New heavens and new earth

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A way of referring to the new creation that will come about at the end of time. The theme of the restoration and re-creation of the world is a central aspect of the Christian hope.

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Claim - God will restore creation to perfection where his people will be glorious, joyful and eternally worshipping the light of the world who will dwell with them.
Focus - the Restored earth will be everything and more that we wished this world was - from the end of suffering to doing what we were created to do - worship God.
Function - To overjoy Christians with praise towards God for his eternal purposes for us.
Pray 2

1 - New again! 21v1-8

What do you wish you could completely forget,
or better than that, remove from not just your mind but everyone elses as well!.
As if it never happened?
What is it that has made you cry,
Made you wretch with guilt.
There are 2 types of things that you’re probably thinking about,
Things that others have done to you,
And things you have done yourself.
Have a moment to think about both those things.
Revelation 21:1–4 NIV
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
rev 21 1-
The final grand vision that John receives in this wonderful book of revelation is one that seems to good to be true.
Those things that made you cry,
Those things that other people have done to you.
The stuff of fantasy.
Those things you have done that have plagued your life with guilt.
Gone!
Like a loving parent who scoops you when you fall, so will be the future for the ‘people of God’.
Although, unlike a mother or father who may have the ability to dull the pain of a grazed knee, and to brighten our red faces as they wipe our tears,
With every
When God returns to establish a ‘new earth’
and he wipes away our tears with gentleness and care, those tears will be the last we ever have need to shed!
Indeed we will not even be able to look back and remember what made our life so painful in the first place!
As promised even in the OT, and reaffirmed as out furutre here in Revelaion. Isa 65v17
Isaiah 65:17 NIV
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
isa
rev 21v4b and v1

There will be no more death’ u or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!

Revelation 21:1 NIV
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.
The symbolic removal of the sea, reminds us of all the chaos and storms and danger that the sea represents!
All God, made new.
The seashore where satan the dragon in chapter 13, stood and called forth his deceiving tactical beast , wont be an option in the ‘new creation’.
There will be no seashore to stand upon!
The word for ‘new’ here has the meaning of ‘renew’, rather than totally new.
We’re cast back to Genesis where God made the whole world and looked at what he had made and saw that it was ‘very good’.
Perfection the earth was and perfection it will be again!
“It looks like new!” says .
No- infact - it IS new again!
The symbolic removal of the sea, reminds us of all the chaos and storms and danger that the sea represents!
All God, made new.
The seashore where satan the dragon called forth his deceiving tactical beast, wont be an option in the ‘new creation’.
Of course creation didn’t originally remain perfect becasue Adam and Eve, people like you and me,
wanted to distance ourselves from the God of light and love who made it ‘just so!’
We gave way to satan and his lies,
we chose the root of darkness and distance,
of selfishness and shadows,
wars and weapons,
hatred and harm,
angre and abuse,
tears and tourment,
and death.
but,,
that will be, when Jesus our lord returns, the old order of things/
That will be the first earth and that will pass away!
Revelation 21:8 NIV
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
And it will all be new again!
Jesus himself makes it clear, this is the world new again!
How it is supposed to be! v6
Revelation 21:6 NIV
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 water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
rev 21 6
I am the first and the last!
Just as it was, so it shall be again!
The point being that if something has a beginning -then it wil have an end
The beginning and the End -
The first
Don’t be blinded by this bit in the middle that you feel trapped in, the end is coming.
And the end is as it was in the beginning!
WOnderful.
And just becasue we messed the middle bit up - all though of course Jesus is still in control - this is not the end!
The end will be New AGAIN!
And there wont be a chance of us messing it up again!
Why?
I mean we can understand God sorting out the natural world to exist in beautiful harmony again,
But what about you and me?
Even when we want to do right we often dont!
What will stop it happening again!?
Well, hoepfully by now we have seen repeatedly in revelation, that even we will be made New again!
Revelation 21:2 NIV
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
The Holy city - the image used for the people of God, the church, prepared, did you see that prepared by God in Heaven’ as a beautiful bride for the Lord Jesus.
The great wedding is finally here.
The church is prepared, renewed, perfectly and eternally by God, through and for His beloved son Jesus.
The glourious union of the one human God can look upon with joy, his son Jesus,
blissfully united to the ‘people of God’ so that his radience covers our shame.
So that the old order can be forgotten fully and finally.
So that we are ‘new again! with our symbolic wedding to Jesus!
What a perfect picture.
An imperfect church,
prepared by God himself
presented eternally in love to Jesus our saviour.
Creation is made New again!
What for?
The Church and Christ Jesus.
Thinking this sounds too good to be true!
A bit far feteched,
God thought we would think that,
that’s why he added his line to John in v5
Revelation 21:5 NIV
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Trustworthy and true,
What a glorious furute awaist the people of God,
A physical creation, much like this world, yet, made compleetly new again!
New again!
Isaiah 65:17 NIV
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
Isaiah 65:5 NIV
who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day.

2 - For Him Again! 21v9-27

It’s very easy to read v9 -22 and take it as a symbolic,
or even a literal picture
of the actual great city that we will all one day dwell in with Jesus for eternity.
But look a little more carefully about what is being described here.
Revelation 21:9–11 NIV
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
rev 21 9-
The extravagant city being described in these verse is not a literal city where we will dwell when JEsus returns,
It is not an eternally secure place being described.
But Jesus
It is an eternally secure people.
John is not describing an eternally secure place. He is describing eternally secure cure peoples.""
The bride of Christ!
This is a symbolic picture of all who have repented before the Lord Jesus in this life!
Who have aknowldged him as King now and strived to live for him!
Who have, despite our failure to serve and love him perfectley, have continued to trust him for salavtion.
It’s a description of the church - the people of God!
That’s why the 12 gates, v12, hold the 12 names of the tribes of Israel!
“All are welome here who trusted God in the OT.”
That’s why the 12 foundations contain the 12 names of the apostles
"all who have trusted the eyewitness accounts of the apostles as revealed in the NT are secure here”
This is the grand and eternal fulfillment of all that already true in Christ for Christains, but is not yet fully realised!
Solid, real, tangiable and eternal.
It fulfills what we already know for verses such at eph 2v19
Ephesians 2:19–20 NIV
Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
Or speaking of Abraham in the OT heb 11v10
Hebrews 11:9–10 NIV
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Hebrews 11:9 NIV
By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise.
You could, if you have time look up all the cross-references for the jewels mentioned in v19-21 of this chapter and find grande imagery attached to them in the scriptures,
We will be an extravagant people,
Hebrews 11:10 NIV
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
and extravagant dwelling place for God to live amoung and within us!
When your soul or your faith needs lifting,
This is the passage to turn to.
This is who we are eternally in Jesus.
This is the pictoral symbolic descrition of who we are, as preapred by God for Jesus!
Don’t we just want to enjoy the extravagance of this imagery of who we will eternally be!
In an attenpt to describe who we will be in Christ,
This is how we will
We will exist
glourisly, as God always intended.

For Him Again!

And what a glourious and perfect relationship it will be be.
We will be pure delight and joy to him, and he will be our eveything to us!
He will be more to us than the sun is to physical life on this earth now.
Revelation 21:22–24 NIV
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.
rev 21 22
No more darkness of sin and fear and gult and shame,
all will ilve wonderfully in the light of Jesus.
He will be among us.
And v15-16 may seem a little cryptic, but it is one one the most wonderful picture of God’s intention to live in and amoung his eternal church.
Revelation 21:15–16 NIV
The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.
Revelation 21:15 NIV
The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.
This symbolic city/people of God,
is measured out and low and behold, it is the biggest cube in all of history!
What’s significant about this 1,400mile square and tall cube?
Well the holy of holies in the OT temple, is the only other cube in biblical history.
Specific instructions are given to the Israelites to make the inner sanctury a perfect cube, for that is where God dwells!
It represents His dwelling place, very holy, very special, but still distant from his people!
But now, we have the biggest most extravangant cube ever measured and it is a picture of us!
In the New again creation,
The big headline is that God is near, he is very near!
We will see his face (22v4)
The promises in scripture of all the nations being united under the name of jesus will finally be fully revealed.
Revelation 21:26 NIV
The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
rev 21
All people arond the world,
All who have repented and bowed the knee,
Extravagantly prepared for Jesus,
All For Him again. -.
As was always intened for our glory and his!
What a place it will be!
And those final 5 verses we’re looking at today, Rev 21v1-5
take us again back to the genesis of creation.
Where the tree of life will be glouriously available to all.
Where the darkness that entred creation will never do so again,
Where Jesus, our wonderful saviour will reign us in glory.
Where not a day will pass without contenment and joy.
Where we will serve our wonderful God forever,
Where every guilt, tear and shame, will not even be a memory,
Revelation 22:1–5 NIV
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
finish from here
Isaiah 60:11–12 NIV
Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations— their kings led in triumphal procession. For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined.
Isaiah 60:19 NIV
The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
is 60
Ezekiel 47:12 NIV
Fruit trees of all kinds will grow on both banks of the river. Their leaves will not wither, nor will their fruit fail. Every month they will bear fruit, because the water from the sanctuary flows to them. Their fruit will serve for food and their leaves for healing.”
Zechariah 14:8 NIV
On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half of it east to the Dead Sea and half of it west to the Mediterranean Sea, in summer and in winter.
Zechariah 14:18 NIV
If the Egyptian people do not go up and take part, they will have no rain. The Lord will bring on them the plague he inflicts on the nations that do not go up to celebrate the Festival of Tabernacles.
Hebrews 11:10 NIV
For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.
Ephesians 2:20 NIV
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.

Isaiah 65:17 NIV
“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.
If you haven’t given your life to the king Jesus - do so today.
See also ; ;

And if you have - Well then what a future beholds us.

Their permanence

Isaiah 66:22 NIV
“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure.
PRAY 2
See also

The place of God’s presence

Revelation 21:3 NIV
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

The effects of the fall will be reversed

Revelation 21:4 NIV
‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
See also ; ;
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