Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): If you're a Christian, you've thought a lot about what heaven is going to be like. What will we see? What will we do? Who will be there? The Apostle John had the privilege of seeing the New Jerusalem and tells us about it in Revelation 21. Receive a tour today on Light on the Hill.

James Kaddis: When you read a passage like Revelation 21 and you read about the future, the future city that we are going to live in, this isn't some New Jack City, if you know what I mean. This is some beautiful, flawless, most incredible place that we all long to live. It's a city that, quite frankly, exists right now but has not been brought down to heaven and earth because there is no new heaven and earth to bring it down to just yet. But when it comes, it's going to be spectacular.

Guest (Female): Since heaven is to be our eternal home, we should be prepared for it and cultivate what the Bible calls a heavenly mind as we journey here on earth. Today's Light on the Hill will help us with that. This side of heaven, everything that's good does not last. A good day or a good week or even a good year is too often met with a bad one. The good comes and goes so fast. But one of the great things about our eternal home is that it lasts forever. If you're on the right side of eternity, it's great. Here's Pastor James Kaddis with more about the New Jerusalem from Revelation chapter 21.

James Kaddis: Revelation chapter 21, let's jump right into it. By the way, I will tell you, I love Bible prophecy and I absolutely love the description of heaven that we are about to see here and this beautiful new city that we are going to live in. I think that this is really great because when we learn about our future, we always can have hope because we know there is substance to that hope. Matter of fact, that's what the Bible tells us faith is. Faith is when we have substance for the hope that we have and we have evidence of the things that we can't see.

The Bible tells us that. Now, what does it mean to have substance for the hope that we have? It's really simple. We have substance because God's perfect track record gives us the substance that we need to believe in what He tells us is going to happen. If God has made predictions in the past and every single one of those predictions have come true, then we know we have substance for what He says is going to happen.

I do this with my children all the time because I learned it from my own father. When my father came to us and said, "You're going to get disciplined," we didn't mess around because my dad was not the type of person where normally you only find these families when you go to these new age type of grocery stores, where you go to like Mothers where you have to finance your life to go buy a gallon of milk. Mothers is a really good store and there's some really good people over there, so I'm not going to bag on that.

But you go in there and you see this young little hipster mother who's telling her child who's just slamming the floor, screaming, "I want my cereal!" And you see the mom walk by the aisle and she's like, "Listen, honey, I'm going to count to three and if by the time I get to three you don't stop, then there's going to be a consequence." You walk away and you still hear it, you come back a few minutes later and she's like, "48, 49... Honey, if I get to 50 there's going to be a consequence."

I wasn't raised that way. I was not raised by parents that were that way. As a matter of fact, I can tell you this right now, before the "o" in "no" came out of my mouth, my dad's hand was coming towards my mouth. There was serious discipline involved. When my dad made a promise, we believed my dad because my dad was not a man full of empty promises. When my dad said, "I'm going to be there," my dad was there. When my dad said that he was going to do this, we knew that he was going to do it because he had never lied to us before. Every single time he said he was going to do something, he did it.

So when my dad threatened us, we knew that those threats were not empty. We knew that they were promises. Here's the thing about the God of heaven. The God of heaven has made prediction after prediction after prediction and guess what? He's got them all right. Not a single one of them have been wrong. Anytime we say that He got it wrong, it's actually because we looked at it wrong, and that's why we've come to the conclusion that we come to.

If you know that God's track record is perfect, then that means you have substance for the things you hope for, especially if what you hope for is what the Bible tells you is coming. Because if the Bible tells you that something is coming and God's Word is perfect and it's never been wrong, you've got substance. That's what the Bible says faith is. Faith is the substance of things hoped for and evidence of things not seen.

There's lots of evidence of things that we don't see every single day. All kinds of fools come to me and tell me all the time, and I do emphasize the word fool, they say, "Well, if I can't see it then I don't believe it." I say the same thing. You're an absolute fool. Do me a favor and stop breathing right now. Literally, stop breathing. You can't see the air that you breathe, yet your lungs demand the existence of something you can't see.

You turn on the lights every day, don't you? You flip the light switch. You can't see electricity. You see lightning all the time. Lightning is an effect of electricity. When you see lightning, it's evidence of the fact that something you cannot see exists. Only the fool says, "I won't believe it if I can't see it." There's evidence all over the place of things that we cannot see. Your other senses can experience them. You recognize that although you might not be able to see something, you can discern the fact that that very thing exists.

Look around the world in which you live. The world in which you live serves as prime evidence of the fact that there is a Creator and a Designer. If you cannot see that, if you cannot understand that, if you cannot look at a watch like this and believe the fact that this watch could evolve, which nobody, I've never met a single scientist who told me that this watch could evolve on somebody's wrist. That's ridiculous. We know the fact that that watch was made by Apple.

How do you know it was made by Apple? It bears the design marks that shows it was made by Apple. So you mean to tell me that this watch that you believe was made by Apple because you see the design characteristics and the manufacturing presets based on what Apple does, if you mean to tell me that you can see evidence of the fact that Apple created it, yet you cannot believe that the circuitry that is inside the wrist that it sits on, which is far more complex in nature, you cannot believe that that did not evolve? You're crazy. Like you've literally lost your mind. Your ability to reason is unbelievable.

Can I tell you something your watch doesn't have the ability to do? It doesn't matter how fancy your watch is. It could be a half a million dollar watch. Do you know what it does not have the ability to do? It does not have the ability to break by hitting it or slamming it, recognizing the fact that it's broken, identifying the broken parts, remanufacturing the broken parts on its own, then reassembling it, rebuilding it, reprogramming it, and making it brand new. Do you know that there are proteins in your body that can do just that?

So to tell me that there's no way something like this can evolve, yet fully believing that we evolved from some function of primordial ooze or some nonsense like that, who's the real monkey? Honestly, think about it. We have evidence of things that are not seen. You might not be able to see God but you have providential evidence every single day that He exists. Think about the picture that God creates for us every single day of the evidence that exists.

So when you read a passage like Revelation 21 and you read about the future, the future city that we are going to live in, this isn't some New Jack City, if you know what I mean. This is some beautiful, flawless, most incredible place that we all long to live. It's a city that, quite frankly, exists right now but has not been brought down to heaven and earth because there is no new heaven and earth to bring it down to just yet. But when it comes, it's going to be spectacular.

Look at what the Bible tells us in verse 9. It says this: "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me saying, 'Come hither and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.'" Before we get into the bride, the Lamb's wife, I just want to bring this up really quickly because it is really cool to know this. Isn't it unique and isn't it pretty spectacular that the Word of God will show us the unpleasant as well as the pleasant?

That the Word of God will make us aware of the wicked so that we can even in a deeper way appreciate the righteous or the good? You did not understand how wicked something was until you started walking with the Lord. And isn't it fair to say that the more you study God's Word, the more able you were to recognize what's unrighteous? Isn't it true that the closer you become to God, the more you study His Word, the more obvious things become to you? It's not anything you need to be schooled in because the more educated you become in those matters, you are aware.

Many of you have definitely recognized this if you're a parent. You understand that every single child on the face of the earth is basically a narcissist. It's all about me, me, me, me. Babies just yell when they want something. Little kids learn how to hustle like nobody's business. What do you have to do as a mom and a dad? As a mother and father, you have to teach your children to break themselves of their narcissistic behavior.

Isn't that the reality of it? Why? Because we were all born with sinful natures and as parents, it's our responsibility to educate our children out of the condition that they were born in. So isn't it interesting to think that before we knew Christ we were dead in our trespasses in our sins, but when we came to know Him, we became very aware of what those things looked like? We saw the things that we used to embrace and love before we knew the Lord are no longer attractive. They're very ugly. They're the things that don't make any kind of sense.

Why? Because your awareness of God changes everything. By the way, I don't think it's a coincidence that when you read verse 9 it says, "There came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues," that showed him this new city. Look at Revelation 17, the very beginning of Revelation 17. Revelation 17:1: "And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials that talked with me saying unto me, 'Come hither and I will show unto thee...'"

Sounds familiar. Sounds like we just read Revelation 21:9. Same angel, same picture, same language. "I'm going to come show you." What does he show him in chapter 17? Look at what he says he's going to show you. The great whore that sits upon the waters. He says, "I'm going to show you the most wicked city in the world." When you get to Revelation chapter 21 and it's all destroyed, he says, "I'm going to show you the most beautiful city. I'm going to show you the holy city, the one that you're going to live in forever."

This should not surprise you. Matter of fact, it should trigger a bell in your mind going back to Revelation chapter 10 verse 10. Let me read chapter 10 verse 10. He took a little book, this is John talking. "And I took a little book out of the angel's hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and as soon as I had eaten it my belly was bitter."

Funny. You should be familiar with that if you know the book of Ezekiel. Why is this an important verse for me to bring up? Because that's what God's Word will do. God's Word is so sweet because of the salvation it brings, because of the joy, the hope, the peace, all the things that it brings. But it also will bring you to that bitter taste, to that bitter feel, because you also are understanding or more understanding of what's wicked, what's evil. You see it.

So the Bible is doing this for us. Now, with that said, we're getting introduced to this beautiful city, this city that we're going to all get to experience. But did you notice that there are four names that are given to this city? The first of those two names are given to us in verse 9. By the way, I have to admit this. When I first read verse 9 years and years ago, I did not realize for the first time that it was talking about the new city. I actually thought when I saw the word "the wife of the Lamb" or "the Lamb's wife" and I saw the word "bride," I thought it was talking about the church and I thought it was talking about Israel.

Because Israel was referred to as the wife of God in that when Israel chose to worship false gods, they were called adulteresses. They committed adultery. That's what the Bible actually says. So it's interesting here that the first two names of the city center around the church, the bride, and the Lamb's wife. It's kind of interesting how that works. Now, I will say this, I might as well because I'm going to go somewhere with this. I think it's important to bring this out.

And this is not a "woe is me" statement. I'm not doing that because I'm very happy with the life that God has given me and I'm super blessed that I am where I am. But I came to a realization a long, long time ago that I don't fit in. I don't fit in with anybody or anything. I mean my own wife hates... No, I'm joking. No, my wife loves me. I don't know why, but she does. She's my greatest hustle ever, I'll just tell you that right now.

But here's my point. Before I make the point, can I ask a question? How many of you would say that you feel the same way? You just don't fit in? Anybody? Quick show of hands. A lot of you. Okay, good. Don't ask me who because you'll never guess. I'm just going to say that right now. But there are some very, very famous, well-known guys in ministry that on a regular basis will contact me and ask me a series of questions or favors that in a million years they would not be caught dead in public with me.

They'll call me and they'll ask me, "Hey, I got this Bible question, can you help me with this?" Or my favorite one, this is the one that happens a lot, is they come across something that gets given to them in their fellowship, a new story that's very appalling or something, or they catch wind of a video that they personally got handed to them. And what they'll do is they'll text me, and I know what it is every single time, they'll send me the article or they'll tell me what happened because they want me to make a video about it because they themselves are too cowardly to do something about it.

And every single time I'm like, "Okay, no problem. I won't say who it came from," but it would shock you if you knew where some of these stories came from, from some of the people. It would blow your mind if you knew just how famous and well-connected some of these people are. As a matter of fact, on the other spectrum of things, you would be shocked, don't ask because you'll never guess, you'd be shocked if you knew the kind of people with insane power in this world who on a regular basis will call me.

They'll say, "Hey, I need advice here. I need help. Can you give me counsel here? Can you walk me through this? Can you...?" And they will do it but not in a million years will they publicly acknowledge that they're close to me or that they know me or anything. And you want to know why that's the case? I'll tell you why that's the case. Because carrying an affiliation with somebody who's as willing to be as vocal as he is unapologetically about these things, especially when that person doesn't meet the mold, he doesn't look like he's in great physical shape, he's very loud and he's boisterous and all the other things. It's like, "No, I love you and we need people like you, but I don't want to be anywhere near you."

And you want to know what? If I didn't know the Lord, that would just drive me crazy. Quite frankly, I'd be very hurtful. It'd be something that's really difficult. But you want to know why I take so much joy in doing what I'm doing? And you want to know why I love often times saying, "Who cares?" And "I don't care"? You want to know the reason why I would hang up on the health department on a regular basis when they would call us and want to shut down? It was my favorite thing to do. "Warrant!" You hang up. My point is, you want to know why I loved doing that and I didn't mind? Because God taught me to embrace one very important principle and that's this. I am a citizen of heaven.

And as long as I'm a citizen of heaven, which I hope and pray and know, I know will be eternity, I will never fit in anywhere else. Now don't get me wrong. I am first generation born into this country from two parents who were both born and raised in Egypt. And I am proud to be a citizen of the greatest country in the world. And I will always be proud to be a citizen of the greatest country in the world. And I don't care what anybody tells you. It is the greatest country in the world. You tell me why, if America is such an oppressive country, you tell me why people are trying to break into America instead of breaking out of America, right?

Let's go tell these movies, "I'm going to quit, I'm going to leave America right now if we keep doing the... " Find leave, we don't want you. You make this country a better place. Get out! Right? And take a bunch of people who are illegal with you. I'm serious, I'm not trying to be difficult with this. It's like wake up for a second, right? Understand what's going on. God gave us this great republic and we should be thankful for it. But guess what? As proud as I am of being a citizen of the greatest country in the world, my truest citizenship, my real citizenship, I wouldn't even call it a dual citizenship, it's my real citizenship is heaven.

Now, if your citizenship is in heaven, then that means your stewardship of the country that you are in right now needs to be your ultimate priority. My sister was just telling me about how when she stays the night at somebody's house, she hasn't done it in a while, or when she goes and she visits somebody and she stays the night, her thing is this. I go out of my way to make sure that when I leave that house, everything is in better condition than it was. And I know my sister. My sister is very much that way. she's a super orderly, she keeps things clean, she's just... that's just my sister. That's the way she is.

And so I think that it's the same way. If we know that we are citizens of heaven, how much more care are we going to take of the place that we are in temporarily? Right? We're only here for a short time. Shouldn't we take great care of it? Right? That's the call. So I love the fact that this city is referred to as the bride and the Lamb's wife because it means that God is saying, "I have a place that I'm building that you will fit in. I have a place that I'm building that is literally named after you." We're going to find out how much it's named after us in just a second.

Guest (Male): You're listening to Pastor James Kaddis on Light on the Hill. He'll be right back with more. As we go through the study of Revelation, there may come a time when you miss a message or would just like to hear a program again. If so, visit lightonthehillradio.com and click on radio, or listen through our app. We have a Light on the Hill app available for iPhone and Android users. Just search for Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.

Pastor James, there are many questions people have about the New Jerusalem, and let me put one to you. Some wonder if it will be boring. Will we just be floating around on a cloud, strumming a harp all day and night? What does a typical day in the New Jerusalem look like?

James Kaddis: Well, I mean, I think that it's very difficult to be able to describe because the Bible doesn't give us a super perfect picture of it. What I can simply say and perhaps the way that I often times describe it to people is think of the most euphoric thing you do on this earth. Don't think too long about it, right? But whatever it is that you're thinking about that brings you the greatest pleasure, the greatest joy, the greatest fulfillment, that will be the worst thing that you do in the New Jerusalem. So if you think about it like that, you've got a lot to look forward to because it's going to be an eternity of a busy time in the very things that bring great joy and peace and happiness and fulfillment to you. It's going to be amazing.

Guest (Male): What a picture to paint. That is something to look forward to. Thanks, Pastor James. Light on the Hill is heard all around the world, and it takes a team to bring these shows to the radio and internet. With your help, we're able to reach people with the truth of God's Word at a time when they really need to hear it. You can donate today at lightonthehillradio.com. You can also give through our Light on the Hill app. As we're going through Revelation, this is a great time to mention Pastor James's new book entitled, "The Last Book." It will share what you need to know about Revelation, the Rapture, and the end times. This guide to Revelation is part one of two and you can order it today at lightonthehillradio.com or at Amazon. We hope you'll join our online communities. You'll find James Kaddis on YouTube, Rumble, and Instagram. You can also hear our weekly prophecy show, "Countdown to Eternity," wherever you get your podcasts and at countdown2eternity.com.

We left off at verse 10 in Revelation chapter 21. Let's continue on now with Pastor James.

James Kaddis: It says, "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God." By the way, those two other names that we see here, these are the other two names. Remember I said there were four names? The first of the names that we talked about was the bride and the Lamb's wife. Those were the first two names. And then the third of that name is the great city, and the fourth name is the Holy Jerusalem.

By the way, if you were in Israel right now and you were to say the word Jerusalem, which by the way, would not sound that way in Hebrew. By the way, when you speak Hebrew you use different letters and there are letters that exist in the English language that don't exist in the Hebrew language. Like for example, the "j" sound doesn't exist in the Hebrew language. And there's lots of letters like this. For example, if I were to say the word Jerusalem right now, for most people that word would not be familiar to them if they heard it in Hebrew. We have lots of words like this, like for example, if I were to say Jerusalem, it's "Yerushalayim." It's not Jerusalem. You would hear that and you wouldn't understand. You wouldn't be able to identify somebody saying that in the Hebrew language.

Same thing is going to exist and very importantly and quite openly with other words. And this happens a lot. This is a language thing. But imagine hearing the word Jerusalem being spoken to you, right? "Yerushalayim" being spoken to you and you're a Jew. It would bring all kinds of emotion to you. Why? Because Yerushalayim is the core of their life, it's the core of their existence, it's everything that centers around all that is beautiful to them. It is literally the very heart of Israel.

So imagine the idea that one of the names is called the Holy Jerusalem, meaning the Jerusalem that is set aside solely for the purpose of God, without any blemish, without any failure, without any falter, without any bombers or suicide murders, homicide bombers, without terrorists. It's a city that stands in total and complete perfection. That's a really cool name to have by the way, okay? This is a beautiful city, you guys. It's a beautiful, beautiful city. And look at this. It says that it descends out of heaven from God. That's how we know this city already exists. It's descending out of heaven from God, meaning it's going to come down.