The New Heaven and the New Earth
The Conquering Lamb • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
0 ratings
· 3 viewsNotes
Transcript
INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
If there is anything that my beautiful wife loves, it is watching a couple of people renovate a house in thirty minutes on a TV show.
Maybe you are like her.
Many people are.
In 2021, HGTV was the 9th most watched network in country, with 1.2 million committed viewers.
In the same year, Chip and Joanna Gaines did a deal with Warner Brothers, making a nice $750 million by selling their Magnolia Network content.
There’s nothing wrong with these shows. In fact, considering the trash on TV most of the time, it is pretty refreshing television in terms of moral uprightness.
But why do we love it so much?
Why do 1.2 million people love it?
Why would Warner pay 3/4 of a billion dollars for it?
Well I actually think there is something deep within us that makes us watch these shows.
There is something in us that longs to see the old ripped out and the new installed.
There is something in us that longs to see brokenness overhauled and to be replaced with beauty.
There is something deep in our souls that absolutely cries out for restoration to take place where there is ruin.
And that part of us gets some satisfaction out of seeing an old Cape Cod that is falling apart get turned into a dreamhouse that you would want to remain in forever.
And I believe this is embedded into the DNA of our souls because we know deep down that these shows provide us with a picture of what is to come in the new heaven and the new earth.
Deep down, we know that this broken world will not be broken forever.
And at heart of who we are, we are crying out for this to come to pass.
CONTEXT
CONTEXT
Tonight, we see this reality that we long for in God’s Word.
We see the restoration of the planet that we live and move and breathe on.
And we see the people of God finally living under the Lord’s rule and reign.
This passage is relieving.
We have had seals and trumpets and bowls of judgment.
We have had fire and smoke.
We have had locusts.
We have had the monster, Satan—the Red Dragon.
We have had his beasts.
We have had the harlot of Babylon.
But finally, the old will flee and the new is coming.
Finally, the restoration of redemption floods the pages of the Scripture and we see the great reward that has been promised throughout the entirety of Revelation.
We see the great reward that the entire BIble has had us waiting.
When we were last together, we ended with a picture of judgment and only a mention of redemption.
Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
But now, we will see redemption, with only a mention of judgment.
It is time to talk about heaven. You’ve been waiting for it. It is here.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
ALL THINGS NEW (v. 5)
ALL THINGS NEW (v. 5)
We need to start tonight by looking at verse 5 because it is truly the key to understanding the passage.
After that I want to give you three observations about the age to come.
But in verse 5, the One seated on the throne speaks and says, “Behold, I am making all things new.”
Verse 1 tells us that the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
These are the former things that belonged to the former age.
But now a new age is beginning and in it, God is bringing about newness in all of creation.
We have seen the One on the throne throughout our study of Revelation.
At once I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne.
This is the God of the universe who reigns over all things.
This is the Father of lights. The King of Creation.
The One who spoke creation into existence with the power of His speech and the authority of His Word.
The One who rules all of creation.
And just as what He declared to be was created in Genesis 1-2, what He declares to be new, will be new, in Revelation 21:5.
With His declaration, God does what humanity has longed to do for centuries.
We take our institutions and our education and our ingenuity and our political parties and politicians and we think that we will make things new.
We will make them great again.
We will build them back better.
But the truth is that all of the collective human strength cannot do what God CAN DO with His mere words.
But what exactly does this mean?
Dennis Johnson says that verse 5 shows us the “comprehensive, cosmic, renewal that flows from the completion of God’s redemption.”
That is beautiful, but what does this look like in creation and what does this look like for the church—the people of God?
I want to spend the rest of our time on three observations about the “making all things new” and the age to come.
A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH
A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH
1. In the age to come, there will be a new heaven and a new earth (v. 1).
1. In the age to come, there will be a new heaven and a new earth (v. 1).
We start by looking at creation itself. Verse 1 says that the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.
When did this happen in the narrative of Revelation?
It happened when the Lord Jesus returned in judgment.
God promised this in the Old Testament.
As Isaiah prophesied to Israel, he speaks to the people in Exile for their sin—disobedience that was a result of the curse of sin that entered the world in the Garden, when Adam fell.
Before Adam’s sin, the world was perfect. There were no tears of sorrow, no death, no mourning, no crying and no pain.
But when sin entered the world through Adam’s disobedience, his sin and all of the death it brings spread to all men.
And along with humanity, creation was subjected to futility.
It is a dark reality for God’s people.
We are under discipline in a world soaked with sin.
Therefore, they would have been so comforted to here the Lord say through His prophet:
“For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth,
and the former things shall not be remembered
or come into mind.
What was promised through Isaiah is coming to pass in Revelation 21:1...
The New Testament is also filled with promises regarding the Lord melting down the current earth of the current age down and restoring it by grace as a new creation.
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.
This will not happen over a period of years or decades.
The Bible speaks of this occurring in an instant.
The Lord will return and judge every soul.
We saw that in Revelation 20:11-15...
He will eliminate the Dragon and his beasts...
We saw that in Revelation 20:10...
And now, in an instant, He will melt down this Earth with the fire of His judgment.
The old heaven and the old earth of the old age will pass away like dross being burned from a precious metal.
All that remains will be made new unto the glory of God.
Paul depicts creation as crying out for this in Romans 8:21-23
that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Those who belong to the Lord inwardly groan in anticipation of the 2nd Coming and the Resurrection and Paul is saying that creation does the same—longing for all things to be made new.
CONTINUITY
CONTINUITY
But that is not to say that there will be no continuity between the old earth and the new earth.
This is not the Lord building a new structure on a new plot of land, but He is renovating and redeeming the old structure.
And there will be a continuity between this world and this age and the one that is to come.
Our own redemption is a great case study for this.
When we repent and believe and we are saved by Christ, we are made new. We are a new creation.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The language is undeniably similar to what we are seeing in Revelation 21.
And yet, while we are putting the old man to death and we are putting on the Lord Jesus Christ so that we would look more and more like Him each day, we would have to say that there is still continuity.
We may not do the same things, but people recognize us.
It is still us. It is still the same soul.
It is just that we have been spiritually resurrected and we become a renovation project that is under construction—with the Spirit of God sanctifying us day by day.
Drawing us away from sin and closer to Jesus through the Word.
Similarly, when our redemption is consummated in the final resurrection, a resurrection that will be in the manner of Christ, we will get glorified bodies. Imperishable bodies.
There will be a big difference between the bodies that we have now, made in the likeness of the First Adam and the bodies we will have then, made in the likeness of the Second Adam.
Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.
But—there is also continuity.
For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
THIS perishable body must put on the imperishable. THIS mortal body must put on immortality.
There is continuity.
Well, the redemption of the elect is a snapshot of the redemption of creation.
The resurrection of the elect is a window into what the redemption of the heavens and the earth will be like.
It will still be this world, but it will be new.
The imperishable will replace the perishable. The mortal will be supplanted by a world filled with life and immortality.
As Thom Schreiner says:
Hebrews–Revelation Comment
the old creation is purified and renewed; the old creation is not blotted out of existence. The new creation, then, is a renewal and transformation of the old. The first heaven and earth pass away in the sense of being transformed and cleansed of all evil
THE SEA IS NO MORE (v. 1)
THE SEA IS NO MORE (v. 1)
Verse 1 also tells us that the “sea is no more.”
As I have said before, we should not think of the sea the way it would be depicted in a serene Thomas Kinkade painting of a light house.
Instead, we should think of what the sea tends to represent in the whole of the story of Scripture.
The ocean is chaotic and a source of fear and destruction.
The waters of the sea swallowed up the generation of Noah as God judged the earth with the flood in Genesis 6-8.
The sea produces scary creatures like the Leviathan and the great fish that swallowed up Jonah.
In terms of books of apocalyptic prophecy like Daniel and Revelation, the sea has threats to God’s people and enemies of God’s Kingdom rising up out of it.
And four great beasts came up out of the sea, different from one another.
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads.
We should also remember what John is living through as the man writing the book of the Revelation.
He is exiled to Patmos and he is in a prison of water.
The sea separates him from his friends and from all of the churches that he loved and pastored.
For John, the sea is a divider that keeps him from the comfort and consolation of Christian community and fellowship.
In saying the sea is no more, the Lord is telling us that these awful things that the sea represents in Scripture—chaos and destruction and separation—they will have no place in the new earth.
Judgment for sin will be no more.
A cursed creation that is a terror to humanity will be no more. Creation will be peaceful and new.
Enemies of God will be no more.
Separation from Christian brothers and sisters will be no more.
I don’t see any reason to take this literally. I don’t see any reason for us to think that there will not large bodies of waters and oceans on the new earth.
They will be purified and redeemed right along with the rest of creation, but never again will it represent danger and fear.
It will only be another aspect of God’s beautiful new creation to the glory of His name.
THE NEW JERUSALEM (v. 2-3)
THE NEW JERUSALEM (v. 2-3)
We have spoken of what will come in terms of creation, but who will dwell on the New Earth?
This is the focus of verses 2-3.
2. In the age to come, there will be a New Jerusalem (v. 2-3).
2. In the age to come, there will be a New Jerusalem (v. 2-3).
THE NEW JERUSALEM (v. 2)
THE NEW JERUSALEM (v. 2)
We see a this holy city coming down out of heaven and John says that it is named “The New Jerusalem” and is prepared “as a bride adorned for her husband.
The wedding language should immediately draw our attention back to the scene in Revelation 19:7-8
Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
it was granted her to clothe herself
with fine linen, bright and pure”—
for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.
The New Jerusalem is a city coming down from heaven that represents the people of God.
And this is not new.
We saw the Lord’s witnessing church represented as a temple and “holy city” in Revelation 11:2-3
but do not measure the court outside the temple; leave that out, for it is given over to the nations, and they will trample the holy city for forty-two months. And I will grant authority to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy for 1,260 days, clothed in sackcloth.”
In that passage, John saw the city as the temple’s outer court.
It was left unmeasured.
But the city is no longer unmeasured.
And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.
It was trampled under the feet of her enemies, but not anymore.
Here in verse 2, the city has gone from being trampled on to coming down from above.
It was under attack from enemies in chapter 11, but now, in Revelation 21, the gates are open day and night because there are no threats:
and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
Jesus, the Bridegroom has fought off every enemy.
Satan.
Persecuting governments.
False teachers.
The evil world.
Our own flesh.
And with every enemy vanquished, He is ready to have His Bride—His Church—all to Himself forever.
The New Jerusalem—the New Zion—a city filled with His saints, will be His forever and just as Isaiah prophesied, “no evil or harm” will come to her.
Former threats removed.
Former contentions put down.
He will enjoy His Bride in peace and she will enjoy her Bridegroom in peace.
The wolf and the lamb shall graze together;
the lion shall eat straw like the ox,
and dust shall be the serpent’s food.
They shall not hurt or destroy
in all my holy mountain,”
says the Lord.
Some wonder why Jesus would tell the Sadducees that there is no marriage in heaven.
For in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.
The reason is that the purpose for marriage in this age will be done.
It exists to point to the greater marriage of the Lamb and His Bride.
On the New Earth, there will just be one marriage—Jesus and the New Jerusalem.
WITH HIS PEOPLE (V. 3)
WITH HIS PEOPLE (V. 3)
In verse 3, a loud from comes from the throne and says:
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
What we have here is the restoration of God’s original design in the Garden.
The Lord God longed to walk with Adam in the cool of the garden, but Adam broke covenant with Him.
When God walked int he Garden, Adam hid from Him.
There was separation between God and man because of sin and impending judgment.
And yet, by His grace, God would still dwell with His people throughout the narrative of Scripture.
In the Old Testament, we see Him dwelling with them in the tabernacle.
Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle.
And then, in the days of Solomon, we see the Lord dwelling with His people in the temple:
And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
But the tabernacle and the temple were not the point in and of themselves. This is where many of the Jews went wrong.
Much of Stephen’s speech in Acts 6-7 to the Sanhedrin is him telling them they missed the point of the tabernacle and temple.
They missed the fact that these structures were pointing to a better covenant to come.
For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Adam’s failure brought sin into the world and created distance between God and man, but the in the New Covenant, God promised that distance would be closed.
And He did this by giving us a New Adam—His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He sent Him to dwell with us—tabernacle with us.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
This Adam did not break covenant with God.
He was faithful every moment from the womb to the tomb.
He was completely righteous.
And as our Great High Priest, the Second Adam sacrificed His life on the altar of Calvary to atone for our sin and end the separation between God and man.
His resurrection from the grave proved that He holds the power over death and that He can indeed provide eternal life for anyone who turns from sin and trusts in Him.
The Victorious High Priest—the Second Adam—can and will keep us in the presence of God forever.
And that is what we are seeing in Revelation 21.
The victorious Bridegroom has won the day for His bride.
By His blood and the life He provides, God’s people will dwell in the presence of God forever.
And because He is great in mercy and abundant in love, God will dwell with His people forever.
It is Jeremiah’s New Covenant promise being fulfilled, fully and finally, in the descent of the holy city—born from above.
NEW LIFE (v. 4, 6-8)
NEW LIFE (v. 4, 6-8)
So we have seen a new heaven and a new earth. We have seen a New Jerusalem.
And now we look at verse 4 and the last few verses of the passage for our final observation.
3. In the age to come, there will be new life (v. 4, 6-8).
3. In the age to come, there will be new life (v. 4, 6-8).
To see the promises of heaven in this passage, we look to verse 6 and 7.
The Lord speaks to John and says that He will:
Give from the spring of the water of life without payment (v. 6)
Be a God and Father to the one who conquers (v. 7)
The water of life without payment is a reference to eternal life.
It is salvation that satisfies the soul which has been hungering and thirsting for righteousness during the former age.
The Old Testament prophets promised that life eternal would belong to our souls forever:
“And in that day
the mountains shall drip sweet wine,
and the hills shall flow with milk,
and all the streambeds of Judah
shall flow with water;
and a fountain shall come forth from the house of the Lord
and water the Valley of Shittim.
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter.
Jesus promised it when speaking to the Samaritan woman in John 4:10
Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.”
The “one who conquers” —who is promised a heritage (or inheritance) with the Lord and to be His child in His household, is an overcomer.
This is a call back to the promises made to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3.
The Ephesians were told that the one who conquers would eat from the tree of life.
The church in Smyrna was told that the one who conquers will not be hurt by the 2nd death.
And important point considering Revelation 21:8, which tells us what will become of those who do not conquer.
The church in Pergamum is told that they will eat the hidden manna and be given a white stone with a new name written on it.
The idea being that the food of the Lamb’s wedding supper and victory of the Lamb will belong to the conqueror.
The Thyatirans are told that the one who conquers will rule the nations with a rod of iron alongside Christ.
The Church is Sardis learns that conquerors will be clothed in white and have their name in the Book of Life.
Philadelphia hears that the one who conquers will be a pillar in the temple of God, meaning they will never leave God’s presence—as we have just seen in Revelation 21:3.
And the Laodiceans are told that the one who conquers will sit with Christ on His throne.
A son in a household received his father’s inheritance.
And as the sons of God, we shall all receive the eternal inheritance promised to the church in Revelation 2 and 3.
But here is the deal—we should not think that we will be counted as the thirsty who drink the water of life or that we should be counted as conquerors in the age to come, if we are not these things now.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Is this you?
Do you hunger and thirst for righteousness or do you hunger and thirst for sinfulness?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
Are you more than a conqueror through Christ who loves us or are you dominated by sin and Satan who hates you?
See, we must look at verse 8.
It almost feels out of place.
We had moved on from judgment. Everything is being made new!
Why are suddenly back at the rim of the lake of fire, peering in and seeing who is judged there?
But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
It is because it shows us the fate of those who do not hunger and thirst now and do not overcome now.
The lake of fire is filled with those who were overcome by fear and thirsted for that which is detestable.
It is filled with murderers who are guilty of ignorantly killing image-bearers or even wishing them dead in their hearts.
Those who were overcome by hatred and thirsted for violence.
It is filled with sorcerers—the Greek word is the modern equivalent of “drug-dealer” or “drug-pusher.”
Those who are overcome by greed and pleasure and thirst for the satisfaction of their flesh by worldly means.
It is filled with idolaters who are overcome by a thirst for and love and devotion to false gods.
It is filled with those who thirst for falsehood and are overcome with lies for the sake of self-preservation and self-exaltation.
It’s an alarming verse because you read it and think, “Well some of these descriptions fit me.”
This is where it is good for us to get clarification from 1 Corinthians 6:9-11
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
“And such were some of you...”
Those thirst for living water are those who have been washed.
Those who overcome, overcome because they have been justified by the Lord Jesus Christ and they are being sanctified by His Spirit.
But those who have not repented and received Christ remain a slave to their sin.
This profile of the unrighteous does not describe who they used to be, but who they are.
And so the lake of fire will be filled with those who never turned to Christ and remained in their sins.
These are the ones who thirsted for unrighteousness and drank their fill on earth—therefore, they have no part in the righteous Kingdom to come.
They have received their reward in the waters of the former things that have passed away.
These are the ones who were overcome by sin on earth and slaves to it—rebels against God unto death—therefore, they will not be overcomers in the life to come.
They received their reward on earth and they have none in heaven.
THE BENEFITS OF NEW LIFE
THE BENEFITS OF NEW LIFE
But for those who have received new life from Christ and endured to the end, there will be no lake of fire.
In fact, all of that which they have overcome will never threaten them again.
The tears shed over sin and grief.
The pain of our perishing bodies.
They will be wiped away and removed from sight in the age to come.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
All those sins you have fought and are fighting, will be gone.
All those deaths you have mourned—their resulting grief will no longer take up real estate in your soul.
All those surgeries and scars will pass away with the former things.
Your thirsty heart will be satisfied with the water of life forever.
Your embattled soul, which is presently more than a conqueror in Christ, will stand tall with the inheritance of the Kingdom in your hand and an eternity of peace in front of you.
TRUST THE ALPHA AND OMEGA (v. 5-6)
TRUST THE ALPHA AND OMEGA (v. 5-6)
God has placed eternity into the hearts of men.
This deep longing in us for renovation and restoration—that causes us to watch Fixer Upper and compels us to create our own projects—points to an acknowledgement at the core of who we are that there is a new world to come.
Unless you are suppressing the truth about God in your conscience so that you may continue on in your sin, we must admit that we have a will to live.
We have a desire to see justice.
And we are looking for a new heaven and new earth, free from the death and decay of this current age.
Understanding these things, if you are in earshot of this and you are thinking, “I MUST be a part of the new creation. I must experience the unfiltered love of the Bridegroom on the New Earth forever...”
Then it is clear what you must do.
You must trust in the One who is the Author of Life from Beginning to End.
The One who is seated on the throne, who says that He is making all things new, says that His words are trustworthy and true (v. 5).
That means you can absolutely bank on them.
God will not fail in His promises. He has not yet and He never will.
In fact, He is so trustworthy that He says, “It is done!”
He speaks about it in past tense as if it has already happened.
And furthermore, His name is Alpha and Omega.
Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet and Omega is the last.
This is like God saying his name is the A to Z.
He is in control from beginning to end.
His plans will never be frustrated.
His purpose will never be thwarted.
From the start to finish, His promises will come to pass.
So if you are thirsty, come and drink now.
If you are tired of your sin, believe in Christ and in His power, go to war with your flesh.
Trust in the Alpha and Omega.
The renovation is coming.