that hope that comes from knowing not only that there is a God in charge of everything but there's a God who is in charge of everything who is good and who wants what is best for us and even in those moments where it's messy even in those moments where it doesn't make sense we can have that assurance we can have that hope we can have that trust because we know not only we may not know the story that's being told but we know the authors who's telling it and we can trust him to do that so thank you all for joining us for this study into eternity we hope that it was helpful for you to walk through the story of the Bible to see what it says but more importantly we hope it's it was influential for you to see that story how your life fits into it and what God is calling you to do and trust in him today