Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: Here we notice a stream of water coming right from the throne of God. What is that? A symbol of God’s salvation to every person that comes to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Even at the end, He reminds us of the river of life.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. We are pressing on in our study of the afterlife, and we’re glad you’ve joined us for assurance that one day, as a believer, you’ll experience the lost bliss of Eden. Adam and Eve enjoyed communion with God until sin drove them out of paradise, which was a painful separation that extended to all of us. But as you keep listening today, you’ll find fresh hope in the promise of heaven, an eternal home rich with perfect peace and joy in God’s presence. Let’s join Raul Ries now in the Book of Revelation.

Raul Ries: Let’s get into the study beginning with verses 1 through 5 in chapter 22, and this is what John says: “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” By the way, heaven in the Bible is mentioned 700 times. 700 times we are informed of heaven.

But here now in the conclusion of this great vision that God has given to John of the city of God, it shows us not only the link and the description of this beautiful paradise in Eden from the beginning of time to the concluding of time. It’s hard to believe that this world is going to come to an end. Even as God destroyed the world by water one time, He will destroy it by fire the second time. The Bible tells us that.

And yet, as God destroys the earth by fire, He is going to create all things brand new. So here in the city of Jerusalem, there in restored paradise, he showed me a pure river of water of life, speaking of eternal life. Salvation that has been given to each one of us individually. Why do I say that? Because number one, the Garden of Eden in Genesis chapter 2 beginning with verse 10 has a river, the same river we see here.

And then in Ezekiel chapter 47, verse 9, Ezekiel had a vision of a river that was flowing out of the temple of God. And here we see that this river is flowing out of the middle of the throne of God and the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. And then Jesus in John chapter 7, verses 37 through 39, He talked about this river of water, this river of flowing water that can run out of each one of us individually, speaking of the Holy Spirit that brings life to each one of us individually as we are baptized with His Holy Spirit and power.

So in order to understand the river that he’s talking about, let’s go to the Book of Genesis chapter 2 this morning. Head over that side and see what God has to say to us. Here we have the beginning of all things in chapter 1, the creation of God and His universe. In chapter 2, verses 1 through chapter 3, we have the seven-day creation.

And then in chapter 2, verse 7, he says, “And the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” God created man in a full age out of the ground. He put His spirit in him and he became a living soul. Now what’s amazing is that here is man without woman, living in the paradise of God there in the Garden of Eden, such a beautiful place God had created for Adam and Eve.

And look what it says in verse 8: “And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made every tree to grow that is pleasant in his sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the middle of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” The same tree in Revelation chapter 22. Same tree.

And then what? Notice what he says: “And now a river went out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it parted and became four riverheads. The name of the first was Pison.” And then the second, as you read on there, he says the second river is Gihon. And then in verse 15, you see there, he says, “And then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend it and to keep it.”

Now after God introduces these four heads to the rivers, and the third one is in verse 14, he says the Hiddekel, and then of course the fourth is the Euphrates River. That as God creates this beautiful place for man to dwell in without any pollution, perfection, totally naked without clothes, not even being conscious of any evil thing. And God creating man with great knowledge, very intellectually.

It says in verse 15: “And then the Lord God took the man, he put him in the garden of Eden to tend and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man saying, ‘Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.’” Notice the instructions. “For in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die.”

So God gave a pre-warning to Adam before Eve was ever created concerning this tree that would bring the knowledge of good and evil into his life. God set the borders, God set the lines on what he could do and what he could not do, and he was free to do whatever except one thing: do not touch this tree.

Then again in verse 20: “And Adam gave names to all the cattle, of the birds of the air, and every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.” So here is God’s responsibility, giving man the responsibility to go ahead intellectually and name all the animals.

And then it says there that as he created man with intelligence and he began to name all of the animals, at the same time, notice again what he says. Because this is really important in verse 20: “And as Adam gave names to all the cattle of the birds of the air and to every beast of the field, but for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.” As Adam began to look at giraffes and monkeys and lions and all that, he was not an evolutionist.

But he knew there was something different when he looked at the animal kingdom and he looked at himself. And it says that he did not have a helper. God had not given to him a helper that would help him. But look what it says again, this is so cool how God did it. Because he goes on to say this in verse 21 again: “And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. He slept and he took one of his ribs and he closed up the flesh in its place.”

And then the rib, or the curved side, or the blood transfusion which the Lord God had taken from the man, He made it into a woman. Notice, not into a man, a woman. We have to say that today in the days we’re living in. And He brought her to the man. Notice what it says: “And Adam said, ‘Wow!’” I mean think about it. After you look at these monkeys and giraffes and lions, all of a sudden God creates this woman. He must have gone out of his mind. “Wow, this is different.” In innocency.

And therefore notice what it says: “And this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. She shall be called Jane.” No, woman. Notice. He tells us exactly how it happened. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and shall leave his mommy.” Notice that. “And shall what? And shall be glued unto his wife and the two shall become one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and notice, no shame.”

No shame. Why? Because they were perfect. Innocency. There’s an innocence in their lives. Sin has not entered into their lives. They’re in a perfect state, a perfect environment. Until chapter 3. Look in verse 1: “And now the serpent.” That word serpent is a very interesting word. This is where the Chinese get their dragons. It’s the word dragon, the shining one in Hebrew.

And it’s interesting because here is Satan transforming himself whether a real dragon or a shining one, but it says he was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, notice the first thing that happens in the Garden of Eden. Satan comes into the garden and begins to challenge what God said. Now the interesting thing is he doesn’t challenge the man, he challenges the weaker vessel, the woman.

Where was the husband? We don’t know. Maybe he went fishing, I don’t know. But he’s not around as the head of his home to protect the weaker vessel. And so when the enemy sees that the husband’s not around, what does he do? He attacks the woman, challenging the word of God. “Has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden?” Now the problem is the woman should have never said anything, but she did.

Guest (Male): You’re listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Visit somebodylovesyou.com for a wealth of Bible-based resources that will help you maintain a heavenly mindset in your daily life. Look for Raul’s four-lesson Heaven or Hell series, conveniently available on CD and flash drive. Now let’s continue with more from Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Verse 2: “And the woman said to the serpent, ‘We may eat of the fruit of the tree of the garden, but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said you shall not eat of it.’” Now there should be a period there. She should have stopped there. The next line, she added to the word of God. Sad. And she said this: “Nor shall you touch it, lest you die.” God never said that. She added to it. Well, Satan saw the opportunity, so what did he do?

Verse 4: “And then the serpent said, ‘You will surely not die. For God knows that in the day that you eat of it, your eyes will be opened and you will be.’” Here’s the Mormon doctrine. This is where the Mormons get their doctrine, that you will become like gods. The word God here is Elohim and they use the word gods. He says, “You will become like God, knowing good and evil.” You see, this is where Mormon theology started here.

And notice what he says again in verse 6: “And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and it was pleasant to the eyes and the tree desirable to make one wise.” Notice, here it is. She took of it, of the fruit she ate, and she also gave to her husband with her and they ate. And they fell into sin. And what happened? The first thing that happens when they sin against God is that their eyes were opened. You see, they noticed they were naked. Shame came immediately.

Look what it says: “And the eyes of them both were opened and they knew that they were naked.” And what did they do? They sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons or coverings. The first thing that our parents did and we will do is when we sin against God, what’s the first thing we do? We don’t put fig leaves, but fig leaves here are in reference symbolically to a self-righteousness in your life. They try to cover themselves with their own self-works, self-righteousness.

So what does God do? Notice verse 9: “And then the Lord God called to Adam and said, ‘Where are you, Adam?’” It’s not that God is dumb or He cannot see where they’re at. He knows where Adam and Eve are hiding. But here is tremendous words as God is a father to Adam and Eve crying out, “Where are you?” It’s not that He doesn’t know that they’re hiding, but it’s a spiritual saying. He’s actually saying, “Where are you spiritually, Adam and Eve?” He knows they have fallen.

And today God asks you, where are you spiritually? Because you may think you’re in the right place at the right time, but sometimes we are deceived. Sometimes we are deceived like Adam and Eve, thinking that you’re supposed to be here but you’re not supposed to be here but somewhere else. Here they fell for the first time into that consciousness of sin. Knowing the good and the evil. They knew they were naked. They were ashamed. And what is the first thing? They try to cover up their nakedness through self-works, self-righteousness.

Where are you spiritually? Verse 10: “And he said, ‘I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked and I hid myself.’ And then God said, ‘Who told you you were naked?’” You see, God is asking questions because He wants answers to the truth. You see, He doesn’t want you to go around the problem. Let’s get to the problem. Don’t make excuses for your sin.

And that’s usually what men will do. When man is interrogated by God, what do we do? We try to make excuses before God and we say, “Well God, I really didn’t mean to do what I did and the reason I did it is because of this.” Baloney. Just get to the point why you did it through repentance. Adam and Eve were hiding themselves.

So what does He do? Watch this. This is so amazing. And so again, where are you? Hiding. Verse 11: “And He said, ‘Who told you you were naked? And have you eaten from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?’” He’s asking a direct question: yes or no? And what does he do? “And then the man said, ‘The woman whom you gave me.’” You see, this is where the passing of the buck started in the Garden of Eden. “The woman you gave to me, she gave me and I ate. It’s her fault.”

Amazing. Instead of saying and taking responsibility as the head of his home, “Yes, I did and she did too and I take full responsibility,” he says, “No, the weaker vessel forced me to do it.” We hear that every day in courts. Notice what He says. And then the Lord said to the woman, “Woman, what is this that you have done?” And the woman said, “Oh no, no, it was the serpent.” You see, now blames it on the serpent.

She said, “The serpent made me do it, deceived me and I ate.” And the Lord God then curses the serpent. And then in verse 15, He brings in His grace and love and mercy in the middle of a curse. He brings in the promise of the Messiah that would come in the middle between the Old Testament and the New Testament, and He would become what? The redeemer of the world to get first Adam, sending second Adam in Romans chapter 5 to do what? To buy the world back to Himself.

Why? Because here in chapter 3, Satan took the title deed to the earth to himself. You see, all that time. And remember the Book of Revelation? There was nobody worthy to take the scroll from the Lord’s hand until Jesus stood up and walked over and took the title deed that Adam and Eve had lost in the Garden of Eden. And Jesus Christ took it back to Himself and that’s why we can have eternal life. Here it is right here, verse 15. Watch.

“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed.” Speaking of Jesus now. “And he, Jesus, shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel on the cross when he would come.” And to the woman he said, “I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; in pain you shall bring forth children; your desire shall be to your husband and he shall rule over you.”

And then to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree in which I commanded you saying, ‘You shall not eat of it,’ cursed is the ground for your sake; in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life; both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you and you shall eat of the herbs of the field.” The first time in the Bible that we hear about thistles and thorns. And where do we hear it again? The crown of thorns is part of the curse of Jesus Christ when he went to the cross.

And in sweat of your face you shall eat bread, and you shall return to the ground. You’re going to die. And out of the ground you were taken and the dust you are and dust you shall return. And Adam called his wife Eve because she was the mother of all living. And also for Adam and his wife the Lord God made coats of skin and clothed them. You see, God intervened. What did He do? He stepped in and the first time in the Bible that God makes an atonement, a blood sacrifice for sin for Adam and Eve and clothes them with animal skin.

Now he goes on. He says, “And then the Lord God said, ‘Behold the man has become like one of us.’” Notice the capital U-S, that’s speaking of Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the Trinity. “To know good and evil. And now, lest they put their hand and take of the tree of life,” the same one in chapter 22, here it is, “and eat of it and live forever.”

What did God say? If Adam and Eve would have gone into the Garden of Eden and took of the tree of life and had eaten, you and I and everybody else would have never had a chance for Jesus to come. We would have been cursed for the rest of our lives. But what did God do? Watch this, verse 24.

“So He drove out the man from the Garden of Eden, and He placed the cherubim,” an angel, “at the east of the Garden of Eden and a flaming sword which turned every way to guard the way of the tree of life.” The same tree in the Book of Revelation chapter 22. “And he showed me a pure river of living water, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb,” speaking of Jesus Christ.

So here we notice a stream of water coming right from the throne of God. What is that? A symbol of God’s salvation to every person that comes to the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. God is not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Even at the end, He reminds us of the river of life. This great salvation gift that is given to man.

Guest (Male): If something you’ve heard today has stirred your heart, then we urge you to turn to the Lord Jesus in true repentance and faith and embrace Him as your Lord and Savior. You’re listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Now because of the limitations of broadcast time, we weren’t able to bring you all of Raul’s teaching. But if you’d like to get an unedited version of today’s message, just call us at 800-634-9165 and for a donation of $5 or more, we’ll send a copy of our study, The New Heaven Forever.

We’d also like to tell you about Raul’s four-part series titled Heaven or Hell. It’s available on CD and USB. Every lesson will help you better understand the realities of life after death, while challenging you to receive God’s gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul’s four-lesson Heaven or Hell series. We’ll send you the CD set for $18 or the thumb drive for just $10. That’s 800-634-9165. Or write to Somebody Loves You Radio, P.O. Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

Join Raul for straight talk on the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. West Coast time. You’ll also find podcasts of all previously aired radio programs on that channel, or you can look for them on iTunes and Spotify. Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries is fully listener-supported. Every gift you give enables us to keep spreading the good news of the Lord Jesus Christ with the world.

Tune in next time for the conclusion of this series exploring life beyond what our eyes can see. Considering Jesus’ final promise to return one day for His people, we’ll see why it’s important to order our hearts and shape our days in anticipation of meeting our Savior face to face. This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.