NEW CREATION: Where Are We Going?

Happy Anniversary Refuge! Thanks for letting me pastor you for the last 5 years. Thanks to the band! To our volunteers! To Triumph! To all our guests! Today we are celebrating that Christ is still King, that he still changes lives, that he is still building his kingdom.

Now, if you have been around, you know we have been going through a series called “The Story”

New Creation Image.

Today we are wrapping it up with the last stage on that big story. Today we’ll talk about New Creation. Today we will not focus on the actual event of Christ coming, or the details. You can look at the study guide on Instagram to dive into that. Today we will look at the end of the story, the very last chapter. This will be our text today.

Chubby angels

I grew up in a Christian culture, like of is. I heard about Heaven. But it did not sound super appealing to me. This is heaven as I understood it; as I saw it on movies, shows, The Simpsons. When you die, your spirit, or ghost, or soul goes to heaven, receives a white robe, a set of wings, and walks in clouds. These guys looks bored. And we are supposed to be singing all the time. Don’t get me wrong, Jesus is a cool guy, but I cannot imagine myself singing for eternity. I am not nearly as good as our band, so nobody would want to hear that.

Thankfully, the idea that I received was incorrect. If you don’t have a lot of familiarity with the Bible, you may think that it promises THIS. But that is not what the Bible teaches.

The hope of the Christian is not going to heaven when they die.

The hope is New Heavens and New Earth.

, or NEW CREATION.

This will be a fun message. Some of you already know this. But some others will be mind-blowing. Stay with me, please. We will use the Bible a lot. To make it easy for you, I printed an outline.

Let me talk about the ABC of New Creation. The Antecedents of New Creation, the Basics of New Creation, the Consequences of New Creation.

[Prayer]

The Antecedents of New Creation

Genesis 1:31 ESV

And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

This was God’s original plan for earth. A VERY GOOD place.

It was derailed by Satan. But God will not give up. He is planning not to destroy creation; not to take us to his own place and forfeit his original design. No, he will surely accomplish his plans.

The prophet saw an amazing vision:

Isaiah 65:17 ESV

17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.

Isaiah 65:21 ESV

21 They shall build houses and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit.

This a physical place, with physical people and physical animals. The prophet also says “a wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and a little child shall lead them.” This is creation as God originally planned it. This is the goal of creation. This is where we are going.

Check this out, Jesus prayed for this reality to materialize, and taught his disciples to pray for it as well.

Matthew 6:9–10 ESV

9 Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. 10 Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Listen to his words carefully. He is not asking: “Take us soon to heaven.” No! Rather, “your kingdom come”! And what does that mean? That God’s will be done on earth, as is in heaven.

In the most famous prayer of the Bible is embedded the promise of renewal! I hope you’re starting to see the actual biblical promise. NOT going to Heaven, but that heaven comes to earth. That the will of God is established on earth that he renews and restores creation.

Paul speaks of the earth as if it was a person. And listen, the earth is not worried about that day, because she knows it doesn’t mean destruction, but reparation.

Romans 8:19–21 ESV

19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope 21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

The earth wants to be renewed! With that in mind, we can go to our text.

The Basics of New Creation

Revelation 21:1–4 ESV

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 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 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.”

v1

This happens at the very end of the story, after Christ defeats his enemy, after the last judgment, he makes a new heaven and new earth. You may wonder: “I’ve heard many pastors preaching about we going to heaven.” We are not to trust pastors, but Scripture, right? Now, Scripture says he will take his people to heaven, yes. But shortly, temporarily, while he renews this earth. It will be like a vacation while he fixes this planet.

v2

John says: I saw new Jerusalem coming down from heaven. We are not going to heaven, heaven is coming down. It’s coming as a city: New Jerusalem. The rest of the chapter provides many details of the city, because it’s a literal one. The chapter also talks about the Tree of Life, because God is planting again The Garden of Eve. The rest of the chapter presents a literal, a physical city.

The city comes as a bride. I remember my wedding day. Everyone was excited and freaking out that my bride getting slightly late, and everyone was thinking oh my gosh, why if she changed her mind. Maybe it was not everyone, maybe it was just me. But it fell like it was everyone. And then she came. perfect.

v3

New Jerusalem is not the only thing that comes down. GOD HIMSELF also comes to dwell on New Creation. Again, we are not going up to heaven, heaven is coming down to us!

God will dwell with his people. In a real city, with real people, making real culture. God with us! God in our midst, not a experience that we don’t understand, but as we are, only perfect. God will come to our birthday parties. God will teach our kids to swim. God will plant a garden with you. God among us!

v4

He will come and purify the evil. He will wipe away every tear. Because it will take a second to process our losses. God will be there to get rid of the could haves, should haves, would haves. If you have never gone to therapy, this will be your first time, with God. He will also heal the nations, put everything in order.

It also says, no more pain; of course there will not be a parallel reality where the wicked one are tortured forever. No, no, at this point Satan and those who did not repent will be annihilated. Only the New Jerusalem will persist. And God will be with his people. This is the utopia that idealist yearn for, cynics say is impossible, and we all long for. A perfect world will be perfect by the power of God.

You may think that it really doesn’t matter if we go up or God comes down. But it makes all the difference in the world. A common complain against Christianity is that it promises an immaterial future, and makes Christians uninterested in the present. You heard Marx saying: “religion is the opium of the masses.” Truth be told, many Christians behave that way. Because, again, if you think your inner soul is going to be rescued from this place, why care about it at all? If the world will be burned up, why work society, the planet, or creation? It’s all about their soul being rescued.

But the Bible does not say that. The Bible presents a much brighter, exciting reality. Let me present it.

The Consequences of New Creation

Ever since the war started, God’s plan has been to restore the world, while respecting the freewill of all beings in the universe. He actually has started his process of renewal. Can you believe that? He has started it in you and me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.

You are part of new creation! You don’t feel like that, you say? Sure, you still get sick, you can still sin. So in a sense, you are not fully new creation. But in a very real sense, you are new creation! You heart has been transformed, your spirit longs for Christ. You are part of the new creation.

That transformation will be completed when Christ comes. As Christ was risen, we will be risen! Christ was risen with a real body, and that is the future of the people of God too. Or, if we are alive when he comes, our bodies will be perfected and transformed!

1 Corinthians 15:51–58 ESV

51 Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. 54 When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” 55 “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

When Christ comes, that change that he started in you, will be completed. You will live forever, in a perfect state!

If you think about it, If we were to live as spirits in heaven, it means death wins. Because technically we will be dead. The hope is that, if you die in Christ, you will be raised. If you are alive in Christ, you will be transformed.

This is personal to me. Because I told you I have diabetes. I am waiting for the day when I am restored! I want to know what it means to eat an ice-cream without worry! Just enjoy a simple pleasure. If you have a disease or illness, the Lord will restore you too. You will be in your prime! I know, most of you are too young to appreciate that.

But listen, resurrection means that you will embrace your loved ones. Those that you lost too soon. Those that you were not able to say good bye to. You will encounter with them, not as ethereal forms but as perfected bodies. As I can see you, as I can touch you. That is the hope of the Christian.

v58

But check this out; don’t miss it! Therefore, there is a therefore! Paul is telling this amazing news not just for you to say “that’s a cool story bro.” No, there is an implication today. Therefore, because of the hope of resurrection, be steadfast, immovable, give yourselves to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

This is the key point of the sermon. This simple idea can change your life forever. Because New Creation means a physical reality, in a physical place, with physical people, your physical world today is not in vain.

Resurrection assures our work is not in vain.

Why? Because your work here can be preserved there! Think about it. The promise of eternal life, in a renewed earth, is the absolutely best incentive. to work with hope and diligence today. Knowing that what you do here may have eternal consequences assures you that your work is not in vain. Let me give you some examples.

Let’s say you brought someone to Christ. That person will be part of New Creation. And you will forever know, that your work on that person was not in vain. But it’s not only evangelism.

Let’s say you are a nurse, a doctor, a medical engineer. You do work work faithfully, and someone is healed thanks to you. Then, later in life, someone else shares the gospel with them. Even though you did not share the gospel, you allowed that happen by healing them! Your work today will be part of New Creation.

Or if you are a teacher, a taught a kid to read, and picks up a Bible later, or you had a meal with someone, and that was the sparkle of hope she needed on that moment. Your work with them will be preserved in eternity. Now, it turns more interesting. It’s not just about people. It’s about the entirety of New Creation.

Let’s say you compose a song. A beautiful, pure, inspiring song. The purification process will remove all evil, but preserve all good. So, if you compose a song, there’s a very real possibility that we sing it forever in the New Creation.

If you are an architect and design a new building, it may be preserved! We will lived in houses, wouldn’t we? Or a new recipe!

Let’s say you plant a new tree! When the purification process comes, it will skip over it, and that tree that you plant today, maybe, just maybe, can be part of that New Creation.

What you do in the present –painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself– will last into God's future

N. T. Wright

That’s why a Christian who hopes for New Creation will not ignore the needs of the world, or will be uninterested on the planet. NO! He will work the most faithfully, knowing that he is building for eternity.

What you do today has the potential to exist forever.

We started Refuge 5+ years ago. My Addi, I, and few others. Ancy, Zach, Kathy, were the ones from the core group. Then some of you were added, and then a few more. On these last 5 years, we have shared the good news, helped some refugee families, spread hope and community. Our work is not in vain! What we do here, even today, the skills learned, the kids raised, the relationships mended, the people changing for the better, all that work will be preserved in the world to come.

If you are not a Christian, I hope you see that this worldview is a whole lot more hopeful.

I always say to my skeptical, secular friends that, even if they can't believe in the resurrection, they should want it to be true. Most of them care deeply about justice for the poor, alleviating hunger and disease, and caring for the environment. Yet many of them believe that the material world was caused by accident and that the world and everything in it will eventually simply burn up in the death of the sun… their own worldview undermines any motivation to make the world a better place. If the resurrection of Jesus happened, however, that means there's infinite hope and reason to pour ourselves out for the needs of the world

Tim Keller

Because we believe God will renew all things, we can work with enthusiasm and hope today. We can help today. We can care for the planet today. And when he comes, he will finish the work!

Maybe you’re confused. “It makes no sense, God will create everything new, from scratch.” Whatever we do here on earth will be burned up. No! Let’s go back to our text.

Revelation 21:5 ESV

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.”

Check this out. He says: “I am making all things new.”

God is not making new things.

God is making all things new.

“Oh that’s just semantics,” you say. No! Makings things new means cleaning them and fixing them. Christ calls it “renewal of all things” in Mt 19, Peter “the restoration of all things” in Ac 3

Imagine I have a sculpture. A masterpiece, but old and damaged. If I make new things, it means I am throwing away this one! And all the beauty, the heroism, and love contained in it is gone!

But, if I make things new, it means that I take this broken sculpture, and put it together. And I keep it. This is what the Lord does. He takes the pieces of your life, and puts them back together. No matter how broken you thing you are, he can restore you. He starts this process today. Today you are New Creation. And when he comes, he’ll finish off. You’ll have a perfect body, perfect desires, perfect character. And it will still be you. You will know your name, your story, your loved one.

The same with the world. He will make all things new!! God will take the nations, the world, and will purify them, perfect them, but still be them!

New Creation will not be a blank page, as if God will simply crumple up the whole of human historical life in this creation and toss it in the cosmic bin, and then hand us a new sheet to start all over again. The new creation will start with the unimaginable reservoir of all that human civilization has accomplished in the old creation – but purged, cleansed, disinfected, sanctified and blessed.

Christopher Wright

“Think of the prospect! All human culture, language, literature, art, music, science, business, sport, technological achievement, – actual and potential – all available to us. All of it with the poison of evil and sin sucked out of it forever. All of it glorifying God. All of it under his loving and approving smile. All of it for us to enjoy with God and indeed being enjoyed by God. And all eternity for us to explore it, understand it, appreciate it, and expand it.” Still Wright

Which means New Creation has nothing to do with those chubby angels at the beginning. Yes, we will worship the Lord. From Sabbath to Sabbath we’ll come to worship him, says Isaiah 66,

This

But also this

And this

And this

Think something you’d like to do. Cooking? Swimming? Reading? Flying? Playing sports? As long as is not sinful, you can be sure you’d get to enjoy it there!

We tend to be afraid of heaven. We don’t realize that New Creation is when we will finally understand who we are, what makes us happy, how much we can grow.

New Creation is where you’ll discover what it means to be human.

New Creation is where you’ll want to be. New Creation is what you can work towards now. That is why we, the Bride, say “Come.” And the Spirit says “Come.”

Revelation 22:17 ESV

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

Friend, you can be part of that reality. The water is free. You don’t need to work harder, do better. Come to Christ, and he’ll make you a New Creation today.