Sermon Tone Analysis

INTRODUCTION:

Anytime we enter a new season of life we have “expectations.”

Anytime you enter a new relationship with a particular person you end of developing expectations.

One of my friends used to say “People don’t let you down… your expectations for people let you down.”

Expectations are unavoidable but can be disappointing.

Getting married.

Having children.

Going on a date.

First year of college.

First job.

I’ve had expectations coming into each of these seasons.

Inevitably, with each one, there were at least certain occasions where I was disappointed over unmet expectations.

For the past several weeks we’ve been talking about the second coming of Jesus and His “millennial reign” on the earth.

As with many other things - people have "expectations” for what that reign is going to look like.

Heavenly Expectations

Have you ever spent anytime thinking about that day?

Bart Millard wrote an entire song about heaven entitled “I Can Only Imagine.”

It’s a classic best-seller because it invites everyone of us into that vision of what that day will be like.

Our passage today is going to do the same thing.

It’s a tremendous and powerful description of what happens when heaven meets earth at the return of the King.

I’ve entitled the message, “All Things New” because when God is finished with his purpose for this world, he won’t just make things better.

He will make ALL THINGS NEW.”

Review/Context

We’ve covered a lot of ground in this series thus far.

Revelation 20 opened with ...

the binding of Satan

the ruling and reigning of the Saints

the loosing of Satan and final crushing of his rebellion

the Great White throne judgment and lake of fire

In all of these things we’ve seen that different perspectives take different interpretations of these events.

When we get to Revelation 21 John has another vision.

This time, it’s of a New Heavens and a new earth.

Some interpreters see this as a continuation

Verses 1-4

With that said, let’s read our passage.

Revelation 21:1-4

Revelation 21:1–4 (CSB)

1 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.

2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.

3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them.

They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes.

Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.

What an amazing and encouraging passage.

Does it not just make you long for that day?

That there would be a new heavens and new earth created at the second coming of Jesus is not surprising if you read all of the other chapters leading up to Revelation 21.

Previously we had seen these 21 judgments of God:

the seven seals,

seven trumpets and

seven bowls of God’s wrath.

Those judgments of God scorched and destroyed this place we call earth.

It’s hard to imagine a millennial reign of Christ on the earth without some kind of recreation and renewal of what was destroyed.

What are some truths we can meditate on when it comes to this new creation?

I’d like to offer at least three.

The old will pass away and all things will be made new.

God will be present and chaos will be brought to order.

Death will be destroyed and our suffering will cease.

Old Gone Everything New

The first expectation we can have about this New Creation is just that.

It will be NEW.

The OLD things will pass away and ALL things will be made new.

Revelation 21:1 (CSB)

1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away...

We see elsewhere in the NT that this creation we see before us is destined to one day be destroyed and replaced.

2 Peter 3:12–13 (CSB)

...Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat.

13 But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

The Apostle Paul talks about a similar “burning up” in 1 Corinthians 3:13-15.

There are more to which we could point.

As with Revelation 20, people debate on the “timing” of this old earth passing away and the New Earth being brought about by God’s creative power.

Some say Revelation 21 is congruent with Revelation 20 and it’s all part of the inauguration of Christ’s Kingdom when he comes back in glory.

Some say it’s at the “end” of Christ’s millennial reign on the earth and starts the beginning of what they call “the eternal state.”

Regardless of the timing, the reality is, this WORLD and the things of this world are going to pass away.

That’s why John tells us in a previous letter “Do not LOVE the world or the things in this world - 1 John 2:17 “... the world with its lust is passing away, but the one who does the will of God remains forever.”

If we want to have lives that are appropriately shaped by the glory of heaven we must learn to relate to this world as if it is TEMPORARY.

Because it is.

And if you paid attention even a little bit to what we see going on in our world you’ll see right away the course we’re on isn’t a sustainable one.

Paul says in Romans 8 that the creation is GROANING as it waits for the glorification of God’s people at the return of Christ.

Because the only way out of the mess we’re is if Jesus comes and burns down what’s dead so something new can come up in it’s place.

Just like the ashes of a forrest fire provide a uniquely fertile context for new life to grow so also will the destruction of this world through God’s punishment of the wicked provide a fertile ground for a new world to house the new home of the righteous.

Lifting the Curse

Not only will “old things” pass away.

“All things” will be made new.

That “all things” will become new is an interesting thought.

When you think back to the garden of Eden you see over and over again that it was “good.”

But, when Adam and Eve sinned against God they unleashed a curse on this world that has plagued us ever since.

Now, Gen 3:17 “You will eat from [the ground] by means of painful labor all the days of your life.”

When Christ makes all things new, the curse of sin on our world is going to be lifted.

No longer will the earth produce “thorns and thistles” for us.

The new creation will be of a totally different kind.

Soliciting life-giving food from the ground will no longer be burdensome but easy.

We won’t have to work 60 hour weeks for 40 years of our lives just to barely enjoy 10 years of retirement.

Paradise Lost will become Paradise regained.

And it’s not just the physical creation that is made new.

It’s the metaphysical creation as well.

Our culture will no longer be sick with godless and demonic ideologies.

Godless false religion, evil authoritarian governments, all of those things that bring about harm in our culture today - those will be replaced with something good.

In the words of the old Christmas hymn,

“No more let sins and sorrows grow.

Nor thorns infest the ground.

He comes to make his blessings flow Far as the curse is found.”