[I am thankful for Charles Spurgeon's New Years Sermon of 1885. Much of the thought of this sermon came from that one.]
“And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.” — Revelation 21: 5
Good morning. Please open your Bibles to Revelation 21.
I hope your Christmas was blessed, that you had great time with family, that you stayed safe during this weird, weird season.
We come to the last Sunday of 2020, and I don’t think I have ever been more ready to turn a calendar page than I am this year.
The great 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon, in his first sermon of 1885, had this to say about the year that had just passed:
We are at this moment especially ready for a new year… We are glad to escape from what has been to many twelve months of great trial. The last year had become wheezy, croaking, and decrepit, in its old age; and we lay it asleep with a psalm of judgment and mercy. We hope that this newborn year will not be worse than its predecessor, and we pray that it may be a great deal better.
I think most of us would describe 2020 in much the same way Spurgeon described 1884.
And so for this last Sunday of 2020, as we are back to virtual worship services for a couple of weeks, while we are still under quarantine, while I am still processing the loss of yet another friend to covid, while I’m wondering if there is anyone who is even going to tune in on you tube because we are all just so over virtual everything; I’d like to share a passage with you from the second-to-the-last chapter of Revelation. I think God must have known I would need this passage this month, because in the Scripture memory app I use, Revelation 21:3-7 has been the passage I’ve been memorizing for the past several weeks. Let’s read it together, and wherever you are, let’s stand to honor the reading of God’s Word:
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place[a] of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people,[b] and God himself will be with them as their God.[c] 4 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.”
5 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.” 6 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. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Before you sit down, again, wherever you are right now, would you please repeat this part of verse 5 with me.
He who was seated on the throne said, “Behold I am making all things new.”
You can be seated. Let’s pray…
We all love getting new things. Our kids got up Christmas morning to see what new thing was under the tree for them. It’s kind of in our DNA to chase after whatever is new and bright and shiny.
So it’s no surprise that the mere words of Revelation 21:5 make our hearts beat a little faster. We hear Jesus say, “Behold, I am making all things new,” and our spirit feels a little lighter. Our eyes gleam a little brighter. The promise of something new gives us hope.
Five days from now, we will celebrate a brand new year. By grace, we’ve made it to 2021. So let’s say goodbye to 2020 and hello to 2021 by camping out just on this one verse: Revelation 21:5. I’d like us to look at it phrase by phrase, and maybe even word by word. Let’s start with the first word:
BEHOLD: that’s a Bible word if ever there was one. It means to look at something, but these days it always means to look at something truly awesome or amazing. You don’t say BEHOLD for just any old thing. BEHOLD I HAVE WASHED THE DISHES! So when someone, says “BEHOLD,” we’ve got to stand up and pay attention. When God says BEHOLD, open your eyes.
I AM … Who is speaking? The beginning of the verse says, “He who is seated on the throne.” When someone is on a throne, that someone is in charge. He rules. In this case, it is the throne of the universe. So again, the “I” here isn’t just any old “I.” This “I” is the Great I am. Verse 7 says He is the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end.
It’s Jesus. Jesus is and always has been and always will be the sovereign king of all creation. The only question up for debate is whether or not He is on the throne of your life.
I AM MAKING: Only God the creator can make anything. He is the Maker of heaven and earth. It is his high prerogative to make and to destroy.
ALL THINGS: What a range of creating power is here! Nothing stands outside of that all-surrounding circle.
NEW: Ahhh. That’s the money word. That’s the word of hope for a new year. New means unspoiled. Full of promise. Revelation 21 lists some of the things Jesus is going to make new:
• There will be a new heaven and a new earth (verse 1): We sometimes miss the fact that we aren’t going to spend eternity in some disembodied spiritual state, sitting up on a cloud and playing a harp. There is going to be a new heaven and a new earth, without a touch of pollution, without decay or decline over time, because there won’t be any time. It will be a place without tears or sorrow or pain. It will be a place without any death. For any of you that had to say goodbye to someone this year, either because of Covid or cancer or old age or accident, there will not be any of that. Ever again.
• There will be a new Jerusalem. If you have ever been to Jerusalem, its hard to explain the feeling of being in the Old City. Knowing that you are walking on some of the very same stones that Jesus Himself walked on. There is such a sense of God’s presence in that place. but at the same time, there is a sense of brokenness and lostness and division, because the city is divided up among religious factions. But the new Jerusalem won’t have any of that. It will be scrubbed as clean and shining bright like a bride on her wedding day. And hear the promise from God’s Word: the dwelling place of God wlll be with man. They will be His people, and God Himself will dwell with them as their God.
But wait. There’s more. Pull the curtain back a little, and let’s see what else Revelation promises will be new.
• Twice—Revelation 2:17 and 3:12 God’s Word says we will get a new name. In the Bible a person’s name often stands for his character, and a new name meant new character. Simon got a new name—Peter. Saul got a new name—Paul. A bride gets a new name when she gets married. She takes the name of her husband. And we are the bride of Christ.
• We also will sing a new song. Revelation 5:9 says those gathered before the throne will sing a new song. It will be a song we sing with those of every tongue and tribe and people, and it will be a song that’s never been sung before. Think of that. As of April, 2020, there were 60 million songs on iTunes. And most of them are bad. But we will sing a new song in heaven. Parents, that means you’ll never have to hear Baby Shark again!
We actually already know the lyrics, because Revelation 5:9-10 gives us the lyrics
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals,
for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God
from every tribe and language and people and nation,
10 and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God,
and they shall reign on the earth.”
But it will never ever get old. Even though we’ve known the words for two thousand years now, the tune will be brand new. And we will never get tired of hearing it or singing it.
So now, at the threshold of the new year, let’s praise Jesus, as we hear these encouraging words which he speaks from his throne. O Lord, we rejoice at what you make new!
But as we think about Jesus’ promise to make “all things new,” I have to make sure you understand that that promise is ONLY for those of us who have been made new personally. All creation will be transformed, but only those who have been transformed by Christ will get to experience it. So with the time we have left this morning, I’d like us to look at a two more things the Bible says are made NEW in Christ.
First, we have a new covenant. When Jesus instituted the Lord’s supper, which we observed on Christmas Eve earlier this week, he held up the cup and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood (1 Cor. 11:25). What did He mean by that?
Understand that before Jesus came, all of us were under the old covenant, which God established with Adam in the Garden of Eden. The old covenant basically said, “If you will keep my command you will live, and all the generations after you will live. But if you eat of the tree which I have forbidden, you will surely die.”
Adam broke that covenant, and humans have been separated from God ever since. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says that in Adam, we all died.
But that’s not all 1 Corinthians 15:22 says! The rest of the verse says that in Christ, all shall be made alive. In his wondrous love our Lord Jesus put us under a new covenant, a covenant which was sealed by His own blood. In the Old covenant, we had to keep the law perfectly, and we couldn’t do it. But in the new covenant, Jesus kept the law on our behalf. Jesus is our guarantor of salvation because He has fulfilled all the requirements of the law. Today believers are not under the covenant of “Do this and live,” but under that new covenant which says, “The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). What law could not do, grace has accomplished.
We can never forget that before Jesus renews all creation, He first makes of us a new creation.
Before the old passes away in the new heaven and the new earth, the old passes away in our personal lives. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
What a blessing it is for you and for me that Jesus has made all things new. I am so glad that I don’t have to stand here and say, “If you want to be saved in 2021, here’s the list of things you have to do.”
Because we all know what happens to new years’ resolutions, don’t we? We try really hard to lose weight, or exercise, or eat healthy, or watch less TV, or limit our social media. Or we decide we aren’t going to drink as much, or cuss as often. We commit to reading our Bible every day, and praying for 15 minutes a day, or whatever list of things we do. And maybe we start the year strong, but by February, or April, or September, how many of those resolutions have we kept. Our resolutions fail because we are trying to change our behavior by the force of our own will. But when we are crucified with Christ, it is no longer we who live but Christ living in us. Jesus takes the wheel.
From the moment that we trust in Jesus, we begin a new life in Him. The life that we live in the flesh is no longer according to the lusts of the world, but we live by faith in the Son of God, who loved us and gave himself for us. Paul describes this in Galatians as being crucified with Christ.
We have a new desire to please God. New hope is in us. New peace. New joy. New love for others.
When Christ comes into a life, not only does He make you a new creation, but He makes all creation new to you.
The advice that used to sound so wise now sounds foolish. What we once thought would bring us happiness we now take no interest in. “The world is crucified to me,” said Paul; and many of you can say the same. What a transformation grace makes in all things! In our heart there is a new heaven and a new earth. We’re stunned at what brings us joy now compared to what used to. We’re ashamed of our hates and our prejudices.
What a different Bible we have now! They are the same words, but now we read them differently.
What a different place church seems to be. We love to be found within its walls, and we feel delighted to join in the praises of the Lord.
I know that at Glynwood we don’t do a whole lot of Amen-ing or Hallelujah-ing in the middle of a service. Maybe that’s not a Baptist thing as much as it’s a white people thing, because I’ve preached in a Black Baptist church before, and let me tell you, when they are praising God, you know it! and I don’t blame them.
When we have tasted of the grace of God, and know that the Lord has done great things for us, can we not get a little excited about it? Why shouldn’t we lift up our voices in his praise? Because according to Revelation 5, one day, we will. He will put that new song into our mouths, and we must sing it. The mountains and the hills break forth before us into singing, and we cannot be dumb. Let’s be people of praise in 2021. Let’s compete with the angels, and let’s win, because we’ve received grace and forgiveness, and they haven’t!
He that is seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new. Our future is glorious; let’s not let our worship be gloomy.
My prayer for Glynwood in 2021 is that week in and week out, Sunday after Sunday, there will be men and women that are drawn here who are lost in their sins. I pray they hear the gospel. And they will see the changed lives of the people they are sitting next to. And they will be aware of how lost they are. And they will know then a new birth is possible even if they feel far from God right now. There is enough of light in their soul to know that they are in darkness; and they will say to themselves, “I want what these people have! I hear how these people of God cry 'Hallelujah!' at what Christ has done for them. Can he do the same for me?”
L
isten! He that is seated on the throne says to you—however lonely, discouraged, disbelieving, disappointed, rebellious, sinful, angry, hurting, drunk, addicted, or messed up you are-- “Behold, I make all things new.” There is nothing so old that he cannot make it new — nothing so fixed and habitual that he cannot change it.
Let every thief know that the dying thief entered heaven by faith in Jesus.
Let every one guilty of sexual sin know that Jesus forgave a woman caught in adultery.
Let every one who has ever denied Jesus know that Jesus forgave Peter.
Let every legalistic, self-righteous, vengeful hypocrite know that Jesus met Saul on the road to Damascus and gave him a new name.
The Lord can work a radical change in you. He that is seated on the throne can do for you what you cannot do for yourself. “Behold, I make all things new.”
But there are children of God who need to hear this truth as well, “Behold, I make all things new,” You’ve grown tired and weary and you need renewal. whose sigh is that they so soon grow dull and weary in the ways of God, and therefore they need daily renewing. For you, I want to reminding you of verse 6:
“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.
We all get sleepy in our walk with God. Our faith loses its freshness. But it doesn’t have to be that way. What God started with us at the beginning (He’s the Alpha), He will sustain to the end (the Omega) by renewing us with springs of living water. We just need to go to Christ again, just as we did at the first.
I think that’s why Jesus told John in verse 5 to write the words down, because they are trustworthy and true. When we spend time in God’s Word—the trustworthy and true words of him who is seated on the throne, then God gives us from the spring of the water of life.
There is one more group of people I think I’m talking to this morning, and that is those who are praying for a lost friend or family member. The Lord who makes all things new can hear your prayers. I know there are some of you with unbelieving brothers or sisters or husbands or wives or sons or daughters or classmates or coworkers. And I pray that in 2021 you believe that God desires to see them come to know He who is seated on the throne.
Charles Spurgeon told of one of his church members, whose brother had come to Christ recently. Spurgeon said to him, “I suppose you were surprised to see him converted.” He said, “I should have been very much surprised if he had not been.” “But why, my dear brother?” I said. “Because I asked the Lord to convert him, and I kept on praying that he might be converted; and I should have been very much surprised if he had not been.”
Will you have that kind of prayers for the lost this year? Will you resolve to not stop praying until they either come to Christ or die apart from Him? I want to have that kind of passion for lost people this year. I don’t want to give up, give in, or let go until that person I’m praying for confesses their faith in Jesus.
The Lord answer our prayer now, for Jesus’ sake, for we seek the salvation of every person who hears this sermon. Amen.
