All Things New
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We are now in the last two chapters of Revelation, and these are perhaps some of the most beautiful pictures in all of Scripture that we’re about to see. I don’t know how anyone can read these verses in light of their own sinfulness and just weep at the beauty of His grace for us. I’m excited to get into some of these things with you.
Hear now the word of the living God:
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.
2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.”
6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.
7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Pray
So we see here some really beautiful things. We see the hope of everyone who trusts in Christ throughout all of history fulfilled in this passage. But we also see a warning that Jesus wants us to take very seriously.
As we get into this, let me talk for a moment about the word “new”.
discuss νέος and καινός /babies and cars
This is a kainos heavens and earth.
17 This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!
In the same way that you are new now, the world will be new then. The curse of sin will be lifted and creation will be as it was intended to be. And the sea will be gone. Remember this is a symbol. This does not mean there are no oceans in heaven. This means there is no chaos or evil in heaven. The guiding hand that has moved throughout history will be seen and all people will glorify him. Everyone will bow. Everyone will worship. Everyone will celebrate. Everyone will rejoice!
This is redemption language. Christ did not just die for us. He died for the earth. He died to remove the curse. It will be purified and redeemed. It will be new.
This is the fulfilment of Romans 8:
18 Yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will reveal to us later.
19 For all creation is waiting eagerly for that future day when God will reveal who his children really are.
20 Against its will, all creation was subjected to God’s curse. But with eager hope,
21 the creation looks forward to the day when it will join God’s children in glorious freedom from death and decay.
22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.
23 And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering. We, too, wait with eager hope for the day when God will give us our full rights as his adopted children, including the new bodies he has promised us.
If God had to completely start over, Satan won in some sense in the Garden with is rebellion. But God undoes all the work of Satan through what he accomplished on the Cross.
Chaos and evil are gone. Banished forever. That means no more death.
No more cancer.
No more asthma.
No more arthritis.
No more heart issues.
No more allergies.
No more headaches or chronic soreness, or back pain.
No more broken bones.
No more colds.
No more addiction.
No more anxiety.
No more depression.
No more stress.
No more sickness of any kind!
Everything in the face of the Father will be set right! And God will dwell with us! And I’ll finally have the answer to the question that I’ve asked since I read Genesis 3:8- “What does the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day sound like?” What songs does God sing as he walk? “There is none like me”? “I am mighty to save”? “I don’t have to imagine”?
But seriously, right now, we do not have eyes to see our God and live. In our sinfulness, if we see our God, we will die. But we will receive new bodies that are sinless and eyes to behold the incomprehensible God, and we will not die, and no more will our souls cry out with longing the phrase, “WHERE ARE YOU, LORD?” He will be right there face to face.
See, there’s this shout FROM THE THRONE declaring that God will now live with us. Who is shouting? God. Do you think that people are the only ones longing for that day? No. The God of the present tense is looking forward to that day with longing. He’s making you new, and is longing to live eternally with you face to face. He will live with us in the same way that Jesus lived with us during his ministry on earth. It’s the same word and the same author!
And God, the source of everything will himself supply you with everything you could ever want in His presence. There won’t be any more money. There won’t be any debt. There won’t be houses that we have to pay to maintain. There won’t be any cost. Everything will be without cost in heaven. This calls for us to be generous now.
Short talk on giving as a necessity because of the generosity of God.
Everything will be made new. No more sin. We will be perfect in the presence of the perfect God. No more sin or curse or their effects. I am so excited for that day!!! We’ll talk more about what that might look like when we talk about heaven in a couple of weeks. I’m looking forward to it.
But there are two things that I really want to emphasize from this passage, and they come in verses 7 and 8. Let’s look at verse 7 first:
7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
Here’s what I want to highlight from this verse: God has no grandchildren, he only has children. Did you catch that? God has no grandchildren, only children. You guys whose parents are Christians, you need to know this. You don’t become a follower of Jesus just because your parents are. You must follow Jesus for yourself. You need to make your own commitment and have your own reasons for believing. You must be ready to give a defense for the hope that you have. Because as you leave home, you will be confronted with arguments that might sound compelling. Do you have an answer for them, or do you have some work to do?
God has no grandchildren. You don’t get to go to heaven on borrowed faith.
“Authentic faith cannot be inherited. When Christianity is viewed in this way, intelligent and energetic young men and women will undoubtedly reach a point where they question the truth of Christianity and, when challenged, will abandon this “inherited” faith that they cannot defend. They might begin to associate with peers who are unbelievers. In this company, they will find themselves unable to intelligently respond to objections to Christianity with which they are confronted. Had they really known what they believe and why they believe it, these kinds of encounters would not shake their faith one bit.”
Here’s what this means, you guys: You need to be asking questions. Statistics say that you’re going to fall away from the faith when you graduate high school and leave your parents’ house. This is because the entire world is organized to attack your faith. You need to do your homework on what you believe. And if you have questions or doubts, do not hide them. They will not go away. The church is a place to ask questions. When you have a question about Jesus or faith in him, ask it! Do not let your doubts go unanswered.
Moms and Dads, your kids are going to be asking questions. Are you equipped to answer them?
Because God has no grandchildren, only children. You do not get to borrow anyone else’s faith to get to God.
So this all sounds really good, right? That is all sort of fluffy and comfortable. But verse 8 is a stark reminder that we must be faithful to the end, and John has a list of people that won’t get to enjoy this new creation. And it’s a list of 8 things, but I want you to think of it as 7+1, because 1 of them is for Christians. The other 7 are for non-Christians:
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Unbelievers- this includes false teachers. Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses who masquerade as Christians, but who believe in a false Christ who cannot save. This is why knowing what you believe and why is so important.
7 I say this because many deceivers have gone out into the world. They deny that Jesus Christ came in a real body. Such a person is a deceiver and an antichrist.
They get one thing wrong about Jesus, and John says they are antichrists. How much more for those who teach many things incorrectly about our God?
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
The corrupt- law breakers. They do not love God, and they do not love others.
Murderers- False teaching too. Committing the sin of eternal murder. This is why 1 Tim. 4.16 exists as well as Jas. 3:1.
16 Keep a close watch on how you live and on your teaching. Stay true to what is right for the sake of your own salvation and the salvation of those who hear you.
1 Dear brothers and sisters, not many of you should become teachers in the church, for we who teach will be judged more strictly.
If I teach you incorrectly, and lead you astray, I am committing the sin of eternal murder. This is why the charge of preaching and teaching is so serious. This is why the Bible warns those who want to be leaders, because a responsibility of elders is to teach.
2 So a church leader must be a man whose life is above reproach. He must be faithful to his wife. He must exercise self-control, live wisely, and have a good reputation. He must enjoy having guests in his home, and he must be able to teach.
Teachers need to be very careful about what they teach. Because we could be guilty of murder.
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
the immoral- the sexually immoral. This is a major theme throughout the New Testament. So if you get tired of preachers talking about sexual sin, just know that God talks about sexual sin all over in his Word.
The Apostle Paul included this in a list of vices that would keep people out of the kingdom of God:
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
those who practice witchcraft- because it steals glory that belongs to God and places it on oneself.
idol worshipers- this is anyone who places more importance on anyone that’s not God.
all liars- because to lie is to deny Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. This includes those who say, “everything is relative, there’s no such thing as absolute truth.” (which is kind of a funny statement to make since they are making a claim of absolute truth to deny the existence of absolute truth.)
But I’m concerned about the first item in the list. It is the most important for you.
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Cowards- those who were serving faithfully, got scared, and turned back.
"In order to preach the Gospel, you must first have a relationship."
"Don't tell people to repent of sin, that sounds mean."
7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.
The real question is “what will you do when things get hard?” What will you do when other people who say they’re following Jesus tell you to shut up and just play along with the culture?
Will you stand up for truth and be counted as faithful, or will you see the intensity of the battle, become afraid, and retreat while your brothers and sisters fight on the front line without you, and be labeled by our Lord a coward?
The first generation of Christians were able to spread the Gospel around the known world. They did it with no internet, no phones, no postal service, no printing machines, and no newspapers. How could they do such a thing? We have the same Spirit and Gospel. I believe a reading of the Book of Acts demonstrates a key element: they were godly troublemakers.
I hope God creates multitudes more in our day.
Will you be a godly troublemaker, or a coward?