Sermon Tone Analysis

Revelation 21:1-8

Introduction:

I think that throughout the history of redemption, Christians have had a preoccupation with heaven.

Many songs have been written over the years that celebrate our eternal home.

I suppose that many Christians, throughout the centuries could say with the Psalmist:

That is expression of a heart that longs for God.

Much like .

In fact, the pure in heart, according to the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes, are promised that they will some day see God.

Through the centuries that desire to see God, to be in God’s presence, to enjoy God forever, that desire that there is nothing in the world that can satisfy has been on the hearts of believers.

But it’s not so in this culture.

We are living in a society of instant gratification, material comfort and endless indulgences.

And the church has become worldly.

Nothing demonstrates that, I don’t think, anymore graphically than the lack of interest in heaven.

Most Christians are, to some degree or another, more interested in laying up treasure on earth than in heaven.

They’re more concerned with their investments and their retirement package and their own future on earth than they are with heaven.

I suppose most Christians sacrifice the eternal blessing of glory on the altar of temporal gratification.

We don’t talk about heaven much.

We don’t sing about heaven much because we’re really not that interested.

In fact, the pure in heart, according to the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes, are promised that they will some day see God.

Through the centuries that desire to see God, to be in God’s presence, to enjoy God forever, that desire that there is nothing in the world that can satisfy has been on the hearts of believers.

But it’s not so in this culture.

In fact, the pure in heart, according to the words of Jesus in the Beatitudes, are promised that they will some day see God.

Through the centuries that desire to see God, to be in God’s presence, to enjoy God forever, that desire that there is nothing in the world that can satisfy has been on the hearts of believers.

But it’s not so in this culture.

We could address this issue of having lost the heavenly perspective from a number of passages.

We could talk about Paul’s words to the Philippians in which he reminds them and us that our citizenship is in heaven, 3:20 and that we are waiting for the One who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, or we might even look at Colossians 3 where it says, “Set your affections on things above and not on things on the earth.”

Or we might even study 1 John 2:15–17 where it says, “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world, for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, is not of God but is of the world and the world passes away.”

We could even study the passage in James where James says, “Friendship with the world is enmity with God.”

We are living in a society of instant gratification, material comfort and endless indulgences.

And the church has become worldly.

Nothing demonstrates that, I don’t think, anymore graphically than the lack of interest in heaven.

Most Christians are, to some degree or another, more interested in laying up treasure on earth than in heaven.

They’re more concerned with their investments and their retirement package and their own future on earth than they are with heaven.

I suppose most Christians sacrifice the eternal blessing of glory on the altar of temporal gratification.

We don’t talk about heaven much.

We don’t sing about heaven much because we’re really not that interested.

We are living in a society of instant gratification, material comfort and endless indulgences.

And the church has become worldly.

Nothing demonstrates that, I don’t think, anymore graphically than the lack of interest in heaven.

Most Christians are, to some degree or another, more interested in laying up treasure on earth than in heaven.

They’re more concerned with their investments and their retirement package and their own future on earth than they are with heaven.

I suppose most Christians sacrifice the eternal blessing of glory on the altar of temporal gratification.

We don’t talk about heaven much.

We don’t sing about heaven much because we’re really not that interested.

We are living in a society of instant gratification, material comfort and endless indulgences.

And the church has become worldly.

Nothing demonstrates that, I don’t think, anymore graphically than the lack of interest in heaven.

Most Christians are, to some degree or another, more interested in laying up treasure on earth than in heaven.

They’re more concerned with their investments and their retirement package and their own future on earth than they are with heaven.

I suppose most Christians sacrifice the eternal blessing of glory on the altar of temporal gratification.

We don’t talk about heaven much.

We don’t sing about heaven much because we’re really not that interested.

You see, everything connected to our spiritual life and destiny is in heaven.

Our Father is there.

Our Savior is there.

Our Comforter is there.

Our fellow believers are there.

Our name is there, our life is there, our inheritance is there, our home is there, our citizenship is there, our reward is there, our treasure is there.

Everything that belongs to us is there.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014).

John MacArthur Sermon Archive.

Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014).

John MacArthur Sermon Archive.

Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

Sadly, I suppose most Christians are more like the cynical Mark Twain who when told about heaven remarked flippantly, “You take heaven, I’d rather go to Bermuda.”

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014).

John MacArthur Sermon Archive.

Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014).

John MacArthur Sermon Archive.

Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2014).

John MacArthur Sermon Archive.

Panorama City, CA: Grace to You.

A true and vivid longing for heaven has many marvelous implications and many marvelous benefits.

A true and vivid longing for heaven, for example, is an evidence of genuine salvation because when a person longs for heaven, you know they’re longing for God.

They’re demonstrating love for the Lord.

They’re showing you where their heart is.

And not only that, where you see a strong longing for heaven there is incentive to the highest excellence of Christian character.

Why?

Because anyone who loves heaven and anyone who longs for heaven and anyone who seeks that which is above and anyone whose heart is in heaven is one who loves to commune with the living God, one who travels there in meditation, who travels there in devotion, who travels there in prayer, who travels there in study, and that’s a purging fellowship.

John, in our text gets a vision of heaven.

Let’s begin to look at this glorious passage together.

I.

The Coming of the New Heaven and New Earth (vs. 1)

Just as in the other occasions, John uses the sane phrase that he has used throughout the book, but particularly has used since the appearing of Jesus Christ is 19:11.

That is the phrase “καί εἶδον” (then I saw) once again indicating for us a progression in the text.

It is John’s way of saying, “then the next thing that I saw was.....”

That is the way that John uses that phrase.

And what he saw was absolutely amazing.

He saw, “the new heaven and the new earth”.

Now, the phrase “new heaven and new earth” are derived from two passages in the prophecy of Isaiah.

And so the vision and Isaiah is now being fulfilled in the vision of John.

John speaks about seeing a “new heaven and new earth”.

The word for new there is “καινός” and does not speak about something that is new in a chronological sense, as something is just newer because it came after something else.

But the word “new” there refers to a qualitative sense.

It means that something has been made obsolete and will be replaced with something new.

The old heaven and earth has been made obsolete and must be replaced with a new heaven and earth.

Something that will be different in quality; not just chronologically.