Revelation 21: 1-4
Now aI saw a new heaven and a new earth, bfor the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2Then I, 1John, saw cthe holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared das a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, ethe tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 fAnd God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; gthere shall be no more death, hnor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
I. God will dwell with us in a new place. Vs 1-2
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Gen 1:1) Now John nearing the end of Revelation, the end of our Bible, speaks of a new heaven and a new earth. The earth as we know it today will be no more. When we look to the sky we will not see the sun, the moon, or the stars. The story of mans fall will be not even be remembered. You may wonder why God would so drastically change our landscape. Why doesn’t God just destroy all the evil and restore the earth in its present form? Whenever a person is violently murdered in their home the family of the victim rarely feels that just having the house cleaned is enough. They often want to move out of the house all together. If they are forced to stay they never really feel comfortable being there. Sometimes if it is possible they will close off the room where it happened and avoid it at all cost. In Genesis chapter 4 the first murder takes place. In verse 10 God says that “… The voice of your brothers blood cries out to me from the ground.” Can you imagine what this world must represent to our Holy God after all these years of murder, war, and bloodshed? In 2 Peter 3:10-13 we get an idea of how He feels about it.
10 But pthe day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which qthe heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be 4burned up. 11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be rin holy conduct and godliness, 12 slooking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will tbe dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will umelt with fervent heat?
God will not just clean this sinful world He will utterly destroy it and start again.
John also says there will be no more sea. There are a few things to take into consideration. First John was on an Island at the time. So I guess if there was a detail that he was not going to miss it would be that there was no sea. Imagine you are trapped on an Island so that all there is is the sea. Now imagine that while you were there God gave you a vision of what heaven was going to be like. Of all the wonderful, exciting, awesome things you saw you would definitely remember that your cage (the sea) is gone. Secondly many of the Israelites were terrified of the sea. They believed that if a person was to die while out at sea they could not be resurrected they were lost forever. Finally they believed the sea was evil and that storms were caused by evil spirits. So John saying that there was no sea would be a great comfort to those who held these beliefs. There are many more thoughts on this subject but it appears to me that whatever the interpretation there will be no sea in heaven.
The name of this new place where God will dwell with us is the New Jerusalem. According to most commentators this is actually a city and not a group of people. I would like to try and describe this city to you in my own words and my own illustrations, but if I did I would not come close to doing it justice. Even what we have in scripture is only a taste of what we can expect when we get there. Now try to imagine this lets read verses 9-21 in the same chapter.
9 Then one of rthe seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came 6to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you sthe 7bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 And he carried me away tin the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me uthe 8great city, the 9holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 vhaving the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 Also she had a great and high wall with wtwelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 xthree gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and yon them were the 1names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he who talked with me zhad a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand 2furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 17 Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 aThe foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve bpearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. cAnd the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass
A series of sermons could be preached on that text alone, but I just want to encourage you to always keep that image in your heart. God wants us to keep this image in our hearts. The world we live in is so full of evil, and is so often unfair but, we have a promise that we can hold onto the promise that this is not our home.
II. God will physically dwell with us.
3And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, ethe tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
I thank God for the gift of His Holy Spirit. I thank God that the Holy Spirit dwells spiritually with us despite the fact that we still abide in our sinful flesh. Without the Holy Spirit we would not have the strength or ability to accomplish any part of God’s will. Even our salvation comes by the drawing of the Holy Spirit. But one day we will sit in the presence of our Lord. We will fellowship with Him. How amazing is this truth. We will be free of this sinful flesh, eternally thankful for the work of the Holy Spirit, and eternally amazed in the presence of God. Again let’s look to scripture for a better understanding in verses 22-27.
22 dBut I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 eThe city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine 3in it, for the 4glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. 24 fAnd the nations 5of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor 6into it. 25 gIts gates shall not be shut at all by day h(there shall be no night there). 26 iAnd they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into 7it.27But jthere shall by no means enter it anything 8that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s kBook of Life.
If you can read this scripture without the slightest emotion then you need to ask God if your name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. The sermon that God has preordained that I would preach here today is directed toward believers. Its purpose is encouragement of the church body, so that we will have set our focus on the things of God. But if you are lost then God has a word for you. Don’t leave this place until your name is in His Book.
III. God will dwell with us personally.
4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
I have heard this verse quoted many times. There is often a small debate about the first part of this verse. The debate has to do with whether or not there will be crying in heaven because the verse says that He will wipe away our tears. So you either believe that we will be crying or that this is a figure of speech. I do not want to add anything to this debate in this study. Instead I would like to redirect your attention to something more important about this verse.
God, the same God who spoke all things into creation. God, the same God who Moses saw in a burning bush. God, the same God that parted the red sea. God, the same God who established the nation of Israel through Abraham. God, the same God who established the throne of David. God, the same God who had Jonah swallowed by a whale. God, the same God who came to the earth as man named Jesus. God, the same God who lived a sinless life in this sinful world. God, the same God who was chosen over a murderer to die on a cross. God, the same God who conquered death and hell when He rose again on the third day. God, the same God that dwells within all believers in the form of the Holy Spirit. God, the same God that we trust by faith and not by sight. That God will put His hand on your face and wipe away your very last tear. And when that Holy Hand has wiped away your last tear there shall be no more death, sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain. Because when God dwells with us in this new place, when He physically and personally dwells with us the former things will all have passed away.
