What if heaven isn’t about where you’re going and who gets in and who gets left out? In this message from Robyn Elliott, we explore Revelation 21-22 and uncover a stunning vision of a God who isn't destroying humanity, but rescuing it - defeating evil, throwing open the gates, and making all things new. This isn't a story about escaping earth; it's a story about heaven invading it.
Discussion Questions:
1. When you hear the word "heaven," what images or assumptions immediately come to mind? Where do you think those ideas came from?
2. What do you think is at stake in the difference between a God who destroys creation and a God who redeems it?
3. Revelation describes the gates of the New Jerusalem as never being shut. What does that image communicate about God's character?
4. Robyn’s message argues that God's judgment is directed toward evil rather than people. What do you find compelling - or challenging - about that idea?
5. If heaven is "the realm and rule of God" invading earth, where do you already see signs of that happening today?
6. Why do you think fear-based interpretations of Revelation have remained so popular within parts of the church?
7. Revelation ends with a city whose resources flow outward rather than being hoarded inward. What might that vision teach us about economics, generosity, and community - and what would it look like to embody that way of life now?
8. How does the image of God making "everything new" shape the way you think about people, society, and the future?
9. If the New Jerusalem is both a future hope and a present reality, where do you already see glimpses of it in our world today?
10. The Book of Revelation is less about predicting events and more about revealing what reality looks like when God finally defeats evil. How has that changed the way you’re reading the book as we’ve gone through this series?
11. What questions have surfaced as we’ve gone through this series?