Our Home is Out of This World

Revelation 21:1-8

Introduction: For the past several week the hope of heaven and the peace that it brings to my life has overwhelmed me. I understand well the words of Paul, “To live is Christ, but to die is gain.” Please don’t misunderstand me, I have no unnatural desire to die, but I do long to be with my Savior. That longing increases everyday.

I was driving down the road the other day with my wife and we received news that someone we both love is nearing the end of their journey in this life. Before I realized it, the warmness of tears stung my face. A few days before, we were confronted with the reality that cancer is back in the life of someone we both love dearly. I cannot read the news without hearing of destruction, death, and depravity. My heart is indeed heavy. When all of these things crashed down upon me like an elephant sitting on my chest my lips formed the words, “Come Jesus, come!”

Many of us are all too aware that life is indeed but a vapor, here today and gone tomorrow as the brother of Jesus states. The true fact of living is that we have but a moment on this earth. That moment is filled with bursts of wonderful things like love, happiness, joy, and peace. In contrast we also experience pain, sorrow, tears, death, and deep hurt.

It would be easy to cry, “What hope is there, then?”

It is important to remember that this gift of life that we have been granted by our God is to prepare us for our eternal life beyond the confines of this world, time, and space. In light of that, we should be careful to live our lives through the lens of an eternal perspective for the glory of God. For us, the Christian, this life is the only Hell we will ever taste.

I want you to leave here today with an understanding of a topic that is usually only discussed by a preacher upon the death of a church member, but as Christians we should be reminded of the hope that is to come. The truth that our home is out of this world and what implications that has on our life today.

Read the text

Context: John the Apostle is penning this text during his exile on the Isle of Patmos. History tells us that he was unsuccessfully martyred for his faith at the hands of the Romans for his proclamation of the gospel. There is a historical legend that upon failing at boiling him in a vat of oil, he was then exiled to this island. Sometime during his exile, he received this revelation from God. He first addresses several churches in Asia Minor and then is given this prophetic revelation of the culmination of this world.

In the previous chapter John is describing the final victory of Christ over sin, the antichrist, and death, and Satan. Jesus is portrayed as the conquering lamb. John goes on to describe the marriage supper of the lamb, the millennial reign, and the final judgment.

People have many views of heaven and many of them are theologically inaccurate. The most common misunderstanding is that when someone dies and enter heaven they are given wings and become angels. You often hear this during funerals “Oh, heaven has gained another angel.” There is no biblical basis for this. Perhaps it due to a misconstrued understanding of when Jesus is answering a question about marriage in heaven and states, “In the resurrection, people will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Instead, they will be like the angels in heaven.”

Side Note—funerals are typically not the appropriate place to correct someone’s theological misunderstanding, it usually does not go well.

Another misconception is that we will be sitting on clouds and strumming harps. I am not sure where this one came from.

No. heaven will be something unfamiliar to us. Like nothing we have ever experienced before. The Apostle Paul quotes Isaiah in saying, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love him. But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit” The us he is talking about is the apostles. What a hope we have through Jesus!

So, lets examine what God has revealed: I want to spend the next few moments unpacking these 8 verses so we can understand the hope that is to come.

Exegesis

Out With the Old, in with the New: Vs 1. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea”

I want you to pay attention to the word “new” used here. In the Greek it is the word kainos which denotes something qualitatively new or new in quality and indicating something perpetually new.

We like new things don’t we? Whether its a new handbag for you ladies or a new car, perhaps a new lawnmower or tractor. We love the idea of something new. It excited us. We love the freshness, the smell, the feeling we get when we use that something new, but over time the newness wears off. The new handbag gets older, the new car gets dings. This is not the case with this new heaven and new earth. It is infinitely better and never grows old.

This idea of a new heaven and new earth is represented throughout Scripture. 2 Peter 3:13 states, “But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.”

What we are reading here describes the ultimate redemption of God’s creation. The final reversal of what was corrupted through sin in the Garden of Eden. Since the fall all of creation, not only humans have been corrupted and the earth groans, like our hearts, for the ultimate better that is to come.

Likewise, the current earth and heaven will pass away and the new is defined as much by what is not there as to what will be found there.

It is interesting that John includes the observation that there is no sea. For many of us that may seem a bit disappointing. But I want to explain that this lack of sea is used symbolically to describe how perfect our future home will be. Throughout Scripture, particularly in the books of prophecy, the sea is used as a symbol of chaos, death, and evil. For it is from the sea or the “nations” that the antichrist will arise. In Job it is the sea that we find as the dwelling place for the serpent. So, the fact that there is no sea in this new heaven and earth should cause us great joy. There is no more death, sin, corruption, evil, chaos, or enemy.

The New Jerusalem Vs. 2 “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

What beautiful imagery we are given here. While this new city is a physical city, it is also used to point out the redeemed bride of Christ. Who is the redeemed bride? It is those who have placed their trust in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. A redeemed bride that is clothed not in our own righteousness, but that of Christ. Jesus and Paul both used this language of bride and groom to describe the church, the redeemed of Christ. In this glorious moment the bride of Christ and the groom is united forever. As we keep reading it only gets better.

The Place Where God Dwells Vs 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.”

We see this sequence and pattern of John saying “I saw, I saw, but now he says ‘I heard.’”

John hears this voice coming from the throne of God saying “Behold” which is like saying “check this out, pay attention.” 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!” In the gospels God dwelt temporarily with humankind in the person of Jesus Christ. Upon salvation the Holy Spirit dwells within the believer, although we have this corrupt flesh, but in this new place, God will dwell with his people forever. In perfect righteousness, holiness, and peace, we will be with our God and Savior forever! We will not longer be separated from God because of this sinful flesh. We will be made new. Sin is cast away and through Christ’s work we are made righteous always having access to our God.

You know, a lot of people want heaven without God. The majority of people will say, “when I die, I want to go to heaven.” But the truth is often times we can’t even be committed enough to him now to be bothered with the things of God or his church. We want the prize of salvation and the promise of heaven without going through the battle. In this new place, it will not be like that. In a moment we will read more on this idea of war and conquering. But first I want to outline what we will no longer have to experience:

Our New Reality Vs. 4-7 “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.”

What a day that will be, when our Jesus we shall see! No more death, crying, sadness, or pain, why? Because all things have been made new, these former things that used to be a reality for us will pass away! The corruption of sin no longer enslaves us!

Notice in verse 5-7 , “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.”

God continues to speak and declare “Look, all things have been made new!” Write this down, John because I have declared it and my people can bank on this to come to pass, why? Because I have decreed it, it is trustworthy and true! In fact, it is done! It has been perfected. Much like when Jesus said upon the cross, “it is finished” God now declared it is complete! How can we be sure? Because he is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and end of all things. All of this began with him and it concludes with him. He is God almighty, all powerful, and ever present! Nothing happens without the power of his might. Not salvation, not life, nothing! Furthermore, he concludes that we will no longer have to thirst spiritually, because we will have access to this water of life, not based upon our works but because it is freely given. God will once and for all quench this thirst we have.

The one who conquers will have all of this as their heritage!

So what does it mean to conquer? Nikao in Greek means to prevail or overcome. How do we do this? 1 John 5:4-5 emphasizes that faith in Jesus Christ is the key to overcoming the world, as it states, "For everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world: our faith"

So to be an overcomer, we simply put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ, and through him we are conquerors and overcomers and have the right as an heir to become the sons and daughters of God.

A Warning and a Hope Vs. 8 “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.”

In this verse God reveals that heaven is exclusive. Not everyone will inherit this as their heritage. Not everyone will benefit from this new heaven, earth and relationship. We are given a list of sorts that prevents people from inheriting the Kingdom of God. We are also given their new reality at the end of this age, “Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

You may say, “Well, Matt, you had me until we got here, could you have not just left this out of your sermon.” I will say this, God didn’t see fit to leave this out of his message, so neither can I. While this is a stark warning for unbelievers it offers us hope as well; to understand that they, like us, need salvation through Christ alone. The need to trust in his work and his payment for our sins, rather than depending on our own will and might. Dear ones, we need to remember at one time, we were all of these. But for God, through Christ, this would be our destination as well.

So, in this final verse we find hope. We find hope that in the end, justice will be served. But it is important to know that in Christ, justice in our behalf has already been served should we only accept it.

Explain the Gospel

Conclude with 2 questions:

Do you have this hope? You can.

Are we living our life in reality of this hope? This world is not our home.