The Promise Fulfilled

How many of you have already taken down all your Christmas decor?

I took advantage of the nice weather and took our outside decorations down this week. Samantha packed up the house yesterday.

The packages have been opened, the returns have begun, Q99 is back to playing bad 80s music, and life is returning to normal.

However, we want to look at Christmas one more time this morning.

We spent the last few weeks talking about what Christmas is all about.

We saw that it was about a broken world, where our sin destroyed our relationship with God.

We saw that Christmas is about God promising to set that right and send a Savior.

He used faithful people like Zechariah and humble people like Mary to bring that promise to reality.

Last week, we looked at the manger and realized that all of this led to God taking on human flesh, living among us.

We saw that Christmas is about giving him glory and finding true peace with God through what Jesus would do through his life, work, death, and resurrection.

However, all of that has left us with a hole, hasn’t it?

We hear the angels declaring peace on earth, and we hear Isaiah saying that the government would be on this child’s shoulders, and that he will be the prince of peace.

We have peace with God, which is amazing, but is that all? Is that where it stops, or does Christmas mean more?

What does Christmas say about the wars in the world and the war in our own mind and soul?

If Jesus is the one who God had promised to set everything right, then why is so much still wrong?

That’s what we want to look at this morning, and it is a great way for us to wrap up a year and look forward to the new one.

Adding one more word to our thought of what Christmas is all about, we will see clearly that ultimately, Christmas is about hope.

Let’s redefine hope for our context this morning.

Usually, when we say hope, we mean “wish”.

We hope our team wins the game, or we hope it doesn’t rain, or we hope next year will be better than this one was.

Ultimately, we don’t have any real certainty about what will happen, so a hope like that is a wish.

However, for us, the hope we are talking about today is the certainty that something will occur that hasn’t yet.

What is going to occur? Fast forward to the end of your Bible this morning and join me in Revelation 21:1-8.

Over the last few weeks, we have seen a broken world in need of a savior.

Last week, we celebrated the time when Jesus was born into the world as that promised savior.

He lived, taught, and ministered, and as he did, he was beginning the work of reestablishing the kingdom of God on earth.

God never lost control of creation, nor did he take his hands off the wheel.

However, Jesus came and started showing God’s power and leading people to follow him.

Eventually, Jesus opened the doors of the kingdom to anyone who would follow him by dying in our place, rising from the dead, and offering us his life in exchange for the sin that kept us from God.

As we have already said, we have peace with God now through his work.

However, we are waiting expectantly for the conclusion of the story; we are waiting for Jesus to return.

There are good, godly, incredibly smart people who disagree on the specifics of how all that will happen.

However, all those who trust the authority of God’s word believe that when all the events of history and judgment are complete, whatever they look like, that we will see the statements of come to pass fully.

Then, God’s promise will be completely and totally fulfilled.

As we look at four different aspects of that promise this morning, I pray that God uses this to fill you with hope going into 2020.

Hear me clearly: I sincerely hope that each and every single one of you have the greatest year of your life next year.

I pray God blesses you richly in amazing ways, and that you see him move.

May I say something, though, that you may not want to hear? We have no real guarantee that next year is going to be better or easier or smoother.

That’s why our hope isn’t in our New Year’s Resolutions, it isn’t in the election, or in anything else.

Our hope is in truths found in the words we are going to read together today.

In fact, let’s read them together now...

Let’s take a closer look at four different aspects of what we just read, and may God use this to fill you with hope.

1) God will restore everything.

We see that the old earth has passed away, and now everything has been made new.

He will make everything new, just like He has done with us.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” (, NASB95)

2 Corinthians 5:17 CSB

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!

The God who created everything from nothing will one day recreate everything and remove the stain of sin.

We’re not sure exactly what this will look like. There are some passages that point to a complete destruction:

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and its works will be burned up.” (, NASB95)

2 Peter 3:10 CSB

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; on that day the heavens will pass away with a loud noise, the elements will burn and be dissolved, and the earth and the works on it will be disclosed.

Others look at those passages and say they are simply describing the process of restoration, where God will purge the current earth from the stain of sin and the fall and renew everything to a state like the Garden of Eden.

Just like when God saved you and made you new in Christ, you were still “you”, the new earth may very well still be like earth as we know it.

John Piper explains it this way:

“When and say that the present earth and heavens will ‘pass away,’ it does not have to mean that they go out of existence, but may mean that there will be such a change in them that their present condition passes away. We might say, ‘The caterpillar passes away, and the butterfly emerges.’ There is a real passing away, and there is a real continuity, a real connection.’[i]

Every trace of sin will be removed, but the earth will still exist in a purified form.

Think about when we talked about and the Judgment Seat of Christ where are works are tried with fire. What is burnt up are the things we have done for ourselves, which would make them sinful. What we do for Christ remains.

Couldn’t the earth’s “trial by fire”, if you will, be similar?

That backs up what Paul teaches about creation in :

Romans 8:19–22 CSB

For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now.” (, NASB95)

Creation is waiting for the day that it all gets set right again, not for the day that it all gets destroyed.

That day is described for us here, as the stain of sin is removed.

Christmas was the first hint at that, since Jesus was the first person since Adam and Eve who didn’t have a sinful nature from the moment he was conceived.

His sinlessness hinted at the fact that God would one day take sin away from even creation itself.

That sin is what drove a wedge between us and God, and it is what broke creation.

With a renewed heaven and earth, then, there will be no more stain of sin to separate us from God.

Once the barrier of sin is removed, we see the next aspect of this:

2) He will live with us.

Go back and look at verse 3...

Isn’t this what we have been missing all along?

Genesis 3:8 CSB

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

We drove God away in the garden; it was our fault!

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. (, NASB95)

It seems that God would walk with Adam and Eve. They enjoyed uninterrupted access to the God who loved them enough to make them.

And, as we saw last week, Jesus’ birth was the first real step in God coming and living with us again.

Sin broke all that.

However, because of our sin, Jesus still couldn’t fully reveal his glory to us, and after he finished what he needed to accomplish to save us, he went back to heaven.

Ever since then, we have been trying to get back to God.

Have you ever wondered why the first thing Adam and Eve noticed was their nakedness?

A writer named Donald Miller put it this way: Do you ever remember getting away from your parents in a crowded store? Maybe you were hiding in a clothes rack and when you came out, you couldn’t find them?

When Adam and Eve sinned, it was like coming out of the clothes rack and not finding your mom.

Suddenly, they were scared and alone.

Throughout history, we have tried to fix that and get right with God on our own terms. Sometimes we try to ignore Him and act like He doesn’t exist, but He loves us too much to leave us alone.

That’s why He came to die on the cross for us…His death makes the way for us to come to Him; not because we do the right thing, but because He has offered us His righteousness

However, God didn’t completely abandon us.

Those of us who have surrendered to him here on this earth have a trace of his presence on earth, because the Bible tells us that the Holy Spirit lives inside us right now, giving us a hint of what’s to come.

After we die, we go into His presence in heaven as it exists right now.

In verses 1-2, however, we find the final removal of the distance that came through the fall.

Finally, fully, once and for all, there will be no interruption in our enjoyment of His presence.

We will never feel separated or alone again.

Think about that: how many times do you feel lonely in your home or at your job or here at church?

You feel like no one knows you or understands you.

We may look at the pages of Scripture and believe that God knows us, but we don’t always feel like it is true or even comprehend what it would mean for God to always be present with us.

However, here’s what Paul says:

1 Corinthians 13:12 CSB

For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, as I am fully known.

To know everything you can know, and to be completely known, and completely loved. Can you even imagine?

He promised this through the mouths of the prophets of the Old Testament:

Ezekiel 37:27 CSB

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people.

“My dwelling place also will be with them; and I will be their God, and they will be My people. (, NASB95)

Stop and think about that: You will enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with the God of the universe every moment for the rest of eternity.

Stop and think about that: You will enjoy uninterrupted fellowship with the God of the universe every moment for the rest of eternity.

Won’t that be incredible! If that’s all there was to it, our eternal home would be worth it all!

The implications of what that means make it so much better. Look at the first part of verse 4:

3) He will comfort us.

Stop and think about all this means for just a minute. There will be no more tears. Period.

Some of you are more reserved emotionally, but whether they ever show externally or not, you shed tears.

Why? Because life is hard! It isn’t fair. People who are mean and lie and cheat seem to get what they want in life, and the good guys end up losing.

You try your hardest, and you can’t get ahead.

You have tried to live a healthy life, yet you are still plagued by illness.

You have tried to love your family well, and yet they still walk away from you.

You have tried to walk with God, and you still fall short so often.

You see news stories of thousands of people dying in natural disasters and people being murdered all the time, and it breaks your heart.

Listen to me: on the authority of the Word of God this morning I tell you that it won’t always be this way!

I don’t know how 2020 will go, but I do know that one day, all of this is going to be over.

In fact, there is coming a time when God will wipe away every single tear away from your eye.

As a dad of little children, this verse rips out my heart, because I know what it is to look in the face of my child when they hurting and hold her and wipe away tears and say, “It’s going to be okay.”

Some days, I feel like a liar, because I know they are going to get hurt and I know they are going to fall, and I know that life is going to be hard for them.

But here’s what I know: There is coming a time when it won’t be me wiping their tears, but it will be the infinite, merciful, loving God of the universe drying their eyes for the final time.

Did you know that God cares when you hurt?

There is a crazy verse that someone pointed out years ago.

David had been taken captive by the Philistines, and he wrote these words:

Psalm 56:8 CSB

You yourself have recorded my wanderings. Put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?

You have taken account of my wanderings; Put my tears in Your bottle. Are they not in Your book? (, NASB95)

God has seen every tear, and He cares about every single one of them.

He has a record of all the tears you have cried, even the ones that you think no one saw.

For those who aren’t outwardly emotional, know that this also means God sees every break and pain your heart has experienced.

One day, God himself will wipe away the tear from your eye one last time.

Again, He has promised that this day is coming:

“And the ransomed of the Lord will return And come with joyful shouting to Zion, With everlasting joy upon their heads. They will find gladness and joy, And sorrow and sighing will flee away.” (, NASB95)

Isaiah 35:10 CSB

and the ransomed of the Lord will return and come to Zion with singing, crowned with unending joy. Joy and gladness will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee.

““I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her The voice of weeping and the sound of crying.” (, NASB95)

Isaiah 65:19 CSB

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.

Isaiah 65:19 CSB

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.

He will wipe every tear from your eyes forever!

He will wipe every tear from your eyes forever!

He will wipe every tear from your eyes forever!

“How can you say that?”

John MacArthur said it this way:

“Since there will never be a tear in heaven, nothing will be sad, disappointing, deficient, or wrong.”[ii]

Did any of you get a Christmas present this week that was disappointing?

I was cleaning up some toys our children don’t play with as often, and I thought back to how many of those toys were items they were dying to have at one point. Now, they would hardly miss them.

We are the same way, only our toys are bigger and more expensive now.

There is coming a time when nothing will ever disappoint you again.

Again, Christmas is the first step in that, but we long for the day when he finally wipes away every tear.

Do you see how he can promise this? Because of what we see in the rest of verse 4, which is the last aspect of this promise we want to examine this morning:

4) He will destroy death.

The greatest pain we experience in life is ultimately tied to death.

We are scared to die, we spend money on food and supplements and surgery and makeup and doctors to try to keep us from facing the reality that we are all dying.

However, the baby who was born in the manger has already demonstrated that God has power over death.

Remember that Jesus is the first one to be raised from the dead, never to die again.

Remember that Jesus is the first one to be raised from the dead, never to die again.

Other people were brought back to life, but they would die again.

Jesus, however, was raised in a body that had defeated death, and there was no more trace of sin.

Here’s what is so incredible about the hope we have: We too will be raised to have bodies that will never again die.

We too will be raised to have bodies that will never again die.

After that judgment, there will be no more death. Ever.

Can you imagine that? No one will ever die again.

It says it clear as day, right here in this passage.

That is what the apostle Paul looked forward to when he wrote these words:

1 Corinthians 15:54–55 CSB

When this corruptible body is clothed with incorruptibility, and this mortal body is clothed with immortality, then the saying that is written will take place: Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, death, is your victory? Where, death, is your sting?

“But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?”” (, NASB95)

Our bodies now are weak and corrupted by sin and falling apart.

Death still hurts because it separates us from those we love and who love us, yet one day, that sting will be completely removed.

This will be the final declaration of the death of death!

“He will swallow up death for all time, And the Lord God will wipe tears away from all faces, And He will remove the reproach of His people from all the earth; For the Lord has spoken.” (, NASB95)

Isaiah 25:8 CSB

he will destroy death forever. The Lord God will wipe away the tears from every face and remove his people’s disgrace from the whole earth, for the Lord has spoken.

Since there won’t be any more death, there won’t be any more mourning!

That should give us lots of comfort right now.

Listen: Death, which seems to most of us to be the final obstacle, is only temporary! There will be a death of death!

There will be a day when no one will ever die again.

You will never see an open grave with the tent over it at a cemetery. You will never see a hearse, nor will you ever see the shocking sight of a loved one lying still in the coffin.

All that will remain for those of us who know the Lord is an eternity of life!

Isn’t it beautiful that He will remove more than just the stain and pain of death? Look at the next two statements:

He will erase pain.

You will never have cause to hurt again.

There is a little debate about whether or not our bodies will be capable of being injured or feeling pain.

Randy Alcorn, in his book on Heaven, indicates that we may have some pain:

“We’re told that on the new Earth there’ll be no more death, crying, or pain (). But we’re also told, ‘The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations’ (). No one will suffer or die on the New Earth, but this passage suggests that there might be enough minor damage to require healing.”[iii]

Interesting to think about, but we know this: there will be no true, lasting pain that causes us to cry and hurt.

Can you imagine what it will be like to be pain-free for eternity?!

Some of you wrestle with a physical illness that keeps you in constant pain. One day, it will all be cured.

Others of you wrestle with a mental illness, and your pain may not be as visible. That pain too will be done away with.

Why are all these things going away?

Because they are a part of the “first things”—all of the things that characterize life now under the curse.

Jesus destroyed them when He restored the earth.

Verse 5 reiterates what we talked about earlier—He will completely restore everything.

Listen to the great promises He continues to make:

Water of life without cost

Inheritance of a son

Again, there is a solemn warning in this passage: those whose lives haven’t been transformed by the grace of God, who aren’t covered by Jesus’ righteousness, will not experience this.

Instead, they will spend eternity separated from God.

So where does that leave us?

For those who are saved, this is your eternal destiny! It isn’t being melodramatic or exaggerating to say that! This really is what is waiting for you for eternity.

For those who don’t know Jesus, this is what He offers for you. You don’t have to deserve it, and you could never be good enough to earn it. All He asks is that you commit your life to following Him.

Endnotes:

[i] Qtd. in Alcorn, p. 146-147.

[ii] John MacArthur, Jr. The MacArthur Study Bible, NASB. on .

[iii] Randy Alcorn. Heaven. Carol Stream, Illinios: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004. 412.