230 He Wants You to Live "Happily Ever After" With Him

It's true He wants to fulfill the desire of you heart to live happily ever after and He wants to do that with you. His love for us is absolutely amazing. He has abundant life to share with us. He is the alpha of life, the beginning of life, the creator of life. He generates life in himself. He wants you with Him for all eternity. It is the ultimate love story. All human stories are pieces of the story. Join us as we revel in this reality.

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SHOW NOTES

My Mantra

God knows me by name. I am precious to God. He does not hold my faults against me.

He wants me to live with him forever in deepest intimacy.

4. HE WANTS ME TO LIVE “HAPPILY EVER AFTERWARDS” WITH HIM.

John 14:1-3 NLT Don’t let your heart be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in

me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so,

would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything

is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.

This is said by Jesus after the last few verses of chapter 13 where Jesus reveals that he

knows Peter will deny him three times before the sun rises.

Messianic Expectations:

John 12:34 NLT The crowd responded, “We understood from Scripture that the

Messiah would live forever. How can you say the Son of Man will die? Just who is this

Son of Man, anyway?”

Where did the crowd or the scholars get this idea in the OT?

Isaiah 9:6-7 NLT For a child is born to us, a son is given to us.

The government will rest on his shoulders.

And he will be called:

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

7 His government and its peace will never end.

He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David

for all eternity.

Ezekiel 37:25 NLT They will live in the land I gave my servant Jacob, the land where

their ancestors lived. They and their children and their grandchildren after them will

live there forever, generation after generation. And my servant David will be their

prince forever.

Daniel 7:13-14 NLT As my vision continued that night, I saw someone like a son of

man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient One and was

led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, honor, and sovereignty over all the

nations of the world, so that people of every race and nation and language would

obey him. His rule is eternal—it will never end. His kingdom will never be

destroyed.Isaiah’s picture of the New Earth

Isaiah 11 NLT

Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot—

yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.

2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.

He will not judge by appearance

nor make a decision based on hearsay.

4 He will give justice to the poor

and make fair decisions for the exploited.

The earth will shake at the force of his word,

and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.

5 He will wear righteousness like a belt

and truth like an undergarment.

Violence will disappear under the leadership of the Messiah

6 In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;

the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.

The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,

and a little child will lead them all.

7 The cow will graze near the bear.

The cub and the calf will lie down together.

The lion will eat hay like a cow.

8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.

Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.

9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,

for as the waters fill the sea,

so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.

10 In that day the heir to David’s throne[b]

will be a banner of salvation to all the world.

The nations will rally to him,

and the land where he lives will be a glorious place.[c]

11 In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second timeto bring back the remnant of his people—

those who remain in Assyria and northern Egypt;

in southern Egypt, Ethiopia,[d] and Elam;

in Babylonia,[e] Hamath, and all the distant coastlands.

12 He will raise a flag among the nations

and assemble the exiles of Israel.

He will gather the scattered people of Judah

from the ends of the earth.

13 Then at last the jealousy between Israel and Judah will end.

They will not be rivals anymore.

14 They will join forces to swoop down on Philistia to the west.

Together they will attack and plunder the nations to the east.

They will occupy the lands of Edom and Moab,

and Ammon will obey them.

15 The Lord will make a dry path through the gulf of the Red Sea.

He will wave his hand over the Euphrates River,

sending a mighty wind to divide it into seven streams

so it can easily be crossed on foot.

16 He will make a highway for the remnant of his people,

the remnant coming from Assyria,

just as he did for Israel long ago

when they returned from Egypt.

Isaiah 65:17-25 NLT “Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth, and no

one will even think about the old ones anymore.

18 Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!

And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.

Her people will be a source of joy.

19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem

and delight in my people.

And the sound of weeping and crying

will be heard in it no more.

20 “No longer will babies die when only a few days old.

No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.

No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!

Only the cursed will die that young!21 In those days people will live in the houses they build and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.

22 Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses

and confiscate their vineyards.

For my people will live as long as trees,

and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.

23 They will not work in vain,

and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.

For they are people blessed by the Lord,

and their children, too, will be blessed.

24 I will answer them before they even call to me.

While they are still talking about their needs,

I will go ahead and answer their prayers!

25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together.

The lion will eat hay like a cow.

But the snakes will eat dust.

In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.

I, the Lord, have spoken!”

Isaiah 66:22-24 NLT

22 “As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain,

so will you always be my people,

with a name that will never disappear,”

says the Lord.

23 “All humanity will come to worship me

from week to week

and from month to month.

24 And as they go out, they will see

the dead bodies of those who have rebelled against me.

For the worms that devour them will never die,

and the fire that burns them will never go out.

All who pass by

will view them with utter horror.”

Isaiah’s concept of the New Earth is that the Messiah would take over the leadership

and like king David and king Solomon would bring peace and prosperity to Judah.

Then Israel and would gradually take over the whole world.People would live happy secure lives and live for a long time, like the people before

the flood, Messiah would live forever and people would life in peace with the

animals. There was no destruction of heaven and earth or resurrection or afterlife but long life for all.

New Testament expectation of the New Heaven and the New Earth

A resurrection is necessary from the self-destruction of the sinful world and all is made

new.

Here is the evidence,

Jesus declares that he will need to resurrect his friends John 6:39, 40, 54

John 11:25 I am the Resurrection and the Life.

Jesus self-resurrects to demonstrate that his claims are true. These claims about

resurrection take on new life during the 40 days from Passover/Crucifixion and the

Ascension.

Peter is certain there will be destruction by fire to parallel the Noachian flood.

2 Peter 3:10 The heavens will pass away with a loud noise. The sun and moon and

stars will burn up. The earth and all that is in it will be burned up.

There is a New Heaven and a New Earth coming (Revelation 21:1) and the New Jerusalem

(21:9).

The destruction of the planet is the consequence of sin. Sin, like leprosy, like COVID-19,

like phytanyl addiction, like life on this planet, is doomed. It can only be a parasitic

existence. It has no life in itself. It is a monstrously long tapeworm which cannot exist

outside the host’s gut.

Evil can steal, kill and destroy but it has no life in itself. It only survives like a plundering

army while there are resources to feed its selfish desires.

But Jesus. But Jesus. But Jesus.

He has abundant life to share with us. He is the alpha of life. He is the beginning of life. He

is the creator of life. He generates life in himself. You can kill his human body and lock him in a tomb but his life will burst forth on Easter Sunday morning. He is the unstoppable force of love and compassion.

He wants you with him for all eternity. It is the ultimate love story. All human love stories are pieces of the story.Here is the glorious transition: from mortal to immortal, from death to life, from the bondage of body to freedom of Spirit (1 Corinthians 15:49).

1 Corinthians 15:51-53 NLT But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not

all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an

eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have

died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be

transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never

die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.

The noisiest verse on the Bible:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 NLT For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with

a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call

of God. First, the believers who have died[a] will rise from their graves. 17 Then,

together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up

in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever. 18 So

encourage each other with these words.

Going home is about going to people who love us and whom we love. Reunions are all

about the same. Home comings are just this experience. It is to come together to share our love with each other. This is the greatest home coming of time and timelessness.

We will be with the LORD forever in deepest intimacy, mercy and compassion. Worship

prepares us for this home coming. It is to celebrate the joy of this future now.

Ian Hartley, September 2025