"Beware of both undevotional theology and untheological devotion."

Beware of both undevotional theology and untheological devotion.

— Michael Reeves (@mike_reeves) July 15, 2026

 

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Timothy George on "Hot Orthodoxy"

"One of the most dangerous dichotomies in the Christian life is for the spiritual to be divorced from the doctrinal, experience from theology." - Timothy George on Galatians 3:1

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10 Years of Blogging

Happy birthday to Hot Orthodoxy! 

On April 14, 2005, we began with this inauspicious little post:

"Here we are. I guess we're blogging!"

And we were apparently off and running.

My second post explained my title (and so did a bunch of others along the way).

At first, Heather and I weren't sure whether or not it was a good thing to be so public. My first series of posts was "To Blog or Not to Blog," but eventually we agreed that it was a healthy and helpful outlet for me. I tried to set a pace of posting at least twice a week, though I wasn't always consistent in that. In 2013, I posted something every single day.

This week, I spent some time look over the over 2,000 posts in that ten year history, and I'm generally happy with what I found, including:

• Nearly 500 sermon manuscripts, the most visited being "Married to an Unbeliever" (surprisingly till ranked very highly on the Google search results for those words.)
• Over 100 book reviews of all kinds.
• Reflections on life as a homeschool dad, budding hunter, and happy husband.
• Chronicles of my doctoral work from 2008-2012.
• The recent and very popular addition of Heather's nature photography on Saturdays.
• My attempts to wrestle with the intersection of theology and life on big topics like homosexuality, Bible translation, living as a Christian online, and Christian prayer.
• And, of course, my journey of writing, publishing, and sharing Resisting Gossip with the world.

Looking back over the oldest articles, I detect some innocence that I've lost but also some naivete. My posts have moved away from some cuteness and cleverness, but I'm glad to see that I'm still passionate about the truth of the gospel of my Lord Jesus Christ.

Thanks are due to those who read this blog (Google stats show over 200,000 visits) and especially those who pray for me as I write. I'm also thankful for Eriksen Web Design for the snazzy blog template--so much better than the original blase look.

I'm grateful for how God has used this little blog and expectant for the next 10 years!

The original vintage look for "Hot Orthodoxy."

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New Feature: Recommended Resources

I'm starting a new "tag" for this blog: "Recommended Resources."

This tag will be for both books that I highly recommend as well as papers, documents, and websites that I think are truly helpful.

I'm always trying to point people to the best stuff out there, and I hope that adding this tag will give readers a one-click solution to finding them quickly here at Hot Orthodoxy.

Let me know if it helps you.

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365 Straight Days of Blogging

Today marks my 365th day of uninterrupted blogging here at Hot Orthodoxy.

I still have a couple of weeks to go to do a full year in 2013, a goal I set out early this year, but I have posted a least one (hopefully valuable) thing each day now for the last 365. I expect that my frequency will go back down a bit in 2014--I don't want to continue to be the slave of the blog or the calendar--but I hope to keep saying things that are worthwhile to readers.

Thank you, dear friends, for joining me here this last year to think more deeply about connections between head, heart, and life for a follower of Christ.

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Hot Orthodoxy on Life Letters Cafe

I've recently joined the group of Christian "Life Notes" bloggers at Life Letters Cafe, a multi-author site of Christian encouragement founded by David Miller.

I enjoyed meeting David on the phone last week--a very generous and encouraging fellow! I appreciate what he said about this blog:

What the entire Life Notes blog team has in common is the desire for you today to find God’s grace in new ways and proven ways . . . so that by faith . . . you can hit just the right Life Notes in your pursuit of Christ  . . . and those who have yet to know Him!

I don't have much up there yet. I will be sharing things I've already written for Hot Orthodoxy (my first post is a review of Stop the Runaway Conversation) and an occasional post just for Life Notes.

If you need encouragement today, stop over there and see if God has something just for you.

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Hot Orthodoxy in Finland

Well, I never saw this one coming.

Selected articles from this blog are now being translated and re-blogged (with my permission) in Finnish by a Christian brother named Simo Papunen (aka "Toimitus").

Toimitus runs a blog called Uskon kilpi -- "The Shield of Faith."  And the first series of posts will be from last year's sermon series on the book of Ruth.

Thanks, Simo, for your ministry. I pray that it will encourage believers in Finland and reach new people for Christ!

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40 Years Old, Post 2000

40 Years Old

Here's a milestone:

This is the 2,000th post published on Hot Orthodoxy landing on my 40th birthday.

I started this humble blog on April 14, 2005 as a place to broadcast my thoughts about heat (passion) and light (truth) wedded together in full-blooded Christianity.

Over the last 13 years, we've covered a lot of ground. Some weeks I haven't said much between Matt's Message posts. Others, I've sounded off again and again (hopefully in a helpful and loving way).  In 2011, I blogged through the experience of writing my doctoral project on the problem of gossip which is now in the process of being published as Resisting Gossip with CLC Publications in the Fall.

This year, I'm attempting to post something substantial on this blog every day. So far, so good (not that every post has been scintillating!).

My goal for each and every post at Hot Orthodoxy is to fulfill Ephesians 4:29. "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."  My prayer is that you have benefited as I have opened my mouth and typed on this keyboard.

Thanks for reading and for celebrating these milestones with me.

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Getting Burnt

On Friday night, I finally understood the story of Uzzah in 2 Samuel 6.

But it took getting burnt.

You know the story of Uzzah? He and his brother were guiding an oxcart with the ark of the covenant on it from where it didn’t belong to where it did belong.

The oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out to steady the ark, and the Lord killed him for touching it.

I read that story to my boys at bedtime a couple of weeks ago, and they weren’t too sure that the Lord had done justly!  Wasn’t Uzzah’s heart in the right place?

On Friday night, my boys and I emptied the ash out of our woodburning furnace outside in a light drizzly snow.  I had almost 3 aluminum trash cans full of ash that needed to be dug out to make room for more wood in the firebox.

(Can you see where this story is going?)

My normal approach is to fill a trash can with hot ashes with a spade, lift the can into my wheelbarrow and then run it behind my shed to dump the ashes.

The first load worked like usual, but the oxen (me) stumbled on the second load and the trashcan began to tip in exactly the wrong place.

So, I reached out to steady it. 

There was a hole in my glove on the left palm. Guess where I now have a 1st degree burn?

My immediate thought was , “I shouldn’t have been playing with fire.”  (After “Ouch!!!!”)

My mind also went right to Uzzah.

The Lord had been perfectly clear about how the ark was to be transported, and Uzzah and company (led by King David) knew better. They were already playing with fire when Uzzah reached out to touch that holy object.

No wonder he got burnt–he was playing with fire.

Just because the Lord is amazingly gracious and richly merciful does not give us license to live however we please. God is holy, holy, holy, and His followers would be wise to remember it all of the time.

I hope I’ve had that lesson burnt into me.

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A Goal for 2013: Posting Every Single Day

I'm on a roll.  

I've been posting something on this blog every day since December 21st.

Today, I set a goal of posting something worthwhile on each day of 2013.  (Though this post notifying you just barely crosses the line of "worthwhile.")

Astute readers will note that I'm attempting to post a My Father's World photo every Saturday, a Matt's Message on Sunday, something about hope for holy sexuality on Wednesdays, blogs I read most Mondays, and sprinkling generous doses of thoughts about resisting gossip throughout the week.

I'm not sure I can keep up this pace, but I'm enjoying the challenge.

What would you like to read about here at Hot Orthodoxy?

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[Matt's Messages] "Eternity"

“Eternity”
December 16, 2012
Revelation 21:1-22:21

I decided yesterday to put 1 John on the shelf until the new year. We’ll talk about Christmas next Sunday. Spencer Folmar will preach for me on December 30th. You won’t want to miss that.  And then, Lord-willing, we’ll return to Essential Christianity in 1 John chapter 2 on January 6th.

But today, we’re still in a book written by John, the last book of your Bible. Revelation chapters 21 and 22.

I felt yesterday that the Lord might want me to preach on this because of what has happened in our world, our nation, our church, and our families in the last week.

There has been a lot death. This week, our church family said goodbye to Ann Kyler. Steve Pelton’s dad died on Friday. The week before, Don Gulich’s dad died. This week, my uncle Rich died. This week was the two year anniversary of Heather’s mom dying.  I’m sure that many of you have a similar anniversary that you are marking this month and someone that you know has died or is dying.

It just seemed like there was death all around.

And then Friday happened. Newtown, Connecticut was visited by a horrible evil.

And while there have been many events like this in the past, many more horrible even, and there will be more events like this in the future, many more horrible, this one stood out and shocked us all, leaving us angry and sad and bewildered and numb.

And it’s at times like that, especially, that we need to hear what God says about eternity.

“Eternity”

The way things will be forever.

Because things are not the way they should be now.  Amen?

There is no doubt about it that our world is broken.

Our world is not the way it should be.

But that’s not the way it will be in eternity.

And at times like this when it seems so sharp and heavy that things are not the way they should be, Christians need to remind themselves of what God has promised, what God has said will be, and draw our strength from that.

I don’t have all of the answers for those families who are grieving their little ones.

But I do know the future of the world because God has told it to us, and that makes all the difference.

So, let’s read about it in God’s Word.  Revelation chapter 21 and 22.

This is the very End of a very long story.

The Great Story began in Genesis chapters 1 and 2 on the first two pages of your Bible.  God made a very good world and put very good people in it to enjoy it and rule it and to enjoy Him and serve Him forever.

But in the third chapter of this Great Story, everything went wrong.  The very good people rebelled against their Creator and the very good creation was put under a curse.

And for the rest of 66 books, God has been pursuing a plan to return everything to how it was supposed to be...and even better. 

And that plan was focused in Jesus Christ.  His death for our sins and His resurrection for our new life–the Gospel.

And Revelation 21 and 22 are the End of the Great Story, the last 2 pages of our Bibles.

Jesus has returned!

Jesus has brought us Resurrection Bodies. He has crushed His enemies.  He has judged all mankind.  He has ruled for a thousand years.  He has tossed the unholy trinity of the devil, the beast, and the false prophet as well as death and Hades into the lake of fire!

And now Jesus is ushering in Eternity!

Revelation 21 and 22 is the Apostle John’s last vision in the book of Revelation.  It was a vision revealed to John by God Himself.  It was a vision of New Heavens and a New Earth. It was a vision of Eternity.

What I want to do this morning is to slowly read these two chapters and point out many details as we go along.  And then I want to answer three big questions about Eternity.  I can’t answer all of the questions or point out all of details, there just isn’t enough time, and frankly, I don’t have all of the answers to all the questions about these two chapters!

But I do want to answer these 3 questions from the Bible:

1.  What Will Not Be In Eternity?

2.  What Will We Do In Eternity?

3.  What Should We Do About Eternity?

So listen for the answers to those questions as we read God’s Holy Word.

Revelation chapter 21, verse 1.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”

This is John’s last vision in the Book of Revelation.  It is a vision of a New Heaven and a New Earth.  A new creation.  A new universe.  The old one that we are in now was destroyed, has passed away.  The New one has come.  We do not just have a new body, but we have a new Heaven and a New Earth, as well. V.2

“I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”

Now, we need to understand that this prophecy is apocalyptic literature. Some year at Family Bible Week, I’m going to teach on how to read apocalyptic literature. It’s the most difficult genre in the Bible to interpret.

John is seeing a vision that is full of symbol-laden reality about the future.  He says that he sees a city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride!  A city-bride!  A New Heaven, a New Earth, a New Jerusalem like a bride–beautiful, radiant, ready–a bride.

Theologians call this the “Consummation of All Things.”  All things in Heaven and Earth are being united under Christ (Ephesians 1:10).  This New Jerusalem connects a New Heaven and New Earth so they are now unified.  

We don’t just get to go to Heaven.  We get to go to a New Earth that is one with Heaven.  The consummation of all things.  V.3 

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” 

That the was verse that grabbed me yesterday as I was thinking about and praying for the people in Connecticut.

V.5  “He who was seated on the throne [God!] said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ [And now we can read them in our Bibles.] He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.  He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.’”

He then goes on with this vision of the New Creation.  V.9

“One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ [That’s us, brothers and sisters!]  And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me [...] the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. [We are,  somehow, Jerusalem!]  It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”

“It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.  There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.  The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. [12 Tribes, 12 Apostles, the Totality of the People of God in the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament together.]”

“The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.  The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length [1400 miles!], and as wide and high [!] as it is long.”

This is a 1400 mile cube! Almost 2 million square miles on each floor.  Giving 12 feet for each floor, you could have 600,000 stories in this building.  Jesus said, “In my house are many rooms.”  Billions could live here.  V.17 

“He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick [about 200 feet], by man's measurement, which the angel was using [which makes it sound literal!].  The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.  The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.”

What does that remind you of?  Anybody remember when we studied the Tabernacle back in Exodus? This city is a lot like the Tabernacle. It’s beautiful like the Tabernacle.  Magnificent and mysterious.

Was there a cube in the Tabernacle?  

Oh yeah. The Most Holy Place was a cube. This entire city is the New Most Holy Place!  And it is precious!  V.21

“The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl [I’d like to see that oyster!]. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.”

The inhabitants of this city walk on gold. That’s how precious the city is and how little gold has value.  God paves His streets with it!  It’s just gold?! V.22

“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. [Notice that it doesn’t say that there is no sun or moon.  Just that they aren’t needed in the New Jerusalem.  Because the Lamb is its lamp.  And the glory of the God gives it light.  V.24]  The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.  On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there [in the city]. [Remember, God is light and in him there is no darkness at all!] The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.  Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.”

Is your name in that book?  Chapter 22.  Verse 1.

“Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. [The river flows down the middle of New Jerusalem Boulevard.]  On each side of the river stood the tree of life [It looks like it’s a grove], bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month [Apparently, there is time in Eternity!]. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.”

“No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. [Just like Aaron the High Priest.]  There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. The angel said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.’”

“‘Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.’  I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I had heard and seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to me.  But he said to me, ‘Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and of all who keep the words of this book. Worship God!’”

“Then he told me, ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book [publish it!], because the time is near.  Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.’ [Time is short.]  ‘Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.  I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

“‘Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.  Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. ‘I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.’”

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’ Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.  I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.  And if anyone takes words away from this book of prophecy, God will take away from him his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.  He who testifies to these things says, ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen.”

Can you see how this gives us the perspective we need to keep living in our times and to keep living for the Lord in our times?

Now, I cannot play out every detail here.  I can’t answer all of the questions it raises. 

I can only recommend that you read a good commentary on the book of revelation or a good set of recordings by a good teacher.

I highly recommend this little booklet by Randy Alcorn called Heaven: Biblical Answers to Common Questions.”  It’s based on this amazing book by the same title, Heaven. I recommend it highly.

There is a version for children called Heaven for Kids, that answer the kinds of questions that kids are asking.

Last year, I recommended this book, The Last Enemy, by Michael Wittmer. There are still some out on the book & Bible table for sale. It’s the best book on death that I’ve ever read–especially preparing for your own death.

And the last half of it deals specifically with what the Bible says about eternity and what difference that should make to our lives.

I do NOT recommend books like “Heaven is For Real” or “90 Minutes in Heaven” or other books in that genre of “I went to heaven, let me tell you about it.”

Those folks may have had genuine experiences and may have good motivations for sharing them with us, but there is no way to test their experiences, and most everyone in the Bible who had similar experiences weren’t allowed to share them with others and couldn’t hardly find the words to do so.

I think those books undermine biblical faith instead of encouraging it.

I’m not saying that you can’t read them, but I, as your pastor, don’t recommend them.

Get your answers here and from books that are about this.

Now, back to our three questions:

#1.  WHAT WILL NOT BE IN ETERNITY?

We can get a sense of what will be by what it says will not be.

What Will Not Be in Eternity?

There will not be (v.1) Any Sea.

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”

Now, I don’t know if that is literal or not.  There are going to be rivers and probably lakes. And maybe oceans.  But it says that there will not be any seas.

The sea was for Ancient Israelites a symbol of chaos and evil.  It was an unstable, uncontrolled, chaotic, killer that separated people.  We are to think of the sea here as the source of evil.  The Beast of Revelation chapter 13 comes out of the sea.

But now, there is no sea.

And there is no (v.4) death.

Death has died. No more funerals!  No more funeral homes.  No more graveyards.  No more sad goodbyes.  Death is gone. Can you imagine?

And there is no (v.5) mourning. If there is no death, there is no mourning. No grieving. No bawling our eyes out that we have lost children or spouses or parents or grandparents.

And there is no (v.4) crying.

The beginning of verse 4 says that God Himself [!] will wipe every tear from our eyes! 

As the song says, “No more crying there, we are going to see the King!”

No more crying because (v.4) there is no more pain, “for the old order of things has passed away.”

No more pain.  Can you imagine?  No more suffering at all?  

My wife has had new unexplained pains ever since October.  And she knows that her pains are nothing compared to what other people are going through right now. Those pains will all be gone.

Our new resurrection upgrade bodies will not suffer pain!  It’s beyond imagining. But it’s true.  The old way of things has passed, the new has come. No more pain.

And no more sinners.  No more unrepentant sinners.  V.8

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers [Newtown Connecticut], the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars–their place [will not be in the New Heavens and New Earth. It] will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

Hell.

There will not be any sinners in eternity.  No unrepentant sinners. There will be billions of sinners saved by grace.

What will not be in eternity?

Any sea, any death, any mourning, any crying, any pain, any sinners, any temple.

Verse 22 says that John “did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

There won’t be any church buildings either.  We won’t need to be drawn into worship.  We just will worship everywhere we are all the time with all of God’s people.

And there won’t be anything impure.  V.27

“Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful.”

Nothing impure.  There will be no masked men shooting students in schools!

And there will not be chapter 22, verse 3, any curse.  “No longer will there by any curse.”

The curse of Genesis 3 will be completely undone and gone!

Everything will be pure and perfect and back to what it was supposed to be...and even better!

Will Not Be In Eternity?

Any Sea, Any Death, Any Mourning, Any Crying, Any Pain, Any Sinners, Any Temple, Anything Impure, Any Curse.

Wow!

What do you say about that?

In his book, One Thing: Developing a Passion for the Beauty of God, Sam Storms writes this, “Think of the implications of what is being said!  When we get to heaven there will be nothing that is abrasive, irritating, agitating, or hurtful.  Nothing harmful, hateful, upsetting or unkind.  Nothing sad, bad, or mad. Nothing harsh, impatient, ungrateful or unworthy.  Nothing weak, or sick, or broken or foolish.  Nothing deformed, degenerate, depraved or disgusting.  Nothing polluted, pathetic, poor or putrid. Nothing dark, dismal, dismaying or degrading.  Nothing blameworthy, blemished, blasphemous or blighted. Nothing faulty, faithless, frail or fading.  Nothing grotesque or grievous, hideous or insidious. Nothing illicit or illegal, lascivious or lustful. Nothing marred or mutilated, misaligned or misinformed.  Nothing nasty or naughty, offensive or odious. Nothing rancid or rude, soiled or spoiled. Nothing tawdry or tainted, tasteless or tempting. Nothing vile or vicious, wasteful or wanton.” (Storms, pg. 178)

That’s what Eternity is going to be for those who belong to Jesus Christ. Amen?

#2.  WHAT WILL WE DO IN ETERNITY?

Now we see what isn’t going to be going on, what will happen?

FIRST, WE WILL SHINE IN THE NEW CREATION.

Did you catch what this city stands for?

It may be a literal city, as well.  I am not ruling that out.  Randy Alcorn and others have made a good case for the New Jerusalem being a gigantic capital city of the New Heavens and the New Earth.

But this city is first and foremost an apocalyptic symbol.  Who or what is the city in Revelation 21 and 22?

It’s us!

We are the city prepared like a bride (chapter 21, verse 2), “beautifully dressed for her husband.”

We are the bride of Christ.  We are the New Jerusalem.  Chapter 21, verse 9.

The angel said, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.  And he carried [John] away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me...[a bride?] the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God.”

We are the bride-city.  And we will shine.  V.11

“It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”

We could go into all of the details of this city-bride.  It is magnificent and mysterious and unimaginably majestic.

And it is, amazingly enough, you and me!  Corporately, perfectly knit together in a perfect community, a perfect society, a perfect people for God. 

The Bible began in a garden and ends in a City.  A Garden City.  Remember the River that runs down the boulevard and the Tree of Life from the original garden that heals the nations?  A Garden City.

That shines!  21:11 again, “It shone with the glory of God...”

We will shine in the New Creation.  New bodies.  A New Heaven.  A New Earth. A New Jerusalem. Shining.  Glimmering.  Radiant with the glory of God.

21:23 and 22:5 says that God and the Lamb give the City its light.

We will shine with the very glory of God.

It’s too good for mere words!

When we’ve been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun

We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise than when we’d first begun.

SECOND,WE WILL SERVE THE KING OF KINGS. 

We will shine in the New Creation, and we will serve the King of Kings.

Chapter 22, verse 3. “The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve Him.”

Heaven will not be passive.  It will be eternal rest.  But it will be active rest!

We will not sit around for all eternity.  We will serve the King of Kings like we were made to do! 

I don’t know all of what that means.  At least part of it is reigning.  Chapter 22, verse 5.  “And they will reign for ever and ever.”  That’s us, too!  Reigning with God over the New Creation!

God has many more plans for us in Eternity.  There will be stories to write and adventures to have, and places to explore. 

We will serve the King of Kings.  We will never be bored.

If you are afraid of Heaven because you are afraid of being bored, you are afraid of the wrong place.  Hell will be the most boring place ever imagined. It will be the same terrible punishment day after day forever.

Heaven will be the most exciting place that is conceivable (and then some).

And the biggest reason for that?

THIRD, WE WILL SEE GOD’S FACE.  Chapter 22, verse 4.

“They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.”

Now, that should shock us!

Remember old Moses back in Exodus chapter 33?  “Show me your glory!”  And God said, “No one can see my face and live.”

But we’re going to see His face!  And we’re going to live forever.

“Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12)

This is where our love relationship with Jesus Christ blossoms into what it was made to be!  This is the ultimate love relationship with Jesus Christ!

Theologians call it the “beatific vision.”  Seeing God face to face.

And it means the fullest, most awesome relationship possible.

Chapter 21, verse 3 started with this declaration.

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.’”

This is the consummation.  This is where our love relationship has been going all along.  Total intimacy with God.

The phrase “dwelling of God” in 21:3 is literally, “Tabernacle.”  Now God is tabernacling with men.  He will live with them.  

He did that in a veiled way that first Christmas, God became man and tabernacled among us.

But this is more like at the end of Exodus when God comes down in His shekinah glory and fills the tabernacle.  There is no veil here.

Here, the entire city-bride is a Tabernacle.  And God lives with us!

God is what makes Heaven Heaven!

And we will see God’s face.

Again, Sam Storms says, “Wherever you turn your eyes you will see nothing but glory and grandeur and beauty and brightness and purity and perfection and splendor and satisfaction and sweetness and salvation and majesty and marvel and holiness and  happiness.

We will see only and all that is adorable and affectionate, beautiful and bright, brilliant and bountiful, delightful and delicious, delectable and dazzling, elegant and exciting, fascinating and fruitful, glorious and grand, gracious and good, happy and holy, healthy and whole, joyful and jubilant, lovely and luscious, majestic and marvelous, opulent and overwhelming, radiant and resplendent, splendid and sublime, sweet and savoring, tender and tasteful, euphoric and unified!  

Why will it be all these things?  Because we will be looking at God.” (Storms, pgs. 178-179)

I can’t wrap my mind around it.  And I never will completely.

Even when we are there, we will never reach the end of our amazement at the glory of God.  He is infinite.  We will never see all that He is!

But we will see Him.

If we belong to Him.  That’s question #3.

#3. WHAT SHOULD WE DO ABOUT ETERNITY?

And the first answer is: Come to Christ.

And come thirsty.  Chapter 21, verse 6.

“To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.”  That is grace.  Salvation is a free gift.  “Without cost.”

Jesus died on the Cross to provide “the spring of the water of life” without cost.

And He gives it to those who are thirsty.  Those who recognize their need and put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Come to Christ.  Thirsty.

Overcome.  V.7  “He who overcomes will inherit all this.”  That’s a Book-of-Revelation-Word that means to persevere in faith.  To hang on to Christ.  To hold onto Him and overcome by faith.

All of Eternity comes down to whether or not (chapter 11, verse 27) our “names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

And the only way to know if you name is there is to turn from sin and turn to the Savior.  Put your trust in Jesus Christ and His death on the Cross on your behalf. 

Chapter 22 verse 14 calls this, “washing our robes.” It means coming to Christ.  Having Him wash us clean by His precious blood.

If our robes are “washed” then we have the “right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”

So that you can enter those gates.  Come to Christ.

#2.  Worship God.

In chapter 22, verse 8, John has just tried to absorb all of these visions, and he gets confused and falls down to worship the angel who has been leading him through these revelations.  V.9

“But he said to me, “Do not do it! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets and all who keep the words of this book.  Worship God!”

I don’t know how someone could read and study these two chapters without worshiping!

This is our God!  This is what our God has planned!  Worship God!

Don’t worship the creation.  Don’t worship yourself, your friends, your girlfriend, your boyfriend, your spouse, an angel, a false god.  Worship God!

You are going to see the Face of God.  Start worshiping now.

And #3 (and last).  Long for Jesus.

How many times does it say, “Come!” in chapter 22?

Verse 17.

“The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ [We’re the bride. We are supposed to say, “Come!”] And let him who hears say, ‘Come!’  Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”  V.20

“He who testifies to these things [Jesus] says ‘Yes, I am coming soon.’ Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus.”

Come!  We long for you, Lord Jesus. 

We long for our new bodies.

We long for the New World.

We long for the New Jerusalem.

We long for everything to be the way it should be!

But most of all, we long to see your face!

Come, Lord Jesus.

Amen.

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Hot Orthodoxy in the Top 24 Recommended Christian Blogs by RPM Ministries

Bob Kelleman of RPM Ministries has included this blog in his 24 Top Recommended Christian Blog Sites in 2012.

This is a real honor, especially considering the other folks on the list, many of whom are my mentors and people whom I consider to have deep wisdom. It deepens my commitment to providing helpful, practical, passionate, theological, winsome, gospel-centered resources for readers. Thanks, Bob!

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Welcome to the "New" Hot Orthodoxy

As the saying goes, "Pardon our dust...we are remodeling."

As those of you who have visited the blog today have already seen, there is a new look to Hot Orthodoxy courtesy of Eriksen Web Design, the marketing company of my uber-talented cousin, Laurel Eriksen.

We haven't worked out all of the bugs yet, but the new logo (including picture B readers picked from Schenley Pilgram), the new banner carousel with more recent pictures, and other new features are already up and ready to be enjoyed.

Hope you like it.

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New Feature: "My Father's World" - Heather's Nature Photography

Heather Mitchell's Nature Photography

Heather has agreed to allow me to periodically post some of her nature photography on Hot Orthodoxy. This will increase the amount of beauty on this blog by 1000%.

These pictures will all have the label My Father's World because all nature sings about the glory of God and exists, at least in part, to lead us into worship of Him.

Heather Mitchell's Nature Photography

This is my Father's world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father's world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas--
His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker's praise.
This is my Father's world:
He shines in all that's fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world:
O let me ne'er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father's world:
The battle is not done;
Jesus who died shall be satisfied,
And earth and heav'n be one.

- Maltbie D. Babcock

Heather Mitchell's Nature Photography

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A "Moderate Makeover"

Just as I expected, the newest issue of the JBC is full of winsome wisdom.

I've already been helped by Dr. Powlison's lead-off editorial, A Moderate Makeover.

It even tempers what I call "Hot Orthodoxy" by reframing what we mean by "hot."  Powlison says,"The Holy Spirit seems on fire to produce a life afire with rather unfiery things."

Read the whole thing and tell me what you think.

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Which one would you pick?

Thanks to my cousin Laurel and her amazing company, Eriksen Web Design, this blog is soon going to get a makeover.

And thanks to the gifted Schenley Pilgram, the new look for Hot Orthodoxy will include some current pictures of me. Schen took these pictures last Sunday afternoon, and I think that she did a great job (given what she had to work with).

I'm interested your opinion(s). Which one of these do you think is best for use on the new template (A,B,C,D, or E) and why?  Leave your opinion or your snide remark (I'm ready for it!) in the comment box. Thanks!

A.

 

B.

 

C. 

 

D.

 

E.

Thanks, Schenley, for your skillful photography!

Readers in the Moshannon Valley will want to check out Schenley Pilgram Photography for "casual photography for families, children, seniors, and pets."

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Updated Categories

Astute readers of this blog may have noticed that I have recently updated the labeling/tagging feature for Hot Orthodoxy.

I have gone through all 1771 posts and attempted to add helpful labels for the categories that seem to me to be the most important.

The sidebar to your right has all of the categories labeled and sorted from biggest (Matt's Messages) to smallest (some cute joke-books in the making). I hope that adds to the functionality and usefulness of Hot Orthodoxy for you, the reader.

What other features would be helpful for you?

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New Feature: Blogs I Read

When I last checked, I subscribe to over 300 blogs. Some of those are inactive and never publish anything, others are very active and publish several posts per day. Some are local news sources and family friends. Many are about theology, ministry, spirituality, and everyday life (the kind of things you see discussed on this blog).

Many of those blogs are worth reading, and I'd like to tell you more about them.

Beginning next week, I'm going to start introducing the blogs I read and give you an idea of why I read them and whether or not you might want to check them out, as well.

(I might even tell you about some blogs I read that I don't think that many people should read--or at least what to watch out for as you read them with discernment. But, as usual, we'll try to keep the negativity level low here at Hot Orthodoxy.)

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Hot Orthodoxy on Google +

Today, I connected this blog to a Google + account, so that what I say here gets reported there.

I'm fairly new to G+. At this point it seems like Facebook, but better, but very few people seem to live there. It's like one of those towns that was designed by really smart people but after everyone had already moved across the state lines.

But if you live in G+ (and you know who you are), you can now follow these posts there, too.

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Upcoming at Hot Orthodoxy

Here are some new things to look forward to on this blog:

- More regular posting.  I'm hoping to post 3 to 5 times per week. Sometimes it will be pointing you towards helpful things I see around the internet.  Other times, it will be my own reflections on theology, ministry, and life.  I'll still be posting "Matt's Messages" each week.  I'll also be updating the "tagging" system to make things easier to find and use.  

- More book reviews. I'm working at producing a book review on about a monthly basis for The Biblical Counseling Coalition, a group whose vision for counseling mission resonates with my own.

I'm loving the books, and planning reviews right now for:

The Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything

Wrestling with an Angel: A Story of Love, Disability, and the Lessons of Grace

Grieving with Hope: Finding Comfort As You Journey Through Loss

- Giveaways and Other Special Events.  I'm planning to participate in upcoming blog tours for great books  this Fall including:

Heart of the Matter: Daily Reflections for Changing Hearts and Lives

A Better December: Proverbs to Brighten Christmas

Stay tuned for free books and other fun ways connecting with good resources.

- Updates on Publishing Resisting Gossip.  I have been taking things one step at a time in trying to publish my book on the problem of gossip. I'll keep you updated on as things develop in this process.  Thank you for praying!

- What Else?  What else would you like to see on Hot Orthodoxy? What would serve you, my readers, even more and help you to connect head and heart and life?

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