new heaven and new earth, pt. 1
The New Heaven and New Earth
Revelation 21
Pastor Macky SabayleWithin the heart of every man and woman there lies a longing for a Paradise-kind-of-life here on this earth. Right? It is as if we all know that our paradise was lost in the Garden of Eden, and we hunger to have it restored. We want it back. We’re all dreaming of a Utopia here on earth. Why do you think we have that longing or desire in our hearts?
We continue our series about Heaven. I want just to re-emphasize the goal of this series is to awaken in us an even greater desire and deeper expectancy of heaven, with a renewed hope and a fresh vision of the glory of God and to be excited to be with Him so that we may live every moment of our lives here on earth with focus and accountability that everything we do now will have eternal consequences. That we will have an even greater realization that what really really matters is God’s glory, God’s plan, God’s purposes. That if we do not align our lives to that end, then we don’t amount to anything at the end. If those things are not important and of utmost priority in our lives today, then we are going to have the saddest eternity. But on the other hand, if those things mean so much to us today, that they really really matter for our daily living, then we can expect the very very best of eternity. Amen?
Now we come to the pinnacle, the zenith, the apex of God’s plan of redemption—the new heaven and new earth. We come to the last two chapters of God’s divine revelation. We come to the culmination of God’s plan of redemption. What’s so amazing about these two chapters is that every strand of the holy Scripture, every prophecy, comes together and is brought together to its perfect ending and conclusion with this vision of the new heaven and new earth in Revelation chapters 21-22. At the heart of Revelation’s visions is this final destiny of God’s people.
The first thing I want us to learn this morning is about the Promise of the new heaven and new earth in the Scriptures.
I. The Promise of the New Heaven and New Earth
If you read the Bible carefully, you will discover that salted throughout the Scripture are little promises that is going create a new heaven and a new earth.
Isaiah 65:17
See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
Isaiah 66:22
“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the LORD, “so will your name and descendants endure.
Isaiah envisions a new heaven and new earth that will be so wonderful, so completely beautiful, that it will cause us to forget what we know about the earth as it is today. Later on, Isaiah also wrote that we will endure forever as this new heaven and a new earth will last forever.
Peter also says that this new heaven and this new earth will be a place where righteousness dwells.
2 Peter 3:13
as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. But in keeping with His promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
II. The Prelude to the New Heaven and New Earth
What happens before the New Heaven and New Earth? Let’s read Revelation 20:7-15.
1. Satan will be Released (v.7)
(7) When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison
2. Sinners will Rebel (v.8-9)
(8) and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—and to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. (9) They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God’s people, the city he loves.
3. All Evil will be Removed (v.9-10)
(9) But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. (10) And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
4. All People will be Reckoned of (v.11-12)
(11) Then I saw a great white throne and Him who was seated on it.
We go back to this Throne again, the centerpiece of heaven.
…The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them.
Figuratively, this means that there is absolutely no hiding from this throne. No one can escape the judgment that it represents.
Literally, I think this is what Peter refers to in 2 Peter 3:10 the destruction of the old heaven and earth to pave way for the new heaven and new earth.
(10) But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar;
the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.
Going back to Revelation 20…
(12) And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.
Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
This is now THE Judgment Day or what is theologically called the Great White Throne Judgment. All unsaved people from all times will be resurrected and appear before this judgment throne so that each will received his/her due penalty.
“The issue is not salvation by works but works as the irrefutable evidence of a man’s actual relationship with God.” (Mounce)
Notice that there are degrees of punishment for unbelievers, according to their works (Matthew 11:20-24). Here is where they are sentenced to their specific eternal punishment.
(14) Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death.
15 Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
The last echoes of sin are now eliminated. Death is the result of sin, and it is gone. Hades is the result of death, and it is gone. The last vestiges of sin’s unlawful domination are done away with and are cast into eternal damnation in the lake of fire.
Now that’s the prelude to the new heaven and new earth. Now we come to the most exciting part of human history and God’s plan of redemption.
III. The Profile of the New Heaven and New Earth
Let’s now come to the last 2 chapters of Revelation. Let’s go to Revelation chapter 20.
I. Creation is Renewed
(1) Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
I don't think this means that God picks us up and takes us to a new solar system—though he certainly could if he wanted to. The hope of the prophets seems to be that this earth and these heavens will be made new. God will renovate the whole thing—a kind of global rehab project. And everything futile and evil and painful will be done away.
The word “new” here is the Greek word Kainos and it means new in character. It’s new but not another. It is a new world but not another world. "It is the same heaven and the same earth, but gloriously rejuvenated.”
Henry Morris said,
“A new heaven and a new earth' could be properly translated 'a fresh heaven and a fresh earth.' It is just like the first, except that all of its age-long ravages of decay have been expunged and it is fresh and new again.”
John Piper,
"What happens to our bodies and what happens to the creation go together. And what happens to our bodies is not annihilation but redemption. Our bodies will be redeemed, restored, made new, not thrown away. And so it is with the heavens and the earth.”
So this new heaven and new earth is basically a renewal, a recapitulation of the old heaven and earth.
The Bible begins with God creating the heavens and the earth in Genesis 1,
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Gen. 1:1)
We find in the beginning of the Bible God creating the heavens and the earth, then we find at the end of the Bible, God creating a new heavens and new earth.
Notice verse 2 of Revelation 21 we see the Bride and the Groom meeting…
(2) I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And that reminds us of the first wedding at Eden where we find God creating Eve and presented her to Adam and God made them husband and wife and made them one flesh in marriage union (Gen. 2:22-24).
Genesis 2:22,24
(22) Then the LORD God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man.
(24) That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.
Then in Genesis 3 Satan enters God’s creation and corrupted it with sin and as a consequence, curse came upon the whole creation, not just the earth, but the whole universe.
Gen. 3:17,19
(17) “Cursed is the ground because of you… (19) By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.”
And for thousands of years, the rest of creation, man, animals, and practically all things, is groaning in pain, wanting to be redeemed and restored and renewed.
Rom. 8:22-25
(22) We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (23) Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. (24) For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what they already have? (25) But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.
The prophet Isaiah himself saw the plan of God to renew and restored the cursed creation.
Isa. 65:17
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.”
II. Communion with God is Restored
Just like in the original creation of God in Genesis 1-2 where man and God has intimate and personal and close communion until sin entered and separated us from God. That communion with God is going to be restored in the new heaven and new earth.
(3) And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
Brethren, the greatest blessing of the new heaven and new earth will be unhindered fellowship with God Himself. Finally the prophecy “God with us” (Isa. 7:14), foreshadowed in the OT tabernacle and temple, will be fully and finally achieved.
III. Curse is Reversed
(4) ’He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain,
for the old order of things has passed away.”
Now, the Bible says when we get to the new heaven and the new earth there'll be no more curse. The curse will be reversed. Say it out loud: "The curse will be reversed". Can't wait 'til they reverse the curse. Can you? When on the new earth the curse is reversed, the sense of labor and toil that accompanies our care of the ground and our pursuit of food will be returned to the way it was in the garden before the Fall. The ground will no longer produce thorns and thistles, and we ourselves will not be returned to the ground in death because we will never die. Because of man's fall into sin, a curse was pronounced over this Creation and God sent his Son into the world to redeem that Creation from the results of sin.
And the work of Christ is not just to save the innumerable throng of blood-bought people. The total work of Christ is nothing less than to redeem this entire creation from the effects of sin. That purpose will not be accomplished until God has ushered in the new earth until paradise lost becomes paradise regained.
IV. Consummation of all things is Realized
(5) He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (6) 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 water without cost from the spring of the water of life. (7) Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.
V. Celestial City is Revealed (v.9-11)
(9) One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” (10) And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (11) It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”
The rest of the chapter is a stunning description of this celestial city of God. The vision is symbolic and shows us that our new and final eternal home with God will defy description. We will not be disappointed by it in any way.
We will continue this sermon next Sunday.
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