Light on the Hill

Guest (Male): Imagine living in a day where there will be no more darkness, death, pain, or sorrow. That will be a reality for believers in Christ as we hear next on Light on the Hill.

Some feel as though their best days are behind them, but for the Christian, the best is yet to come. Hear about your future home in heaven today on Light on the Hill. We'll be in Revelation chapter 22, and if you'll recall in recent days, we've been looking at a description of the new heaven and the new earth. We'll be learning about the tree of life. Here's Pastor James Kaddis.

James Kaddis: Look at this verse 2. I love this. It says, "In the midst of the street of it," that's the street of gold, the streets of gold that we know about, right? "And on the other side of the river was there," notice this, "the tree of life, which bore 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations."

Okay, there is so much to talk about here. Let's just start with some basics, okay? The first thing to talk about is we're talking about a tree of life here. Now here's the thing that's really, really cool. When we talk about this tree of life, did you notice that in this new heaven and this new earth, there is no tree that you could potentially eat of that would actually cause you to sin? You understand? All of these trees are everything that's in the new heaven and the new earth is all for our consumption and it's all spectacular. I'm going to talk a little bit about that tree and the value of it and what it does in just a second. But I think that that is such a spectacular picture, okay? There's no tree of knowledge, in other words, okay? There's no tree of the knowledge of good and evil. It's not there. But the tree of life is there and what it does is absolutely spectacular.

Now I want to back up for just a second because I want to point something out that up until about 15 years ago, I thought a very specific way about this and then around right around that time I changed my philosophy. Now, you'll appreciate this, especially those of you who are physicists and the discussion of special relativity is often on your mind, which it is if you're a physicist that lives in that field. Here's the thing that's really interesting we've learned about time. Time is a dimension.

And what I always believed especially early on, especially teaching through the Bible and understanding the things that are going to happen, is that time is a dimension which we know, it's a created dimension, it's a dimension that God has actually created. But the one thing that's really interesting about the dimension of time is I had always believed since God lives outside of the dimension of time or the realm of time as you would call it, that time would not have any real forbearance on us and that it would not be a tool that we would use in heaven or anything that we would think about because we know that one day is as a thousand years to the Lord, a thousand years is as one day and so you would just think we live outside the realm of time and that's kind of how it looks.

And any time I think about how God looks at time, I recognize that God is sitting outside of time right now and he's looking at creation at the same time he's looking at the end of the world. And he's looking at the end of the world at the same time that he's looking at me teaching this Bible study. Heck, here's a cool thought: He's looking at me teaching every Bible study I have ever taught at the same time. How cool is that? It's a pretty spectacular picture because he lives outside of the realm of time. So my natural assumption is when we get to heaven, there will be no real massive constraint of time or we will never look at time or understand it as such because it won't be a variable that exists.

Except for one problem. Go back and read verse two. And by the way, if you like procrastinating or you're somebody who wastes time or likes to throw things around, you're not going to like what I'm about to say. So let's read verse two. Watch this. It says this. It says, "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river," notice this, "was there a tree of life, which bore 12 manner of fruits and yielded her fruit," what? "Every month."

Every month. So the measurement of time exists. Can we talk about the relationship that we have with time on this earth right now? Let me explain how it works. When God created the Garden of Eden and he created mankind and before there was any sin, God intended our relationship with time to be another tool that is utilized in order to understand and anticipate the wonders of everything that he has for us. It helps us to better understand and value the difference between what happens in the day versus what happens in the night. It helps us to be able to better understand the things that we need to understand in order to be the stewards God has called us to be.

Adam cannot be a good steward of the garden that God put in front of him if he doesn't understand how to care for the plants that he has, and being able to care for the plants is going to involve him understanding how the mechanism of time moves and begins to thrive through the tools that he uses in order to do what he's supposed to do. In other words, time is a very important element and when God created it, he created it as a purpose or for the purpose of being a tool for us that we might take advantage of every wonderful thing that he's given us, especially from generation to generation. It was a tool that God designed to be used for wonderful and great things.

Here's the problem: When man sinned against God, the very moment man sinned against God, time became our enemy instead of our friend. Think about it like this. When man sinned, when man chose to disobey God, sin entered the world through one man. When sin entered the world, death entered the world. Think about it like this: If your baby, you have a baby and that baby is born, guess what? I have terrible news for you, parents. The moment your baby is born they start dying. Did you know that? Did you know each and every single one of you are dying?

When a doctor goes to you and says I have bad news for you, you're dying, you can go, "I was dying from the day I was born. What's the difference? All you're telling me is I have fewer days to live." But the reality of it is, time became our very enemy the very moment we chose to make God our enemy. Time became our enemy when we basically said, we are going to sin against God. And when time became our enemy, time, our relationship with time changed in a way that completely affected everything around us.

I'm going to say something that's really scary and could get me in big trouble and might get a lot of other people in trouble too, but here's this: When a man or a woman fails to be able to manage time the way God intended for that time to be managed, it's often a reflection of their relationship with God. When we become the culture of procrastinators, we also become, ready for this, the culture of people who have learned to disregard and value the limited time that we have in front of us.

There's a reason why God still allows us to see and utilize the measurement of time in eternity because the measurement of time becomes a tool that teaches us to appreciate the cycles that God has created for our own benefit. And in a world where there is no sin, time will become a beautiful aspect, a precious element of the type of things that we experience from day to day.

Folks, I am not joking about this. It is incredibly important that you recognize the importance of this tool. Think about it like this. Right now in the educational world, by the way, I'm telling you this, unless your child wants to become a doctor or a lawyer, you're going to have to intensely, not even a lawyer anymore, a doctor or an engineer or something like that, do not send them to college. College is a brainwashing center. It is a place that will further put in steel, literally cement in all the brainwashing that's been done and the child exploitation that's been done in elementary school and in high school and in preschool. The public school system is designed to exploit children. I'm telling you that.

And if you think I'm crazy, I'm not. Go out and look at what they're doing right now. By the way, I got nasty letters years ago from people when I used to make that statement. "Oh, you're so legalistic and James, you're crazy and you're one of those conspiracy theorists and all that." I got those same parents sending me emails saying, "I'll never send my child to school ever. You're right, you're right. It's completely right about this." Why? Because they are brainwash centers. They are.

And you know what? The only kids that are coming out of public school right now successfully are the kids that have parents like many of the people that go to this church. They are very involved in their kids' lives. They're going, they're talking about their classroom environment, "What are you talking about? What are you doing?" They're talking to them on a regular basis. They're getting involved in their extracurriculars. They're traveling with them when they're going on their sports events or drama or choir, whatever it is. Those are the type of parents that are making a success out of what's happening in the public school system because you cannot trust these teachers with your kids. It's very important that we understand that. Like, it's a really critical thing.

Here's the thing that's happening right now. One of the worst and most destructive teachings that is happening right now in school is this thing that's based on critical theory. It's a Marxist mechanism that is driving a ridiculous way of looking at things and they're saying now, time is racist. Did you know that? They're saying time is racist and if you require somebody to show up at this time, you're actually being a racist because it's a function of white imperialism and it is something that started back in the day and it's designed to be ugly and we should be honoring it.

Yeah, let me just give you an interpretation for what that is. "Hi, my name is Teacher So-and-So in academia and I am inspired by the devil himself to tell you that something that God values and loves and cares about and created for your benefit is ugly and will destroy you." This is why they're trying to rewrite history, folks. This is why they're removing all of these symbols from the world. That's why they're trying to erase distinctions that God has specifically created.

Time is really valuable and it's really important. And by the way, this is really interesting because this is why, and this is what our theme is going to be for our Men's Advance, this is why God tells us to be people who are redeeming the time. In other words, we know that a function of the fall of man involves the fact that we have lost the time that has been allotted for us. Time is now something that has become our enemy and through our walk with the Lord, through the redemption that we experience through what Christ did on the cross, we have the glorious opportunity to redeem the time and to utilize it for his glory.

And people who are successful, people who are good in business, people who are walking closely with the Lord, people who are doing the things that they need to be doing as God intended for them to do, you know one thing that they value more than anything else? They value it more than anything outside of their relationship with God and so on and so forth, is time. They're spending more money to invest to buy their time back. They're not wasting their precious asset with something that is completely superfluous.

This is why I get so wired when I talk about the idea that people waste so much time doing things like watching movies all day or playing video games and wasting their lives away. Here's the reason why I get so frustrated with that kind of mindset. This is the reason why I just hate it so much. It's like this. It's like you being in a desert and you've been thirsty for the last 25 hours and you're saying, "I'm desperate. I need water, I need water, I need water." And then someone puts a cold bottle of water in your hands and it's not a small bottle. It's a two-gallon bottle of water. It's cold, it's icy. And you say, "Water!" and you open it up and you pour it on the desert floor or the desert ground. That's what happens when you waste time. It's like water in a desert where you have none. It's something that's a precious asset and you know what we're doing all the time? We're cracking open that bottle and we're pouring it on the ground because we are not valuing the moments that God has given us. And here's the thing: Time flies.

By the way, the phrase "time flies when you're having fun," can I just make something really clear to you? That is especially true when the fun you're having involves amusement instead of recreation, if you know what I mean when I say that. We talked about that in the Mindset series. When you allow yourself to be distracted from the very things that you need to be tackling head-on, time will go by very, very fast until it goes by so fast that you realize you have none of it left. And when you realize you have none of it left and it's too late, then it's a wrap. You guys get it? Time is such a valuable thing.

Now, let's look at this phrase that we see in verse two because we have to quickly go through this. It says the tree yielded her fruit every month and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Why the healing of the nations? Because the nations have always been corrupted. Like if you think about it, guys, go back to the Tower of Babel. Think about what happened at the Tower of Babel. The last time we see any event in the Bible that even resembles globalism was the Tower of Babel. And if you remember they were all speaking with one language, they were all working together and Josephus brings up a good point and it's something that I completely agree with and that is this: He says that the reason why they built the Tower of Babel was to literally avoid judgment from the Lord so that they would not have to experience the effect of a flood again, have a tower so big that they could get away in that tower and there'd be no consequence of it.

And God said this when he watched what they were doing. If you remember in Genesis 11, God said they all speak with one language, they're all working together and here's the thing: There is nothing that they will not be able to do. There's nothing that they could be prevented from doing if they all put their mind to it and they have it in their thought to do. So God said what? I'm going to confuse their languages. And what did he do? He confused their languages. And when he confused their languages, they all went their separate areas and that was the very beginning of the nations.

Here's something that's interesting. We know that that's a very true fact and we know it's a true fact because every single one of these nations have carried into themselves certain commonalities that birth from the place of the Tower of Babel. Can I give you one example of this? One example centers around Nimrod who is in essence believed to be the founder, the person who started Babel and the city and the tower and all of that. Nimrod has a wife and in this relationship that he has, understand he has a baby, he has a child, a boy. And that boy goes off and he ends up dying and when he dies he resurrects.

By the way, there are some people who will go as far as to say that that child was actually born from an immaculate conception. There's some cultures that say this, but here's the thing that's really interesting. Let me show you how smart the devil is and how cunning he actually is. That was believed to have been the case when all the nations were together and it was one global center. They all break up and they all go different places. Do you know that every single paleontological student or archaeological student or anybody worth a dime will all tell you that every single ancient culture they've ever researched has some commonalities in it and one of the biggest commonalities they have is a story of a man who had a wife who had a child who died and rose again. No joke. They all came from that place of the Tower of Babel.

Now here's the thing that gets even more interesting: Because sin greatly influenced what happened when they were all broken up into the nations, the definition that we have of nationalism that's not founded or cycled in the worship of God is the very thing that will actually destroy the nations. When nationalism takes place in a country, at its core when God is being ignored or even worse, when the leader himself presumes himself to be God, you get Nazi Germany. But when nationalism centers around the mindset of a group of people who worship God with all of their hearts and choose to say that we will trust in God to lead our nation, you get pictures that were drawn for us of Israel.

There are other countries that choose to do this. Here's the thing that's really funny, just to show you how good the devil is at this. Isn't it funny when they look at white evangelicals, what's another name for white evangelicals in this country right now? Domestic terrorists and what else? Nationalists. Christian nationalists. Do you understand that when nationalism in a country takes place void of God, that country becomes not only narcissistic, but that country becomes a totalitarian ruled country? Freedom is removed from that country.

But when a country is wrapped in nationalism that is actually being inspired by the spirit of God where the nation chooses collectively to worship God, they become what the United States of America became in its early inception. Why do you think the devil is seeking to call Christians who love God and care about their country Nazis? He's deceiving the world into hating Christians because the devil knows that the flavor of nationalism that actually works and creates freedom for people is the nationalism where people are concerned about pleasing God in their country and doing all the things that a traditional country should hold.

Why do you think they're attacking borders in this country? Why do you think they're trying to, because they want to bring it back to the globalist mindset that has no regard for God and seeks to replace God. The devil is good at what he does, folks, but guess what? I got news for you. When we go to the new heaven and the new earth, when we live in the new heaven and the new earth, there will be nations that will glorify God and the nationalism that exists will be centered around the true and living God and every nation that you see developing within the new heaven and the new earth will all look to Almighty God and they will all work together and there will be complete peace and no sin and no ugliness and we will see what true nationalism should look like.

And guess what? There's a tree that produces fruit every month that has leaves that will be specifically dedicated to the healing of all the nations. In other words, the effects that sin had on all the nations will have now no longer an effect in the heavens. In the new heaven and the new earth as a matter of fact those leaves will produce the opposite effect. Just like sin has declined our nations and has gotten worse and worse and worse, this tree that produces healing is going to make it better and better. Every day that we live, it's going to be better and better. How can it get better? You're living in total, in complete bliss. It can and into eternity it can do it and we'll have time to show us that. Isn't it cool?

Look at this verse 3. It says this. It says, "And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it and his servants shall serve him." I love it. Think about this. That's us, by the way, the servants is us. And you talk about the throne of God, think about the picture that it's drawn here. The Lord is going to be ruling and he's going to be reigning and we talked about this, the throne of God and of the Lamb, we've talked about that already from verse one, but notice this: There'll be no more curse. What does it mean when it says no more curse? You have to go to Genesis.

When the curse was given, it was given to three different people. You remember? And it was given in a specific order. I believe the order that it was given in was based on the order of the people who chose to disobey God. The first person that was cursed was Satan himself. You remember the obvious part of the curse, right? We understand that the snake would be forever changed physically as a result of the curse, but the bigger part of the curse was that God said that Satan would try and in effect bruise the heel of Almighty God, but God would crush his head. And the crushing of Satan's head is the very reason why Satan is doing what he's doing right now because he wants to prevent that. He knows he cannot. I think he thinks because of his pride that he can, but he's not going to be able to. But that's the first curse or the first part of the curse.

Second part of the curse was to women because women were deceived. So then God gave a curse to women and the curse to women was, it's going to hurt when you have babies. And although I look like I have a baby, I'm telling you I don't. But I can tell you this right now: There's nothing like the pain because I know it, I hear it all the time. There's nothing like the pain that a woman goes through when she has a baby.

By the way, I just want to say this. This is coming from a man whose mom isn't living on this earth anymore, that she's in heaven. When it is your birthday, you need to give a gift to your mother. I'm telling you that right now. On your birthday, you should give a gift to your mother because she's the one that went through pain on that day and that's what you need to commemorate. But it's part of the curse.

The other part of the curse is that woman, who God has gifted with immense intellect, with great wisdom, understanding, discernment, with even an emotional capacity that far exceeds that of man. That's why women make better CEOs than men do, even though God never intended for it to be that way. Why? Because God created women to be the CEOs of their home, making some of the best people ever to bring into society. It's a very, very important thing. Which is why this is really sad. There's a growing population of women right now that are sterilizing themselves because they don't want to have babies. Sad. I released a video on this today, but let me just say this really quickly because it's really important.

The other part of that curse is that women, in that brilliance, in that genius, are going to want to rule in their relationships with their husbands, primarily the Bible gives us a hint, because they see their husbands doing the boneheaded things that husbands do, want the best for them, and so they want to take over naturally. Men, you know what your biggest part of the curse is going to be for you? Here it is. You ready? Get to work! That's the curse.

The curse is your job, the things that you do for a living isn't going to be fun. Now, I'm just tell you this right now. I know I'm getting in trouble. It's okay. I don't care because I love you more than I love not getting in trouble. For all of you men that are sitting here and saying you don't want to work because you don't like this job or you don't like that job or this one isn't for you and that one isn't for you, I have this insight for you: Go to work! It's part of the curse. Don't believe the lie that says if you can find a job that you'll love, then you'll be able to just it won't be work for the rest of your life. The Bible disagrees with that.

I love the ministry. I love it. Please tell me, I love the ministry. I love it. I love serving. I love teaching. I love all of it. But there are times when I wish I did not have this job. There are things that I do every day that I don't want to do. And it's not because it's a woe is me, I got a burden, oh, the burden of the Lord. That's got nothing to do with that. It's because I'm subject to the curse that says when I put my hands to the plow it's not going to be fun. It's not fun.

And here's the thing that I think gets really ridiculous. We believe the lie that says we just at some point we get to a certain age and then we just stop. No. I know lots of people that tell me, "Well, I'm a multi-millionaire now. I'm financially independent. I don't ever have to worry about anything else and I'm not going to work." Okay, well, you're a fool. Because you're not working for your immediate family. You're not working for your children. You're working for your children's children and your children's children's children and your children's children's children's children, which means you're subject to the curse. And the reality of it is, get to work. Here's the beautiful part about what we read in verse three: There's no more of that.

Guest (Male): It's exciting to contemplate all the Lord has in store for those who trust in him. Be sure to make your reservation if you haven't already through faith in Christ. You're listening to Light on the Hill and a message about the tree of life. Hear it again online at lightonthehillradio.com.

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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. Let's return to Pastor James for the rest of his message on heaven. In part, what will make heaven so spectacular is what will not be there.

James Kaddis: And notice this verse 4. "And they shall see his face and his name shall be in their foreheads." By the way, that name on the forehead is such a spectacular picture because think about it like this. By the way, we're going to have three names. But isn't it amazing when you think about the fact that the name being on your forehead is remarkable because if the name is on your forehead, that means you cannot look to self. You cannot see your own name on your forehead. Think about that for a second. Think about the significance of that statement.

That all you will do is will be looking beyond. God will give you the name and you look at the one who gave you that forehead. Isn't it funny how the devil wants to put a mark on your forehead? It's a cheap imitation of what God is going to one day do. Think about that for a second. We're not going to be narcissistic human beings living in the world like we do today. We're going to be looking at the one who put the mark on us. And the mark will be a good mark. The mark will be a powerful one. The mark will be a significant picture of what God has made us. A reminder to one another of the value that God has given to us, collectively, together.

Look at the last verse here. "There shall be no night, no night there and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord hath given them light and they shall reign forever and ever." It's such a spectacular thing. God will be the light. Think about all the things that won't exist. Just think about the list. I made a quick notation of the things that won't exist in the new heaven and the new earth.

Think about this. There's no curse. We just read that. Verse 3 of chapter 22. No tree of knowledge. We talked about that in verse 1. No evil. Revelation 21:27. No night. Think about that. No night! There'll never be night. There's no darkness to operate in. Revelation chapter 21 says that. No temple. God himself will be the temple. No moon. No sun. No death, crying, or pain. Revelation 21. Think about that for a second. No sea. Sorry, surfers. But sea has always been indicative of turmoil and difficulty and hardship and pain and suffering. None of it. And my favorite one, this is my favorite one. You ready? No Satan. No adversary. No one there to destroy or to get in the way of it.

Do you understand what that means? That means we have a guarantee from God that the heaven and the earth that we're going to experience one day will never be corrupt again. We will experience it all to its fullest. Isn't that spectacular, folks? Think about the wonder of that. Amen?

Guest (Male): Our study of Revelation will continue next time on Light on the Hill with Pastor James Kaddis. Remember, as a Christian, you are the light of the world, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. This program is brought to you by Calvary Chapel Signal Hill.