OUR GOD WILL MAKE ALL THINGS NEW
REVELATION 21:1—6 MAY 18, 2003
REVELATION 21:1-6
1Then 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. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He 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."
5He 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."
6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:
We’ve been going through Revelation and we’ve looked at Chapters 1, 5 and 7. We’re at chapter 21, next week chapter 21 again and then chapter 22. Just to remind us, for those of us who weren’t here, John is on the island of Patmos, a small rocky place about five miles by ten miles. The government didn’t like him preaching about Jesus Christ. They didn’t want him to tell people about the Savior so they put him on an island to be by himself and there, John was spoken to by God. He was given the book of Revelation for us to learn from, study and be encouraged by. We see here another one of the visions of John as the Lord encourages him, to remind him that he’s not alone. He wasn’t by himself even though he was no longer with his Christian friends, even though he would never again get off the island of Patmos or preach to a congregation. He was reminded that where he was at this time on Patmos and where he dwelt was not his permanent home. He had something more to look forward to because he was a child of God. You and I are children of God. As children of God, only passing through this life in a very temporary state, we too have something better to look forward to.
We had our reading from 3rd John. Before we got to those verses, here’s 1 JOHN 3:2 that tells us, "Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” It says when the Lord comes we will know everything completely. What comfort John had in knowing that. Here, as he struggled on Patmos by himself and maybe sometimes wondering if this is where he really needed to be (it certainly wasn’t where he wanted to be) it was where the Lord wanted him to be until he would see the Lord face to face. Then he would know everything.
On this side of heaven there is all kinds of evil. What does the Lord say to us in our text today? “I will make everything new!” We will use that as our theme today.
OUR GOD WILL MAKE ALL THINGS NEW
I. A heavenly home
II. For eternal living
I. A heavenly home for us
In the book of Revelation, there are seven visions. Chapters 1 to 19 take us through six visions. Chapter 20 starts the seventh vision of Judgement Day. Chapter 21 where we are at today, talks about that heavenly home after Judgement Day. Let’s hear what it is described as. 1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. When we study about Judgement Day, we know that is what will happen. The Lord will come quickly and the earth and everything in it will be swallowed up in an instant and will be destroyed. John says after Judgement Day there was a new heaven and a new earth because (later on he says) the old order of things has passed away…the first earth, the first heavens are all gone. Then we have a little phrase that was dear to John’s heart and he said, ‘and there was no longer any sea.’ We might not think much about that but during the time of the apostles the sea was an unknown place and it was a scary place. They spent a lot of time fishing there. Remember when Jesus walked on the water to them? They thought it was a ghost! They were pretty superstitious about the sea…dangerous! And John, on the island of Patmos, was separated from the big congregation in Ephesus by the sea. When he looks into he says, ‘No more sea. There is no more separation for my friends and me. There is no more separation for me and God.’ That is the new heaven and the new earth.
Then he says, 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. The new Jerusalem of course, during the time of the New Testament, was a place of worship. They called it the Holy City because the temple of God was there. There, the Jews would go and worship. There, the believers would find their gospel message preached. In our first lesson today, what did we hear? We heard about the eunuch coming back from Jerusalem because he had gone there to worship. The visions of John are not all the same because many things are taking place. There is a good similarity between all of them because he talks about worship time and again. Here, the new Jerusalem, this heavenly home is going to be a place of worship. In the last few weeks we heard it was going to be worship by the elders, the beasts, the angels and the saints. He brings that out here. It’s a place that the Lord has prepared for his believers. He said it’s just as a bride prepares for her wedding day. He says the new Jerusalem, the place of worship, is waiting for believers to come, gather around the throne of God and praise God Almighty.
He goes on saying, 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.” Again, there is no more sea. The believers see the Lord face to face. 5He 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." He didn’t want John to think he was dreaming. He didn’t want John to think that these visions were made up. The Lord God reminded him saying, ‘John, this is true. My words are faithful. I will make everything new. You will have a new home, you will never be lonely again.’ Once he would die on Patmos, John would go to his heavenly home. The Lord reminds us of that this morning.
There are some who say, ‘This is it! This is the life we have to lead and live. This is what we have to make the best of. Eternity—that’s too hard to understand and comprehend.’ They try to dismiss it or they try to say it doesn’t exist at all. That sounds strange to our ears but there are more and more people who feel like that. If you look at society you will see it…bigger homes, better cars. They live as if there is no tomorrow. They live as if they care not for eternity. Yet, in this life there’s little satisfaction. We always desire more, something better, something new. If I were to ask, ‘Who would like to live in a new home?’ we would agree. We would all like to live in a new home. If we don’t, then we would say, ‘Look at our home we live in.’ We don’t keep our homes the same as they were a year or even ten years ago. We change them, we redecorate them, and we try to make them more comfortable. Yet, we are to look forward to the eternal home that is yet to come.
In John’s gospel when the Lord left his disciples, He said, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; (because He cares for you) trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you"(JOHN 14:1,2). Even though we might never live in a new home here on earth, even though we might never be satisfied with the home that we have, the Lord says I am making a place that is far better for you. It’s a heavenly home. What joy is ours when we realize that all things in this life are temporary; yet, yes we are dissatisfied and sometimes we’re disappointed and sometimes we’re even discontented with this life. That isn’t so bad. It really isn’t so bad. It reminds us that there’s something better to look forward to. We aren’t to become so wrapped up in this life that we forget about eternity. We aren’t to become so wrapped up in this life that we forget about eternity. We aren’t to become so wrapped up in this home or dwelling that we forget about our heavenly home. Paul describes it this way in 2 CORINTHIANS 5:2: "For while we are in this tent, (when you think of a tent, there are none of us here that want to live in a tent, our earthly body, very long—not as a permanent place!) We groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life." He says we throw off this tent and death is swallowed up by life. That’s hard to understand, isn’t it?
We don’t always look forward to death. We don’t always find it a joyful event because we’re on this side of heaven aren’t we? We don’t see clearly the face of God. In between heaven and us there is still that sea…that sea that separated John from the mainland and his friends, the sea that separates us from the perfect understanding that God would have us know. Sin is why. ISAIAH 59:2 tells us "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear." That is sad BUT today the Lord says, ‘I will make everything new. I’m preparing you a new home. It is for
II. For eternal living
John says as he sees a new heaven and new earth, a new Jerusalem coming down, a place of worship…remember last week we heard that’s all anyone has to do in heaven is worship. It’s so fun that everyone does it night and day! Then he says, 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. They will see clearly that God is their God. I am sure that as John was on the island of Patmos, he knew God was God and that he was God’s child. I am sure that he also thought, ‘Boy, I wish I could be in the house of worship with my Christian friends on the day of worship.’ I’m sure he felt very lonely. The Lord says, ‘But I am with you. In heaven you will understand that very clearly.’ He says that because the old order of things has passed away. John tells us, They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, (he tells why) for the old order of things has passed away." For John that meant there would be no more sadness. For the believers, they too realized they had no more to cry about. Remember, they were being persecuted. There was so much persecution that they put their leaders off on an island by themselves. It’s just a place that has eternal life that is the opposite of earth. If you didn’t understand it or didn’t know it, the Lord comes and puts a seal on it and says, ‘It is done!’ He said to John already, 6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” It is done! Heaven is here! Your place is reserved. It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He said if you don’t believe it is done or don’t want to believe it is done, ‘I began the world; I’ll end the world. What I say is done!’
The end of our words in John says, To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. God’s gift…all of this is God’s gift! John realized he could not earn a place in heaven. John realized he could not buy a place in heaven. John realized he did not deserve a place in heaven and you and I also. Our sins do separate us from God. We deserve by our sins to be sent to eternal destruction. God says to us, ‘Here’s the gift of living water. Here’s the gift of eternal life. Here’s your heavenly home at no cost, no price, except the blood of my own Son.’ Paul wrote to Titus and said, "God our Savior saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit.”(TITUS 3:5). We rejoice that heaven is our home. We rejoice that in heaven we are going to live forever. Again, we think of that and we think, ‘We don’t want to live much longer here. Why would we want to live forever?’ In heaven the old order of things is passed away…no more pain, no more mourning, no more tears…no more backaches, no more sore shoulders, no more toothaches…all of those things are gone. Every day we have an ache or a pain and they will be all gone. Who wouldn’t want to live forever then?
PSALM 23 tells us our Good Shepherd leads us along still waters, along the paths of righteousness and then he finishes in verse 6 by saying, "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.”(PSALM 23:6). Notice that as the psalm writer writes that that is our conviction. He doesn’t say, ‘You know, I think I’m going to live in heaven or I might get there.’ He says, ‘I will get there and live forever.’ That is what John reminds us of today…that you and I will live in heaven forever.
You and I, as we live in heaven forever, will see all things clearly, will be anxious and excited to worship God day in and day out. At the throne of God, as we’ve heard in the last few weeks, is the Lamb of God who died for all of our sins. We’re told in ROMANS 6:22, "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life.” The Lord, on this side of heaven, has set us free from the bonds of sin so that our lives are changed. We see the future as a bright future because it’s eternity in store for every believer. Our lives are changed! We don’t have to mope around in this world. We don’t have to feel sorry for ourselves. We don’t have to think we’ve gotten not what we deserve. We realize that God is going to give us what we don’t deserve…eternal life. We can live lives of holiness here until we see the Lord face to face.
“I will make all things new” says the Lord. He’s going to change everything on Judgement Day…no more earth and its sinfulness but a new heaven and a new earth, a holy city for you and I to worship together day in and day out. He’s going to provide and give us our place that He has been preparing for us since He ascended back into heaven. We will see our heavenly home where we will live forever. That is reason to rejoice day in and day out! On those days when we don’t feel like rejoicing, we might feel sorry for ourselves or sad or lonely, then we are to remind ourselves we ought to think about what is yet to come.
Peter wrote during a time when the government came in and took away all possessions, burned down their homes and said, ‘Good riddance you bad Christians!’ Peter says do we give up? Do we cry and moan? He says, ‘No!’ We say, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, (so they had a living hope…they didn’t have anything else) and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade--kept in heaven for you"(1 PETER 1:3,4). Our Lord Almighty says I will make everything new—a heavenly home where you will live forever. That is your inheritance. Amen.
Pastor Timm O. Meyer
