Revelation 21

Pray for Teachers and Educators & Students

All Things New

Every summer my family rents a cabin at Hume Lake…

This year when we were leaving the cabin the kids were sad and I don’t remember which kid said this but they were talking about how they just wanted to stay there not because of the amazing beauty of Hume…Although there is that…

But they wanted to stay because everyone was so kind…Everyone was helpful and joyful…

My kids just kind of noticed that everyone they came in contact with was easy to be around and nice…

The lifeguards, the store workers, the security guards and even the other guests of the lake were just so nice and they were just wondering why there was such a huge concentration of nice people all in one spot and I told them

Its because Hume is a christian camp…

Everyone that works there loves Jesus

Everyone that goes there are typically christians

I told my kids that you dont want to leave because what you see in hume is a tiny glimpse of heaven!

And that by the way is how it should be every time we gather here at the church

We should get these little glimpses of heaven…why?

Because those of us who are following Jesus ought to look and sound like new creations? We ought to be made over into the character of Jesus!

People who are free from the sin of their past…And people who are alive to Jesus

So non believers should be able to come to church and by the sheer hospitality and kindness of the church without ever hearing a song or a sermon they should be able to identify that something is radically different about this place!

And when you experience that , it is almost like this is just the way that everything should be!

This by the way is the anticipation of all of the old testament prophets!

See the old testament prophets had to reconcile the idea that their own people, the elect of God were utterly corrupt, they had gone after false gods, they had done wicked things…But that God still loved them and wanted to be with his people

In the old testament they had the temple, the Temple was God dwelling in the middle of the city, His law was in the temple in the ark of the covenant and this is what the entire city centered its life on.

But when Israel had acted so wicked and rebellious, God allowed Babylon to come in and burn Jerusalem, destroy the temple and all that was with it

So the Old Testament Prophets in hearing from God envisioned a day of the Lord…A day when all sin would be judged and banished from the earth, a day when God himself would be present…This was Revelation 19-20…

At the return of Jesus, all evil is banished…Everything wicked is gone!

And then they envisioned a new temple…a new eden, a new creation

Let me just give you a few verses of the old testament hope

Jeremiah 3:15–17 ESV

“ ‘And I will give you shepherds after my own heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding. And when you have multiplied and been fruitful in the land, in those days, declares the Lord, they shall no more say, “The ark of the covenant of the Lord.” It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the Lord, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart.

There are a few things to notice here

The ark of the covenant wont even be remembered….WHAT? I mean this is why you have a temple really, to house the ark of the covenant, it held the tablets of the law… Man why wouldn't we need the ark? Why wouldn't we need the tablets of the law???

The nations shall gather toward it: Wait a minute!!! You just have to understand for a second how revolutionary this is…The covenant of Abraham isn’t with the nations it is with Israel…Why would these wicked gentiles flock to Jerusalem? Could it be that God would do a future redeeming work that is for all people not just for the Jews?

YES: This is what Jesus did! He died for both Jews and gentiles!

This is a new kind of Jerusalem!

Jerusalem will be God’s throne: This means that there is no temple but God himself will be present

Then there are these verses that talk about the law being written on our hearts…

Ezekiel 11:19 ESV

And I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh,

This new kind of Jerusalem is also called a new creation

Then it says:

Isaiah 66:22 ESV

“For as the new heavens and the new earth that I make shall remain before me, says the Lord, so shall your offspring and your name remain.

There is an Old Testament anticipation that God himself will abolish evil, the old creation and he will come and dwell in Jerusalem and that all nations will come to him That there will be a new temple, with a new creation and that temple will be god himself

and wouldn't you know it….Jesus also talked like this:

Jesus had just told an entire parable about a vineyard and how the owner sent his workers to collect the fruit from the tenants and the wicked tenants ended up killing all of the servants of the workers

so the owner said…Surly, they will respect my son…

And when he sent his son, they killed him too

So Jesus quotes to them

Matthew 21:42 ESV

Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “ ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes’?

Jesus quoting from Psalm 118 where the context is about the temple is basically saying, I am the new temple! I am the stone the builders have rejected! I will become the corner stone!

So let me recap incase my intro was too much!

The old testament prophets envisioned a day when sin would die

They envisioned a new kind of Jerusalem that is for all nations

A jerusalem where there is no need for the law because it is written on our hearts

And Jesus is making the claim that he is the rejected stone that is now becoming the cornerstone of it all!

In the new creation idea of the old testament there is no temple!

Ok! Lets get into Revelation 21 today! and we are going to stop reading at 22:5

Revelation 21 ESV

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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. 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.” 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.” 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. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Revelation 22:1–5 ESV

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Do you see how all of this is all of the hopes of the old testament come to life

That a new creation is coming, a new Jerusalem where God dwells with his people, This is the eventuality of heaven desending onto earth

One of the things that many commentators have put together over the years is that John focus a lot on what is not in the new creation, so I want to walk though that with us because it is just powerful!

What is not in the new creation?

There is no more chaos in the new creation(Revelation 21:1)

Every Californian hates this verse…The sea no more!…But what is the sea in revelation? It is where the forces of evil come from, it is where the dragon comes from

The sea is the force that threatens to undo all of humanity

Literally in Genesis 1 the sea is called Tohu & Bohu it is the twin forces of chaos, it is wild and waste…

And right in the beginning John wants us to see the chaos that undoes our life will be gone one day

that when the forces of evil are judged then all chaos goes with it!

There will be no more crying or pain (Revelation 21:4)

Why is this? Because there will be no more death…The chief cause of our crying or pain, Death itself will be abolished

This again is a promise from the old testament of the coming new creation

Isaiah 25:8 ESV

He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

We had a funeral yesterday…I have done tons of funerals

There is crying and pain…But we have a hopeful anticipation of a day where death is abolished and tears are things that we dont even remember any more.

We have an incredible capacity as humans to remember pain, its why relationships can be broken for so many years…Even right now you thing about the most painful relationship in your life…I can’t even imagine being in a place where none of that affects your relationships.

There is no more wickedness in the new creation (Revelation 21:8)

Revelation 21:8 has this list the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murders, sexually immoral and more…

See these are character traits that are incompatible with the character of Jesus

And all though revelation Jesus is allowing for time for these people to repent and we see where many, many people do not repent but some do

There is no temple in the new creation (Revelation 21:22)

I mean this verse tells you right away…I saw no temple for is the Lord God almighty and the Lamb...

This is everything I started with…The hope for a new creation…A new Jerusalem

There is no law needed because Jesus, the Lamb is the temple!

And you have to understand how strange that is. If you were a first century Jew and you had to envision Jerusalem without a temple, well thats just crazy talk…I mean where do you do sacrifices, where is the holy of holies? Its just not there…Why? because the presence of God takes up the whole of Jerusalem…

The holy of holies has moved from this little couple foot by couple of feet room to now take up the entirety of Jerusalem!

There is no need for the sun or moon because the lamb is the light (Revelation 21:23)

This is new creation talk at its finest

In Genesis 1, the first words of God are “Let there be light!” but he didn't make the sun, moon or stars until the 4th day

This point has not been missed by people that God himself is the original source of light and at the end of all things when Jesus himself is present, we will have no need for the sun moon or stars. Because the lamb is the light

There are no closed gates (Revelation 21:25)

Remember right in the intro of this sermon that the prophets envisioned that the new Jerusalem will be for all nations!

It is no longer a promise just for the Jews! But that all people get to share in this promise

In the ancient world shutting the gates at night and guarding them was life and death

Not only because you could be invaded but because animals could wonder in, thieves could come and steel, or maybe someone who is really sick would come in and spread that disease around

You have to close the gates to outsiders…I mean what if they are spies!~

But in the new Jerusalem there are no outsiders only insiders! All of the nations get to enjoy the light of the lamb

Everyone belongs there!

There is no longer any curse (Revelation 22:3)

After the sin of Adam and eve there is an entire chapter about humanity being cursed, the ground being cursed, the serpent…

All because they were with God every day eating from the tree of life and then they chose to eat from a different tree! They chose to receive life from something other than the Lord

and because of this all of human life gets plagued with sin and death

And now God is saying there is no curse any more!

This curse that we are subject to because of all of this…And this curse means that rather than man having dominion there is domination…and that relationships get all screwed up all the time…

It means that every time I come up here I think about my words really carefully because even though I know you love me…even though I love all of you…There is this insecure thought of all it takes is one bad sermon…All it takes is one misplaced quote…one violation of your politic and all we have built together is gone! That is the curse!

It’s the curse! That says hide…don’t trust them…they don’t trust you…It’s the curse that ruins human relations…

I love that we have been traversing this book for a number of weeks and what we think of as we are coming to an end…The bible is ending…

The ending just describes this beautiful new beginning

I have been making the argument to you that Revelation 4-5 is the theological center of this book and that when Jesus is opening this scroll we got all of these crazy things..>Evil tried really hard for it not to be opened but when it is fully opened this is what you get

The new Jerusalem

The new Heaven and Earth! and they are existing in perfect unity

You get the expulsion of all evil!

But one of the things I want to end on and focus on on as we end is really key, it is so impotrant

We just focused on the things that are not in the new Jerusalem

But let’s look back at Revelation 21:5 for a minute

Revelation 21:5 ESV

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.”

In the midst of everything that is happening you get this amazing statement from God

Behold, I am making all things new (Revelation 21:5)

I would argue to you that this verse is the lynchpin of the entire thing

And I want to ask us all a really important question right now

When is this?

The entire series I have said that Revelation is not a calendar of future events but more of a general idea that as the coming of christ gets closer and closer that evil will freak out even more

None of us know the day or hour of the return of Jesus

But I think a great question to ask is when is Jesus making all things new? Is it just in the eventual future?

How about this question: WHEN is the first day of new creation?

I along with a slew of theologians would argue that the first day of new creation was the third day when Jesus died and rose from the grave

That when Jesus was killed on the cross the first creation began its slow eventual death and in the midst of the old creation dying a new creation had started

That the first day of the new creation is resurrection day or what we call Easter Sunday.

This is why it matter so much

Know what, dont take my word for it or Other theologians word for it: Lets look at Paul’s words!

2 Corinthians 5:17–20 ESV

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.

Do you get it?

This statement from the throne: Behold! I am making all things new is a process of redemption that began with Jesus work on the cross

This is what the entire book of Romans is really arguing…Stop living according to the flesh…In other words stop allowing your flesh or the old creation to have authority in your life

You are a new creation and new creatures in jesus live by the spirit of God

This is why my kids didn’t want to leave hume lake this summer

They were experiencing just a glimmer of new creation on earth

This is why just showing up to church on a Sunday morning should be an encouraging or a revolutionary experience in your life or in non-believers lives because ytou are encountering a glimmer of new creation!

We are made new because we are shaped by the lamb

One of the reasons why I love this passage so much is not just because it gives us a description of the world to come but because it gives us mission here and now!

If you have said yes to Jesus and he has authority in your life then you are a new creation and your mission is to reveal this new way of being and existing to others

Your mission is to help people understand that a new world is available here and now!

Your mission is to help people to know that true freedom in Christ is not just a cliché phrase but a way of life

Response:

God wants to invite you to newness today. To being made new…