James 4:10 Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. 
	We are in the midst of our consideration of Heaven. With Dr. Donnelly’s study as our framework, we are following a Biblical deliberation of what is God’s revealed heart with regard to heaven. At its very core is the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Last week, we began to regard Him as the very source of our vision of God. It is through Jesus Christ that God and all His glory will be revealed to us. We get glimpses of His glory in Christ now, on this earth. But, in heaven, those glimpses will be transformed into an intense and personal and continual opening of our eyes to the fullness of God. We were considering the truth that the working of the faith of Jesus Christ, which is now our limited vision of God, will be our clear and undefiled vision of God in all His glory. In Heaven, Christ will reveal God by virtue of the faith that is even now at work in us on this earth.     
Thankfully, this is not a course that is reliant on our efforts and our abilities. 1 Cor 2:4+5 And my message and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God. It is all set in the power of God, through the effective ministry of the Holy Spirit by the triumphant victory of Jesus Christ. It all comes back to Christ: His death and resurrection; His heart of love for us and for the Father; His willing sacrifice which brought about His redemptive work in our lives. 
Gal 3:22-26 But the Scripture has shut up all men under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, that we may be justified by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 
Do you see how everything concerning heaven and our partaking of heaven is set in Jesus Christ? It cannot be otherwise. The whole plan and purpose of God rested and was secured in the willing submission of the Son to all that was pleasing to the Father. That is how we will see God. That is how heaven will show forth all the heart of God’s love for us. It will be through the clearest vision of the work and person of His only Begotten Son. 
	Consider for a moment the fact, the truth, the reality that we are enabled, only by the blood of Jesus Christ, only by the covering of His righteousness, and only in His holiness, to enter into the very presence of God. God desires our companionship with Him. He wants us to come to Him, to know Him, to understand Him, to see His glory, and to revel in the light of His heart of love. This is the utmost desire of God for us as His creation. He delights in us and wants us to delight ourselves in Him. Heb 10:19-22 Since therefore, brethren, we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 
He has opened this door into His very Heart through Jesus Christ, and only through Jesus Christ. There is no other avenue of access into this most holy of holies. No one can go there apart from Christ. Even the angelic hosts, to best of my understanding of scripture, are unable to enter into this realm of God’s intimate presence as His very own Children. That avenue is ours in Christ, Alone. It is in this very presence that we come into a living knowledge of God. 
Here and now, we see everything faintly. As the Apostle Paul states in 1 Cor 13:12, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known. We will know God because He opens His very heart utterly clearly and unfilteredly unto us in His Son.
	The faith of Jesus Christ, even at this time, is working in our hearts and minds what will be clearly evident in heaven. Heb 11:1-3 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the men of old gained approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible. 
We have, recorded for us in Hebrews Chapter 11, the great catalogue of the patriarchs, who believed in the promise of the Messiah. They received their salvation based on hope of the One to come. Their faith was measured in their adherence to what was shown to them by God as to His plan and purpose in His saving grace and love. Heb 11:13-16 All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them. 
	Their faith caused them to look forward to the Christ. Through their belief in His promised salvation and redemption, they were enrolled in the book of life, to finally see the outcome of their faith in the face of Jesus Christ. So, also, are we to count on Him, even as we have heard the good news and believe upon Him at this time in God’s dispensation of grace. Heb 12:1-3, Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you may not grow weary and lose heart. 
	Now then, having fixed our eyes upon Jesus to see us through this life, where else would we fix them in heaven? Both the saints of the New and the Old Testament time will be gazing into the very person of faith. Our eyes will be transfixed on the Glory of God in Jesus Christ. He cannot but be the very revelation of the heart of God in whom faith has its basis and its fulfillment. 
Quote, John the Apostle tells us that, ‘The city had no need of the sun, or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light’ (Rev. 21:23). The Lamb is the light-bearer, and when we look at the Lamb, we see the glory of God. Christ is central in heaven because He reveals God to us. In heaven we will worship God in the full-orbed display of His perfections, especially in the glorious person of His Son. End quote. 
	In this light, the book of Revelation contains some of the most heavenly aspects of scripture. It is the Book of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, and central to its entire theme is the Lamb, God’s only begotten Son - Jesus. He is presented over and over again as the Lamb. 
Rev 5:6-14 And I saw between the throne (with the four living creatures) and the elders a Lamb standing, as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. And He came, and He took it out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne. And when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, having each one a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. And they sang a new song, saying, "Worthy art Thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. "And Thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth." And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." And the four living creatures kept saying, "Amen." And the elders fell down and worshiped. 
	In Rev 7:9+10, we read, After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could count, from every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palm branches were in their hands; and they cry out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." 
	And verses 14b-17, … And he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. "For this reason, they are before the throne of God; and they serve Him day and night in His temple; and He who sits on the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne shall be their shepherd, and shall guide them to springs of the water of life; and God shall wipe every tear from their eyes." 
	And consider Rev 12:10+11. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, "Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, who accuses them before our God day and night. "And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they did not love their life even to death. 
	Quote, Why this emphasis on Jesus as the Lamb of God? Because redemption of sinners is at the heart of glory. God reveals Himself perfectly in heaven. All His attributes will be displayed in fullness there. But His supreme purpose is ‘that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus’ (Eph. 2:7). Salvation is what ‘angels desire to look into’ (1 Pet. 1:12) and that, above all, for which they praise the Lord.
	This is overwhelming, breathtaking. It makes us want to fall on our knees in astonished worship. The glory of the glories in the new heaven and new earth will be the love of God to sinners in Christ Jesus. The frailest, most insignificant believer will one day move angels and the redeemed to everlasting praise for God’s grace and mercy. We will look at one another and adore God our Saviour for His matchless kindness. And it will all be in Christ, all because of the Lamb of God who has taken away the sin of the world. End quote. 
	It is as the Lamb Who was slain that God’s glory will be most powerfully and fully revealed in Christ Jesus. All of creation will be in awe and praise unto God for His mighty work on behalf of those who are redeemed by the blood of the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The mystery of God’s plan will be fully opened and the light that will shine forth will be unparalleled in any measure or comparison. What we thought we knew of God’s grace will be dimmed and our meager understanding will be completely lacking in the truth that will be gloriously evidenced in heaven. All that we have endured, all that we have suffered, all the trials and tribulations, the slander, the malice, the hatred and the condemnation of this life will utterly disappear in the light of the glory of God that will be evidenced in the Lord Jesus Christ. The brilliant perfection of the sacrificial work of the Lamb of God, of Jesus Christ, as our redemption will proclaim the endless glory of God. We will see it, we will be part of it, in Him, Alone. Amen.
1 Peter 1:3-9 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials, that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ; and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining as the outcome of your faith the salvation of your souls. Amen.
Humble yourselves in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. So be it.

This morning’s benediction reading is 1 Kings 2:2b-4 … And keep the charge of the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn, so that the Lord may carry out His promise which He spoke concerning me, saying,' If your sons are careful of their way, to walk before Me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel. Amen.