A New Heaven and a New Earth

Good morning, everyone. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sean, one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church,

and it is my great honor and privilege to preach God's Word to you this morning.

We are in the book of Revelation. We have been going through it for almost a year.

And if you don't have a Bible, please raise your hand, and we'd love to bring a copy over to you that you can use.

We're in Revelation chapter 21, which is the second to last chapter of the book.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

Let me now pray for the reading and preaching of God's Word.

Father, we confess that as we live in this world, it's so easy to lose sight of eternity and to think that all that we see is all that there is.

But Lord, we ask that today, by your Word, by your Spirit, that you would radically transform our perspective.

That you would renew our minds to think about the renewal of all creation that is coming.

So that we might look forward to that day and persevere toward that day with great hope, with faith, with expectancy.

Lord, breathe fresh hope into people who are suffering and downtrodden this morning.

Lift up their heads.

Build up your church for the glory of your name.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please stand, if you're able, for the reading of God's Word from Revelation 21, 1 to 8.

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.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

In Western music theory, there's what we call chord resolution.

And notes that are called dissonant, which is unstable or incomplete.

It sounds like something is missing when we listen to it.

And notes that are, you know, consonant, that sounds complete.

So if you have a C scale, this piano is very out of tune, but bear with me.

So that's a dissonant note, the seventh interval.

It sounds like something is not done.

And it waits for resolution, and that's the consonant note.

The eighth note, the root note.

So...

You guys hear that?

You long for that resolution?

And so, sorry, thank you for the performance.

There's...

This passage serves to remind us that everything we see and the world that we live in right now

are in that discordant note.

That dissonant note.

It's like something feels wrong.

It's not the way it's supposed to be.

Something's incomplete.

Longing for fulfillment.

Longing for completion.

And that creates a sense of drama, expectancy, suspense, until we finally reach that resolution.

And that resolution is what we see here in Revelation 21.

Just to give an example of that tension that we're living in now, this year, earlier this year,

heavy monsoons in East Africa caused flooding that killed 473 people and displaced 14,000,

410,000 people.

In May, a major landslide buried over 2,000 people alive.

The 7.8 magnitude earthquake last year in Turkey and Syria killed 62,013 people.

As it says in Romans 8.22, the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth.

That's what we live in.

Creation itself is groaning in the pains of childbirth, in the buildup, the tension, and the drama and

suspense of that dissonant reality.

And not only the creation, but we ourselves, it says in Romans 8.23, we ourselves groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons,

the redemption of our bodies.

We can see this in ourselves, in our bodies.

Our bodies themselves are discordant.

It's all out of sorts.

In our church alone, we have had people deal with or are dealing with leukemia, diabetes,

autoimmune disease, where our own body's immune system attacks itself,

like ITP, ulcerative colitis, arthritis, lupus, lupus,

and various other debilitating conditions, like Turner syndrome, Dandy-Walker syndrome,

congenital heart defects, vasculitis, chronic back pain, chronic fatigue syndrome, among other things.

And not only our physical bodies, but also our sinful flesh,

militate against the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

The sinful world seduces us, ridicules us, and persecutes us.

The devil tempts us and lies to us and accuses us night and day.

And so we, along with all creation, groan.

How long?

We wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

If we don't keep this important reality in mind,

if we don't remember the fact that we are in that dissonant reality,

we can easily be wracked by doubts, be disillusioned, discouraged, and despair.

But if we wait with faith and hope for the consummation of all things,

a new heaven and a new earth that is surely coming,

then we can persevere.

And so the main point of our passage is this,

look forward to a new heaven and a new earth,

so that we might overcome the world with courage and faith.

And we're going to look at that in two parts.

First, we'll see the reunion.

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

And secondly, we'll see the renewal.

Behold, I am making all things new.

It says in verses 1 to 2,

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.

I'll talk about verse 1 a little more later in the second half of my sermon,

so for now let's focus on verse 2.

When the new heaven and the new earth comes,

the people of God will descend upon it,

out of heaven from God,

as the holy city, New Jerusalem,

prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

The saints of God, that's us,

are described in two main metaphors here.

One is of a city,

and the other is of a bride.

This fulfillment of the New Jerusalem

was prophesied in Isaiah 52.1,

when all the saints who conquer and overcome the world

by their faithful endurance,

and by bearing witness to Jesus,

and holding on to the gospel of Jesus Christ,

will become the city of God, the new Jerusalem.

And what's the point of that metaphor?

Jesus tells us in verse 3.

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.

Twice in one verse,

Jesus declares that God will now dwell with his people.

And that's the point of the metaphor.

Why are we the city?

Because God's gonna live there.

He's gonna dwell with us.

This is the final fulfillment of the oldest drama

in all of history and all of scripture.

Because in the original creation,

God dwelled with man.

He walked in the garden alongside Adam and Eve,

it said in Genesis 3.

But because they sinned against God

and ate the forbidden fruit

from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,

they're banished from the garden of Eden.

Expelled, no longer able to eat of the tree of life.

And the question that hovers over all of history

and all of the Bible

is will God ever dwell with his people again?

Will we ever be fully restored to his presence again?

After the exodus,

God partially answers that question

in the construction of the tabernacle.

The word tabernacle,

the Greek word behind the word dwelling place here

in Revelation 21.3 is literally tabernacle.

It was there that God promised to his people,

the Israelites in Exodus 29.45-46.

I will dwell among the people of Israel

and will be their God.

And they shall know that I am the Lord their God

who brought them out of the land of Egypt

that I might dwell among them.

That's why God rescued people from Egypt,

that he might dwell among them.

But even while Moses was receiving instructions

on the mountain for the construction of the tabernacle,

God's people couldn't wait

and they sinned, they rebelled,

they created a golden calf

and worshipped it as an idol.

Like a newlywed bride committing adultery

on the night of her wedding against her husband.

Then God promised,

but God was still faithful to his people,

and then God promised the land of Canaan

in Deuteronomy 12.9-10

and promised them he will make his name dwell there.

Maybe we'll get it this time.

Solomon builds a temple for it to be God's dwelling place.

But again, they whore after idols.

They leave their God, their first love,

so that the temple gets razed

and Jerusalem is ransacked

and they are exiled to Babylon and to Assyria.

But God is still faithful.

He keeps his promise again.

He sends his son, Jesus Christ,

to dwell with his people.

That's why in John 2.9-21,

Jesus says that his own body

is the temple of the holy temple of God.

And that's because, as Colossians 2.9 says,

in Jesus, the whole fullness of deity,

all that is divine, dwell in him bodily.

Jesus is God dwelling with us.

He is the temple of God.

That's why John 1.14 says that

Jesus, the eternal word of God,

the word became flesh and dwelt among us.

Again, that same word.

The word dwelt is literally to pitch a tent

or to make a tabernacle,

to tabernacle among us.

But we killed him.

People were unfaithful to him.

And he was resurrected,

he ascends to the heaven,

and he sends the Holy Spirit

so that the Holy Spirit,

the very presence, the Spirit of God

can indwell his people

that we might be the temple of God.

That's what it says in 1 Corinthians 3.16.

We are God's temple where God dwells.

But even now,

our fellowship God is disrupted.

It is partial.

It is imperfect because we are sinful.

Our objective union with God is unbreakable.

But our communion with God,

which is our ongoing experience of that union with God,

is disrupted daily because we sin.

As we confess in the confession of sin,

as we saw in the call to worship today,

we partner with lawlessness,

though temple of God we are.

We fellowship with darkness,

though temple of God we are.

We are unequally yoked with those

who are rebelling against God,

though the temple of God we are.

Just how many times can we mess this up,

ruin it all,

can we really ever be restored to God's presence?

Will God really ever dwell with us again?

And the resounding answer of Revelation 21 is,

yes, he will.

He will.

Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them,

and there will be his people,

and God himself will be with them as their God.

We are called the holy city,

the new Jerusalem,

to convey this idea of God's intimate,

indwelling presence.

Similarly, the metaphor of the bride,

that we are a bride adorned for the bridegroom,

is a fulfillment of the prophecies

in Isaiah 61.10 and 62.5,

and it communicates the same idea

of fellowship and presence and intimacy.

It's a common temptation among engaged couples nowadays

to spend more time stressing out about the wedding day

than actually preparing for their married life.

Weddings are fun.

Yes, they are fun.

But it's after the wedding

that the love life of a couple truly begins.

It's after the wedding

that the husband and wife

consummate their marriage physically

in the ecstasy of sexual intercourse.

It's after the wedding

that the husband and wife move in together

and make a home together.

It's after the wedding

that the husband and wife

have children together,

bear children and rear children together.

All the best stuff happens after the wedding.

Finally, on the wedding day,

the bride's veil is lifted

and the bride and the groom

enjoy an intimacy and fellowship

that they will share with no one else

in the whole entire world.

That's the point of verse two.

On that day, we, the church of Christ,

the people of God,

will be prepared as a bride

adorned for her husband.

And as we'll see next week,

the people of God

are going to be ravishing in their beauty

as the bride of Christ.

And we're going to be married to Jesus,

the Lamb of God, forever

and dwell with Him always in marital bliss.

That's why it says in verse four,

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 don't miss the intimacy of this promise.

It doesn't merely say that,

oh, we're not going to have anything

anymore to cry about.

Look at what it says.

It says,

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

The Lord God Himself will personally wipe away our tears.

He will be the reason for our eternal happiness.

He will be the reason why all our sorrow and crying ends.

In this life,

in this fallen world,

there are many things to cry about.

But all of the problems and the pains of this world

are but symptoms

and ramifications

of our central underlying brokenness.

And that is sin.

And our consequence separation from God.

It's because the world and humanity

have been split asunder from God who is light,

in whom is no darkness at all,

that darkness has invaded our world.

It's because we have been split asunder from God

who is love,

it says in 1 John 4, 8,

that hatred has pervaded our world.

It's because we have been split asunder from God

who is the giver of life,

who has life in Himself,

that disease and death

have infiltrated our world.

The root of all our personal

and societal and global ills

is sin that separates us from God.

But on that day,

there will be no more sin,

no more death,

no more separation between us and God

and we will be joined to our bridegroom forever.

You guys long for that.

Most of you probably don't know this,

but my wife,

Hannah's grandfather,

is originally from North Korea.

He was,

this is a funny story,

this is really sad too,

he was literally in a bathhouse,

a public bathhouse,

taking a bath,

when he,

when North Korean's army came in,

soldiers came into the bathhouse

and took him forcibly

and impressed him into service

to serve in the North Korean army

during the Korean War.

And after,

after a whole bunch of fighting,

the armistice agreement

was finally signed in 1953

and North and South Korea

were officially split in two,

formally divided along the 38th parallel north,

the latitude 38 degrees north of the equator.

And Hannah's grandfather,

after the war,

ended up on the South Korean side,

which meant he would never see his wife

in North Korea again.

Though he didn't personally

get to participate in this program,

to help people like him,

in 2018,

the then South Korean president

and North Korean dictator

agreed to arrange a reunion

of family members

that are split between North and South.

And these relatives

hadn't seen each other for 60 years.

And with the help of some old photographs,

they identified one another and met.

And there's a video you guys can watch,

you can find one 92-year-old woman

saw her son.

92-year-old woman

saw her son

for the first time

since the end of the war.

She said that she lost track of her son

during the war

while they were fleeing together

when he was only four years old

and she didn't know

whether he was still alive or not.

And she said she spent

every single day

of the following year

just weeping

as she looked across the river.

And then in that video,

when she sees him,

she throws her arms around him

and weeps uncontrollably.

Sin,

like the war

and like the 38th parallel,

separates us from God.

And all of our pain,

all of our tears

is because of that separation.

But on that glorious day,

we're gonna be reunited

with our bridegroom,

we're gonna be united

with our heavenly father

forever.

And on that day,

we're not gonna see anymore

as in a mirror dimly.

We're gonna see

face to face.

We're no longer gonna just know him

partly,

imperfectly.

We're gonna know him fully.

And he will wipe away

all of our tears.

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

what have you been crying about

this week

or this past year?

Have you been crying

because of pain

and sickness

that you or your loved ones

are dealing with?

Cancer,

congenital heart defects,

chronic fatigue syndrome,

migraines.

There will be a day

when all those things

will be no more

and God will wipe

every tear from your eyes.

On that day,

my mother,

who's been crippled

with arthritis

and my wife,

who is always tired

and lacking energy

because of her vasculitis,

they're going to,

on that day,

leap like a deer.

Have you been crying

because of a death

of a loved one?

Your mother,

your baby,

your brother,

your friend.

On that day,

our last enemy,

death,

will be defeated

and we will exalt

in triumph

and say,

oh, death,

where is your sting?

Oh, death,

where is your victory?

Oh, death,

where is your sting?

It's swallowed up

in victory.

Have you been crying

because of loneliness,

anxiety,

depression,

despair?

Have you been crying

in sleepless nights,

listless days?

In a new heaven

and a new earth,

you will have

perfect communion

with God.

Loneliness

will be banished

forever.

You will have

perfect rest,

perfect security,

perfect peace.

All that you have

ever worried about

will be gone,

no more.

Or have you been crying

because of your sins?

This is what

I cry about the most

because I'm relatively

healthy,

still young.

I want to be

compassionate.

I want to be

slow to anger

like my heavenly

father.

But my tongue,

my tongue,

like it says

in James 3,

is a fire,

a world of

unrighteousness,

a restless evil

full of deadly

poison.

I want to be

gentle and

lowly in heart

like my savior

and Lord Jesus

Christ,

but instead

I'm sometimes

harsh and

haughty.

I mourn

and long

for that

that when

my sins

will be

no more.

Saints of God,

what have you

been crying

about?

A day

is surely

coming

when he

will wipe

away

every tear

from your

eyes

and death

shall be

no more

and neither

shall there

be mourning

nor crying

nor pain

anymore

for the

former things

have passed

away.

Passed

away.

That's a

wonderful word,

isn't it?

It brackets

this section,

this first section

along with

verse 1

which also

uses that

same word.

For the

first heaven

and the

first earth

had passed

away.

and then

here,

for the

former

things

have

passed

away.

The word

former

is literally

first in

Greek.

First

things

have

passed

away.

So

it matches

the first

heaven

and first

earth

that

passed

away.

All

the

things

that

were

first

will

pass

away

apart

from

God

including

our

first

death.

Yes,

we will

die

unless

the

Lord

returns

beforehand

but

that

first

death

will

pass

away

and

will

be

raised

to

new

life.

On

that

day

tears

and

pains

will

be

things

of

the

past.

It

will

be

in

the

rear

view

mirror

and

will

say

oh

yeah

those

things

that

have

passed

away.

And

that

word

first

forms

a nice

contrast

with

a word

that

is

repeated

four

times

in

our

passage.

New

a

new

heaven

a

new

earth

new

Jerusalem

and

finally

in verse

5

behold

I

am

making

all

things

new.

This

world

is

decaying

and

disintegrating

but it

will be

made

new.

This

mortal

perishable

and

dishonorable

body

will be

made

new

immortal

and

imperishable

and

glorious.

It

will not

be a

refurbished

earth.

It

will be

new.

And

that

brings me

to my

second

point

renewal.

In

verse

3

Jesus

exclaimed

behold

the

dwelling

place

of

God

is

with

man.

Now

in

verse

4

he

who

was

seated

on

the

throne

I

think

this

is

God

the

father

himself

because

he

uses

the

first

person

pronouns

instead

of

third

person

pronouns

like

Jesus

does

in

verse

3

God

the

father

himself

exclaimed

behold

I

am

making

all

things

new.

Those

words

echo

the

prophecy

of

Isaiah

43

19

and

all

things

new

of

course

includes

a new

heaven

and a

new

earth

mentioned

in

verse

1

God

makes

all

things

new

both

in a

temporal

sense

and a

qualitative

sense

it's

going to

be

new

in a

temporal

sense

because

it

comes

after

the

first

earth

and

the

first

heaven

but

it

will

also

be

new

in

a

qualitative

sense

of

new

renewal

not

something

that's

old

and

worn

out

no

matter

how

much

you

dress

up

and

clean

up

all

things

that

you

have

they

look

old

but

this

new

heaven

and

new

earth

will

not

be

like

that

it

will

be

new

with

the

death

and

resurrection

ascension

of

Christ

and

the

subsequent

descent

of

the

Holy

Spirit

among

his

people

the

renewal

of

creation

has

actually

already

begun

and

it

begins

with

us

that's

why

it

says

in

2nd

Corinthians

5

17

therefore

if

anyone

know

a

new

creation

the

old

has

passed

away

the

new

behold

a new

has

come

but

though

this

new

creation

was

inaugurated

by

Christ

it

has

begun

with

Christ

it

has

not

yet

been

consummated

it

has

not

yet

had

its

full

effect

but

in

the

new

heaven

and

earth

it

will

be

finished

this

is

such

a

guaranteed

and

certain

outcome

that

God

says

write

this

down

in

verse

5

for

these

words

are

trustworthy

and

true

when

something

is

reliable

and

true

we

often

use

this

expression

hey

you

can

take

that

to

the

bank

meaning

that's

that's

you

can

bank

on

that

that

that

check

is

not

going

to

bounce

but

even

banks

fail

in

times

of

financial

turmoil

and

stock

certificates

become

worthless

pieces

of

paper

and

hard

worn

cash

depreciate

in

it

never

fails

and

it

endures

for

all

eternity

so

will

all

creation

really

be

made

new

yes

it

will

it

will

be

made

new

all

things

new

is

not

just

a

foolish

fancy

or

a

dream

or a

slogan

it

is

written

unchangeably

and

inherently

and

infallibly

in the

word

of

God

it

will

happen

it's

trustworthy

and

true

so

much

so

that

God

says

in

verse

six

it

is

done

because

when

God

speaks

something

it

is

as

good

as

done

and

a

peculiar

feature

of

this

new

heaven

and

earth

is

that

the

sea

was

no

more

it

says

in

verse

one

in

order

to

understand

what

that

means

we

need

to

survey

the

use

of

this

word

sea

in

this

book

first

the

sea

as

I've

mentioned

throughout

this

sermon

series

is

a

frequent

symbol

of

cosmic

chaos

in

scripture

because

the

sea

was

one

of

the

things

that

ancient

people

and

people

to this

day

fear

the

most

because

of the

crashing

waves

and the

howling

winds

you

can't

predict

the

sea

you

can't

control

the

sea

you

can't

measure

the

length

of

the

sea

and

you

can't

plumb

the

depth

of

the

sea

according

to

the

national

oceanic

and

atmospheric

administration

95%

of the

world's

ocean

remains

unexplored

to this

day

95%

a

2022

study

by the

fish

safety

foundation

commissioned

by the

Pew

charitable

trust

suggests

that

more

than

100,000

fishermen

die

while

fishing

that's

almost

300

fishermen

per

day

that's

annually

100,000

fishermen

that's

the

highest

fatality

rate

among

all

professions

far

higher

than

the

fatality

rates

among

firefighters

and

police

officers

it's

the

most

dangerous

profession

in the

world

it's

fitting

for that

reason

that

in the

old

testament

the

sea

is

represented

as

the

abode

of

the

ancient

serpent

leviathan

the

sea

dragon

which

is

a

symbol

of

satan

this

is

why

in

revelation

12

17

and

13

1

both

the

dragon

and

the

beast

are

described

as

emerging

out

of

the

sea

so

that's

the

first

use

of

the

word

sea

and

the

second

use

of

the

word

sea

we

see

in

revelation

is

in

revelation

Revelation 20:13

20

verse

13

the

sea

there

is

a

realm

of

the

dead

associated

with

death

and

Hades

so

then

what

does it

mean

that

the

the

final

destruction

of

this

sea

in

the

new

creation

fits

the

pattern

of

God's

creative

work

and

redemptive

work

throughout

all of

history

in

Genesis

1

9

to

10

at

the

creation

of

the

world

God

gathered

into

one

place

the

waters

under

the

heavens

to

let

the

dry

land

appear

as

a

habitation

fit

for

humanity

and

then

he

called

the

dry

land

earth

and

the

waters

that

were

gathered

together

called

seas

similarly

after the

flood

judgment

during

Noah's

day

kind of

uncreated

or

decreated

the

world

God

in a

sense

recreated

the

world

by

making

the

waters

recede

from

the

earth

continually

until

the

waters

it

says

were

dried

off

from

the

earth

and

the

ground

was

dry

so

that

Noah

and

his

family

can

inhabit

the

earth

once

more

and

continue

the

line

of

humanity

and

Isaiah

51

10

to

11

describes

God's

deliverance

of his

people

at

the

exodus

using

this

same

language

of

God

creating

a

habitation

for

his

people

by

drying

the

waters

he

says

in

Isaiah

51

10

to

11

was

it

not

you

who

dried

up

the

sea

the

waters

of

the

great

deep

who

made

the

depths

of

the

sea

away

for

the

redeemed

to

pass

over

and

the

ransomed

of

the

Lord

shall

return

and

come

to

Zion

with

singing

everlasting

joy

shall

be

upon

their

heads

they

shall

obtain

gladness

and

joy

and

sorrow

and

sighing

shall

flee

away

again

and again

throughout the

scriptures

God is seen

drying up

the seas

that's how he

rescues his

people

in order to

create a place

where he can dwell

with his

people

so

likewise

in this

ultimate

new

creation

this is

the

final

time

the

consummation

of all

things

the

sea

will

be

no

more

in

this

way

God

will

make

the

last

things

as

the

first

just

as

God

spoke

the

first

creation

into

being

he

will

surely

bring

about

the

new

creation

and

all

that

separates

us

from

God

all

that

dampens

our

communion

with

God

all

that

drowns

out

the

worship

of

heaven

around

us

will

be

no

more

and

God

declares

climactically

in verse

6

it is

done

it is

done

this

echoes

the words

of

Revelation

15

1

and

16

17

where

after

all

of

God's

judgments

are

finished

he

says

it

is

done

it

is

finished

it's

the

same

words

because

these

two

things

the

judgment

of

God

over

the

world

and

the

new

creation

are

flip

sides

of

the

same

coin

the

new

heaven

and

new

earth

cannot

come

until

the

first

heaven

and

the

first

earth

are

passed

away

and so

let me

ask you

if you're

here

what

words

will be

proclaimed

over

you

at the

end

of the

world

will

it

be

the

wrath

of

God

is

hereby

finished

it

is

done

you

be

objects

of

God's

wrath

or

will

it

be

new

heaven

and a

new

earth

it

is

done

that

depends

on your

answer

to the

question

who do

you believe

Jesus

to be

what do

you believe

that Jesus

has done

for you

do you

believe

that Jesus

is a

son of

God

who became

a son

of man

lived a

perfect

life

of

obedience

to his

father

and died

on the

cross

not for

his own

sins

but for

the sins

of his

people

to pay

the penalty

for our

sins

and absorb

the wrath

of God

in himself

so that

he might