The New Heaven and the New Earth: Creation Restored - Glorious Hope | Studies in Revelation

Revelation chapter 21.

Revelation 21 · chapter mention

And beginning at verse one, 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 him, 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.

Amen.

This is the word of God as our children were growing up.

Makes them sound old.

They're not.

But as they were growing up through those toddler years and learning

to talk, there was one book that they loved.

All three of them, when asked what bedtime story they wanted, selected

a book called called you'd choose.

U choose is an engaging book that allows children to make up their

own story with all of the options that they present.

There are thousands of possibilities to tell a story.

You can choose what clothes you would wear or where you would

go for shopping, or what transport you would like to take.

You get to choose your job, you, your hobbies, and even the bed

that you would get to sleep in.

But it all starts with one question, and that is what builds

the story.

And that question is, if you could go anywhere, where would you

go?

And you're presented with this picture of where's possible.

So you could go to a sandy beach with palm trees, or you could

go to a desert with cactuses, a large city or a small seaside town.

You could go to a volcano or waterfalls or mountains.

And wherever you choose, then you will allow the story to go.

And the next page you turn over was, well, what would you wear

and so it all builds.

And so for a young reader, although it's not a story they read,

they make their choices.

But it all hinges on this question.

If you could go anywhere, where would you go?

Now if we were all asked this question, then we'd all have different

answers.

And maybe you look at that picture and think, well, I wouldn't

mind that little white sandy beach with palm trees.

Or maybe you're thinking, yep, a good hike up those snow capped

mountains would do me good.

And all depends on our preferences, our likes and our dislikes.

We will opt to go to different places.

Well, it's a good question because it's a question that determines

where the story goes.

Let me rephrase the question and ask you it in another way.

Where do you want to go when you die?

And I think we would all have the same answer and I could nearly

count us down and in unison we would all say, heaven.

The that's where we want to go when we die.

Because we're here in a building and as far as I look around

and I can't really see everyone, but I'm guessing the vast

majority of us are here because we believe in a heaven and

a hell.

We believe in a heaven to be won and a hell to be lost.

But as we know, not everyone in the world believes in heaven.

And ask an atheist where they will go when they die and they will

say nowhere.

Because in their opinion, there is nothing beyond this life

in which we live.

And I would say it takes a great amount of faith to believe

that.

Ask someone from a Middle Eastern spiritual background and

they may say to a higher plane of understanding that we simply go

from one life to the next and each time building on the knowledge

that we can absorb and retain.

Now, those who don't believe in heaven will all have their own

way of getting to where they want to go.

Even the atheist will have their way of getting to nowhere.

But if you want to go to heaven, then you need to trust in

Jesus Christ.

And I hope that we all know that you need to trust and you need

to believe that his sacrifice on Calvary's cross has been enough

to satisfy God's wrath towards your sin.

Now, as we've made our way through this book of revelation,

this revelation that has been given to John, we have seen sin's

long reaching finger.

Sin has allowed persecution of the church.

It's allowed for the death of the martyrs.

It's allowed for the evil that wants to pull believers away from

God.

We have seen in the letters to the Churches, how their hearts were

being lured away.

They were neither hot nor cold, but look warm as they were

lured away by the flash of this world.

And they were challenged to wake up and pay attention to what

really matters.

And now, as we come to the final two chapters of Revelation,

we have a whole new perspective.

And it is what we've been waiting for.

Because the book of Revelation has been written for the church so

that we would be aware of the darkness and how sin filled the world

around us is.

And it's giving us a whole new perspective of what the story has

been so far.

And it's what we've been waiting for.

After the defeat of the unholy trinity of Satan, the dragon, the

beast and the false prophet, our attention is drawn to heaven.

And there is good news from the outset, because in verse one,

John tells us, 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.

What John sees is newness.

The decaying and rancid world of punishment and destruction is

gone.

And a breath of fresh air comes to him as he sees all that

he has known before him pass away.

And this includes the sea.

Now, this doesn't mean that there are no bodies of water in the

new creation.

The sea in Hebrew thought stood for chaos.

It stood for evil.

We've known this as we've thought about the disciples on the

Sea of Galilee and the storm.

We thought about it as we've looked at the Jonah and what it meant

for him to go to sea.

The sea was the source of hideous monsters.

That this sea is no more means nothing destructive, nothing deforming

will be in the new creation.

And the dwellers of this new creation have nothing to fear.

Then they will know peace.

They will know freedom from evil.

The old is gone and the new has come.

But this isn't a void.

It's not a place where the cartoonists would want us to think,

oh, we're simply going to sit around on clouds.

That's not the case.

Instead of the old creation, John in verse two sees the new heaven

and the new earth.

And in this new creation we see the birthing of a city, the New

Jerusalem.

In verse 2 he says, and I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming

down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for for

her husband.

Isn't it interesting what we read about Jerusalem here?

The new Jerusalem?

We are not going up to it.

What does the text say?

The new Jerusalem coming down.

You see, there is a new heaven and a new earth.

This is something we need to realize of what God is doing.

He is creating what we've known already, but what was fallen

in sin, certainly by way of this earth.

You'll hear at least on two more occasions of what God is doing

here in the picture we're given, it's Eden restored.

And whenever you look throughout Scripture and the signposts

of what God was doing after Genesis 3 with that flaming cherubim

in front of the garden so that Adam and Eve could not go back, what

has he done in the tabernacle?

Designed it like Eden, with its colors and its beauty.

But yes, with that big curtain where inflamed was the cherubim saying,

do not enter.

And as the temple came, its dimensions were those of what would

be known as the dimensions of Eden and its ratios.

And again, a curtain with a cherubim emblazoned, saying, no entry.

Because God was getting his people back.

For Eden restored, going back to what was always intended for God's

people, that perfect world.

And so this city now comes down to us.

Because the new creation that dawn's is a city, a holy city of

no unrighteousness, no evil consecrated and dedicated to God,

unlike any human city we know in our present age or will ever know.

Because it's a city that stands in stark contrast to the city

that we've known throughout the book of Revelation to Babylon,

described as that detestable prostitute.

Because the city of God is identified as the new Jerusalem,

it's not the earthly Jerusalem, but a transcendent one

coming down to us from God.

The earthly Jerusalem points forward to a heavenly Jerusalem far

surpassing the one located in Israel.

Other New Testament writers refer to Jerusalem in a similar way.

Paul in Galatians, chapter 4 in verse 26, speaks of Jerusalem

Galatians 4 · chapter mention

like this.

But the Jerusalem above, free.

And she is our mother.

So Paul acknowledges that there's another Jerusalem, a new

Jerusalem.

The author of the Book of Hebrews refers to a heavenly Jerusalem

in chapter 12 in verse 22.

And a new and heavenly Jerusalem is anticipated in the Old

Testament.

This heavenly city stands in contrast, as we've said, to that

city of Babylon, because that city defaced the world and dehumanized

others.

But John also sees a familiar image throughout Scripture to describe

Jerusalem.

She is described as a beautiful bride adorned for her husband.

And Isaiah anticipates what John writes here about the city,

because he writes in chapter 62 and verses 4 to 5, you shall no

more be termed forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed

desolate, but you shall be called My delight is in her and your

land married.

For the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.

For as a young man marries a young woman, so shall your sons marry

you.

And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God

rejoice over you.

As much as Isaiah is talking about what's going to happen as they

come back from exile, these later chapters we understand to speak

of a more prophetic beyond the return of the exiles, pointing us

to what God will do on the last day, pointing us to our heavenly

home.

That's a beautiful thread running through Scripture of what

God will give us in this new creation.

And John sees the fulfillment of these prophecies here in Revelation

21.

But he just doesn't see so often as we know in the Book of Revelation,

John sees, but he also hears.

And as we turn to verses three and four, he hears a loud voice.

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 again we hear great news.

For this loud voice from the throne declares that God's dwelling

is with human beings.

No longer is there separation because of sin.

We are in his presence, and he calls us his people.

And isn't it about time?

Aren't we weary?

Aren't we tired of what's there in the final part of this section

where there won't be any more tears, they'll be wiped away.

Death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning.

There'll be no more crying, there'll be no more pain, for the

former things have passed away.

If this isn't good news for you tonight, then you have a problem.

And that problem is you don't have a full view of who Jesus is

and what he has achieved, nor do you have a full understanding

of who God is and what he has promised throughout Scripture.

Because just as his covenant promises throughout Scripture are

to us, he now tells us, and John hears it, that he is with us

as our God.

And this is what makes us rejoice.

God's very presence is with us.

And so our hearts should rejoice to know that a moment is

coming when all will be made new and all of the relationships

of Eden will be restored.

Everything that was lost in the fall will be restored before

God.

But the voice goes further and highlights how different the new

creation is here on earth.

We suffer physically, we feel pain and we know sorrow.

Our hearts can grieve and we can weep in deep sadness.

But a day is coming when all that will be gone forever.

As the voice, which is God himself, tells us, the former things

have passed away with the closing of chapter 20.

So the history of sin is finished for God's people.

They will no longer be tempted, influenced, or feel the

pain and suffering of it.

And this is what Peter tells us in second Peter 3 and verse 13.

But according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and

a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

I read this verse as part of my own quiet time this week, and

it was this paragraph that struck me as to what the new creation

will be like now.

I don't know who the author is, but let me read what they said.

The defining characteristic of this new creation, Peter tells us,

is that righteousness dwells there.

In the present world, righteousness is rare and under constant

attack.

In the new heavens and the new earth, righteousness will suffuse

everything.

Sin will be gone, not merely restrained.

The glorified people of God, clothed in resurrection bodies, free

from the corruption of the fall, will live in perfect conformity

to the will of their Creator.

I have to say that stuck with me for the rest of the day, that

one paragraph.

Isn't it a wonderful understanding, as Peter tells us

here as well in second Peter, of what John is now seeing and hearing

in heaven.

It's a wonderful truth, and it is truly such glorious hope to believe.

And verse five goes on to assure us that it is God himself

who is working this there, that we can trust it because it is

his.

And John is commanded to write these words down so that they're

not forgotten, but are preserved for future generations,

our generation, so that we too can live in this great hope.

God tells John that what is written here is true.

It's reliable, as is the case with every word of God.

And as verses 1 to 5 have announced the new creation, so the

second half of this passage, verses 6 to 8, tells us who can enjoy

the new creation and who are excluded from it.

In verse 6 we're told, 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 peace payment.

God declares to John that all is accomplished, history has come

to an end.

Everything God has purposed has been realized.

And the new creation has come.

It's dawned.

God's purposes are realized because he is the sovereign God.

As he says of himself.

He is the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega.

He has always ruled and reigned as the God of the universe.

Things were never spinning out of his control.

And he declares that from the very beginning, what the end will

be, what are his purposes and his plans, and they have never been

frustrated.

And so the joys of knowing God and having him dwell in our midst

belong to those who are thirsty.

That's what he's saying here.

To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of living water.

What we're given the image of here is those who long to be satisfied

by God, satisfied with him because they're tired of relying

on themselves and on their good works.

And what God tells us here is that he freely quenches the spiritual

thirst and the longing of human beings.

The water of life is a gift that comes with the asking, and it's

freely given.

People don't have to work for it.

They don't have to show anything of themselves in any other

way to make themselves worthy of it.

All they need to do is to desire it, to want it, and to want

it because of the One who gives it.

So those who seek the Lord for living water that quenches their

spiritual thirst will be found in the new creation.

But verse seven also uses the word conquer to describe these people.

The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his

God, and he will be my son.

If you've been following along, and I know it's been quite

a number of weeks and months, but the theme of conquering is a

major theme in Revelation.

We saw this in the letter to the Church in Ephesus in chapter

two, and it's a theme that's continued since then.

And although conquering may not have been the exact word used

explicitly, we know that there's a great sense of overcoming

evil and to remain faithful to God.

Therefore, conquering evil, so those who have remained faithful

are not fallen into the wicked ways of the world, will be found

amongst the membership of God's people.

Now, this should be a challenge to believers.

The challenge is that we must stay the course of faith in Christ.

And if we're honest, we can often be tempted into the things

of the world, the things of Satan.

And he is becoming craftier in how he will pull God's people into

sin.

We must be very aware.

And again, going back to Peter, the image that he presents

to us is of one prowling around, waiting on whom he may desire.

And what is our response?

To be simply resist him firm in the faith, knowing that the same

kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout

the world, peter says.

As we know the craftiness of the Satan, as we know that he wants

to pull us away, to make us neither hot nor cold, to make us

look warm, we are to resist him, standing firm in the faith to

know fellowship with other people as they experience the same

thing, encouraging one another to keep with Christ so that our faith

does not become shipwreck.

This is a stark warning and challenge to us of how we are to

respond to God and to stay the course.

And as much as these verses have been encouraging, and there's

no doubt they're encouraging to us, we come to verse eight, which

is an even greater challenge.

And perhaps we don't like the words that we're about to read, but

here they are, and God himself has told us that they are true.

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.

Those who fail to conquer, who fail to be faithful unto the Lord,

and instead give themselves over to evil, will be in the lake

burning with fire and sulfur, a place that both chapters 19 and

20 of Revelation have told us about.

And those who will be found there will experience the second

death.

The first death of theirs is the initial separation from God experienced

by all those born into the world as sons and daughters of Adam.

The the second death, however, is eternal separation from God, and

there is no redemption or salvation for those who experience

the second death.

They will be tormented forever.

And so unbelievers are excluded from the city for cowardice

and unbelief.

Cowardice expresses itself in conforming to and following the beast

instead of risking our life for allegiance to Christ.

Unbelief or unfaithfulness means trusting in our own resources

instead of staking our life on God.

Murder and sexual immorality also separate us from God.

It's not as if these sins automatically exclude anyone.

The point is that one is excluded by engaging in such sins

instead of repenting and turning from them.

Sorcery or magic is regularly condemned throughout Scripture as

a way of trying to manipulate circumstances to bring about desired

ends instead of trusting in God.

Idolatry, like sorcery, is the rejection of God's Lordship liars

do not trust God's provision in their lives and so distort the

truth to accomplish their own desires and their schemes.

And this is quite a list and it's quite confronting.

So if we're honest in our own hearts, we can see ourselves and

what is here.

And maybe let me tease it out for you to be wary of some things.

Be wary of the people that you associate with, where they're inviting

you to, what they're wanting you to go to, and what they're showing

you or sharing with you on social media, or the recommendations

that they're giving you of what to watch.

Be very careful, for the devil can have a foothold.

Be careful of what we read, particularly by way of horoscopes.

We may think that it's just idle fun, but it's not.

Someone who has put those together could be deemed under sorcery,

wanting to determine what future might be by reading something

that they've made up of themselves.

I would also want to caution any use of financial gain that is

contrary to the word of God, such as gambling.

We might think it is easy money, but it burns a hole in our

hearts as we begin to rely on the 1 or 2, 5 or 10 or 20 pounds

we spend, rather than trusting in God to provide, as he's always

said he would.

This is what this looks like in the real world, and we are to

be warned.

You see, as much as verse eight is hard to read, it's real

and it's all around us.

And if we do not turn to Christ, if we do not trust in him

and him alone, then we will be found with the cowardly and the faithless.

And we will face a lost eternity where there is no opportunity

of redemption or salvation.

As we finish this evening, let me return to where we began and change

the wording of that book that our children love to look at.

If you could go to heaven when you die, do you really want to?

Now, that might seem a strange question, because obviously we would

say yes.

Well, where we began to answer yes to that question to heaven is

to trust in Jesus.

And what does He Himself tell us?

Not me, not one of the gospel writers or one of the apostles, but

Jesus himself, as recorded in John's gospel, chapter 14 and verse

6.

Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life.

No one comes to the Father except through me.

If you could go to heaven when you die, do you really want to?

If the answer is yes, then the only way is through Jesus, for He

is the only way the only truth and the only life to live contrary

to him means that our answer is no.

For it is only a yes or no answer to this question.

And we are confronted tonight with the glories of heaven and the

realities of hell.

When you lay your head on your pillow this night, I wonder, do you

have the assurance of Psalm 2 that you can rest completely in the

Lord because you're certain of your home in heaven?

Or will you go to bed tonight troubled, knowing that you can't

lay your head on your pillow in peace because you are not right

with the Savior?

Well, as we've said often through this book of Revelation,

while there is yet time, trust in the Lord, so that as each of us

lays our heads down this night, we will rest assured of a

home in heaven where there are no more tears, for they are wiped

away.

Where there's no more mourning, there's no more grief,

there's no more sorrow, there's no more pain.

All things have passed away, and all that is new will come.

And trusting in Christ will be yours forever.

May it be so.

Let us pray.

Our Father God.

It is glorious hope to trust in Christ, to know that this night

we can lay down our heads in complete assurance of who you are,

that no matter what comes our way, we are redeemed by Christ and

we will be yours forever.

We pray against all attacks of the evil one who would want to lure

us away with the attractions of this world, that they too will

fade, as we've seen in chapters 19 and 20 of this book.

Father, may we eagerly await the new heaven and the new earth.

May we know what it means to be counted among the redeemed, to

have our name written in the book of life, and to know for certain

we will escape and avoid that place where the cowardly and the

faithless will be found in a lake that burns with fire and sulfur.

May we have wonderful assurance of our salvation this night,

that our glorious hope is Christ and Him only.

And we ask this in Jesus name.

Amen.

Sam.