It Is All About Jesus: His For Eternity
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Revelation 21:1–8 (CSB)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.
5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. 8 But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
As we interpret Scripture, we need to admit that some parts are clearer than others. Think of some of the puzzles you have completed over your life. Some are easy, some seem impossible to complete. Like those puzzles, there are some doctrines that we can define with absolute clarity. There are others where the picture isn’t easy to decipher. Here is the key: it would be stubbornly divisive to pretend we cannot tell what the nearly finished puzzle depicts. On the other hand, it would be arrogantly prideful to pretend we know exactly what the one with only a basic frame is.
God has revealed Himself to us in the universe around us. When you look at the complexity of the world and universe you know that it was created by God. It is unavoidable. So if you are here this morning doubting that there is a God, stop it. You know there is a God. Don’t push that truth down into the silence, accept it and embrace it.
God has given us His special revelation in the form of the Bible.
So God has given us special revelation in the form of our Bible. Scripture tells us
2 Timothy 3:14–17 (CSB)
14 But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, 15 and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. 16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
Know and respect the truth of the Bible. Accept that we won’t fully understand till we meet Jesus in heaven. Don’t fight the truth that is clearly revealed in the Bible, and don’t argue excessively over the disputed or unclear portions.
Finally, God gave us Jesus. God dwelling among us! The clearest and most complete revelation of God- because Jesus is God! The Alpha and the Omega- The Beginning and the End. One of the highest themes of Revelation is the return of Jesus Christ.
It Is All About Jesus: The Text In Its Context
It Is All About Jesus: The Text In Its Context
After resurrection Sunday Jesus met with some of His disciples traveling to Emmaus. They didn’t recognize Jesus, and were dejected and arguing with each other.
Luke 24:25–27 (CSB)
25 He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! 26 Wasn’t it necessary for the Messiah to suffer these things and enter into his glory?” 27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.
Our text today is All About Jesus.
The first word in the Greek text of this book is apoakalypsis, which means “revelation” or “unveiling.” Although some English Bibles title it “The Revelation of John,” the work is manifestly a revelation to John by Jesus Christ. Revelation is the twenty-seventh and last book of the New Testament and the sixty-sixth and last book of the Bible. It contains the visions given to the Apostle John, who was imprisoned on Patmos, an island in the Aegean Sea. John also wrote the Gospel bearing his name, and the three letters bearing his name.
John is in exile because of his faith in Christ. He writes at a time when Christians are being persecuted by the Roman authorities, and many have been martyred. His ‘Revelation’ is that Jesus Christ is the Lord of heaven and earth, of time and eternity. Through Christ, God is bringing history to its climax and close, and a new creation to birth. The forces of Satan are to be finally defeated and the church is to become the bride of Christ.
In 404 verses, with 285 Old Testament citations and as many as 550 Old Testament allusions, we discover not a closed book but an open book—one to be read and not rejected. Revelation draws all the themes and teaching of the Bible together in on final proclamation of truth. Daniel 12:4 says, “Keep these words secret and seal the book until the time of the end,” but Revelation 22:10 says, “Don’t seal the prophetic words of this book, because the time is near.” Revelation is to be explored, examined, and embraced, for in it we discover a marvelous message whose theme is the theme of the Bible: the greatness and the glory of Jesus. From 1:1 to 22:21 the Apocalypse is from Jesus and about Jesus. As He is the focus of the Bible, so He is the focus of this book.
Christ speaks to his church through John, to encourage and guide his people. He urges them to persevere through times of darkness and great stress, for after this life they will live with God in his glorious new world.
Some of Revelation’s vivid imagery is difficult to understand. Views vary on some aspects of the book’s overall plan and contents. Blessing is promised to those who hear and heed its message. Which parts are literal or illustrative is a question of context and judgement. Revelation 1:19 sets John’s three-point plan for recording his vision into ‘things which you have seen’, then ‘things which are’, and then ‘things which must shortly take place’.
This book self-consciously calls itself a prophecy at both its beginning and its end (1:3; 22:18–19). It is the only New Testament book that is essentially prophetic.
God Promises A New Perfected Heaven and Earth
God Promises A New Perfected Heaven and Earth
Revelation 21:1 (CSB)
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
This is the climax of the Book of Revelation, in many ways it might be the climax of the entire Bible. This is the realization of so many promises.
Isaiah 65:17–19 (CSB)
17 “For I will create new heavens and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind. 18 Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her.
The promise that God is going to recreate the heavens and earth is seen in both the OT and the NT.
Romans 8:19–22 (CSB)
19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now.
Many people think about new life as only applying to people. But God promises that the world and His people will be set free from bondage to sin. Both were created by God and declared to be good. But both were damaged by exposure to sin. Both will be redeemed!
2 Peter 3:10–13 (CSB)
10 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. 11 Since all these things are to be dissolved in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conduct and godliness 12 as you wait for the day of God and hasten its coming. Because of that day, the heavens will be dissolved with fire and the elements will melt with heat. 13 But based on his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.
Judaism contained both the idea of a total replacement of the old with the new as well as the renovation of the old into the new. Revelation suggests a radically new creation but implies a transformation that fulfills the original creation.
We don’t know exactly how this will occur- we only know that God promises it will happen. We don’t know if the earth and heaven will be destroyed and God starts from scratch, as Peter seems to imply, or restored like Paul seems to imply. We just know that however God works the new heaven and earth will be glorious.
‘There was no longer any sea’ (21:1). Can you imagine Aquidneck Island without the ocean? I cannot. After all, we love the sea. Our history is marked with a connection to the sea, and especially the Navy. So why can’t we have the sea? When the Israelites thought of the sea, they didn’t think of sandcastles, fresh air and fun. For them the sea represented evil. It stood for the primeval chaos that God had conquered at the creation of the universe. It was where sea monsters lived, and it was where many of their enemies had come from. In Revelation itself, the beast emerges from the sea. But now the sea is no more: there is no longer any wild, untamed evil on the new earth. ‘No more sea’ means no more rebellion, no more conflict; it means peace for eternity.
Revelation 21:2 (CSB)
2 I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
New Jerusalem is pure, spotless, and without blemish in character. She comes down as a wonderful gift of grace. And she is “prepared like a bride adorned for her husband,” the Lamb, the Lord Jesus. Significantly, she is both a place and a people. God’s people, as Scripture reveals, have long awaited this day and moment. If you truly follow Jesus, this will eventually be your new home!
God Promises We Will Live With Him And Fully Know Him
God Promises We Will Live With Him And Fully Know Him
Revelation 21:3 (CSB)
3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and he will live with them. They will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.
Can you imagine how John felt hearing this voice? He has heard a loud voice more than 20 times in Revelation. It comes comes with divine authority and power, for it comes from God’s throne. The voice announces that God’s dwelling place (or tabernacle) is with man! in Genesis God had walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the evening. But we messed it up and got kicked out of paradise. O say we because if we had been there instead of Adam and Eve we would have had the same problems. In Exodus God had been present with His chosen people as a pillar of smoke and fire. Even with God’s visible presence with them, and the incredible miracles God did for them, the Jewish people messed things up several times. Once again, we would have done the same. AMEN? In the Gospel of John the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. But He returned to heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father. Now we have this prophecy that God will permanently and forever live among His redeemed people. His “shekinah glory” will make its home in and among His peoples. Peoples is used because heaven will be a kingdom of believers of all nations and people groups. It will be wonderfully multicultural and multiethnic. There will be no segregated subdivisions in the new Jerusalem!
God’s tabernacle is His people. He tabernacles among His peoples (see Lev 26:11–13). And the great promise of this verse only gets better: “God Himself will be with them and be their God.” “God Himself” is emphatic. Our great God will be with us, in our midst, as our God.
1 Corinthians 13:12 (CSB)
12 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.
Can you imagine the glory of living with God and the universal church? Knowing them fully, and being fully known by them. And being in perfect harmony? This will all be possible because
God Promises The End Of Sin
God Promises The End Of Sin
Revelation 21:4 (CSB)
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; grief, crying, and pain will be no more, because the previous things have passed away.
Life is hard. Filled with pain, suffering and trials. Sometimes it seems like we will be overwhelmed by our troubles. When we feel that way we should remember this promise. This verse promises us that in eternity all that causes pain and sorrow will forever be taken away! Tears, death, grief, crying, and pain. Wiped out forever are the horrible consequences and effects of sin.
Revelation 7:17 (CSB)
17 For the Lamb who is at the center of the throne will shepherd them; he will guide them to springs of the waters of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.
This is not a new promise- in
Isaiah 25:8–9 (CSB)
8 When he has swallowed up death once and for all, 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. 9 On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he has saved us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him. Let’s rejoice and be glad in his salvation.”
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.On that day it will be said, “Look, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He has saved us. This is the LORD; we have waited for Him. Let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.”
Adrian Rogers used to say, “Death is only a comma to a Christian—not a period!”
Yes, in eternity all the former things associated with the fallen world will pass away and they are never coming back.
We Will Rest in the Sure Promises of God
We Will Rest in the Sure Promises of God
Revelation 21:5–6 (CSB)
5 Then the one seated on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” 6 Then he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
These promises are not conditional, potentially true, or tentative. John is told, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” Just as the Living Word is “Faithful and True” (19:11), so also the written Word is “faithful and true.” The new creation has come. The Word of God is faithful and true. Verse 6 affirms, “It is done!” It is finished. It is complete. And who can say this? The sovereign God and ruler of the universe who declares Himself to be “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” He is the A and Z. He is the Lord over both ends of history and all that is in between.
In Genesis 1 God spoke the first word in history- and created the universe.
In Revelation we are promised that God will have the last word in history, and it will be faithful and true.
Because He is Himself eternal life, He can give eternal life to others. That is what He has done for all who have trusted in His Son.
John 3:16 (CSB)
16 For God loved the world in this way: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
That is what is intended by the beautiful image of the “water as a gift to the thirsty from the spring of life.”
John 7:37–38 (CSB)
37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.”
If you are thirsty, come to Christ and be satisfied. It will cost you nothing. Jesus has already paid it all. Satisfied forever and it cost you not a thing—what a magnificent picture of God’s amazing grace!
What does a thirsty man do to get rid of his thirst? He drinks. Perhaps there is no better representation of faith in all the Word of God than that.… So, dear Soul, whatever your state may be, you can surely receive Christ, for He comes to you like a cup of cold water! --Charles Spurgeon
God Promises Righteous Judgement
God Promises Righteous Judgement
Revelation 21:7–8 (CSB)
7 The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. 8 But the cowards, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars—their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
Live in New Jerusalem will not be boring. it will be vibrant and diverse. Everybody is welcome become all are right with God, each other, and themselves. True Shalom! There will be no reason for locked doors, police, or judges. There will not even be armies- because evil will have been fully and finally dealt with.
Live in New Jerusalem will not be boring. it will be vibrant and diverse. Everybody is welcome become all are right with God, each other, and themselves. True Shalom!
The wages of sin is death- and with judgement comes punishment for those not cleansed by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Punishment that will last for an eternity.
The “cowards” are individuals who, because of fear, will not confess Christ openly when confronted with persecution (see Heb 10:38–39).
The “unbelievers” or faithless are those who deny Christ by their conduct and speech.
The “vile” or detestable are those polluted by gross acts of idolatry.
“Murderers” are malicious, savage killers (especially those who kill the tribulation saints).
“Sexually immoral” are those who lived sexual lifestyles contrary to God’s plan and purpose.
“Sorcerers” are those who mix drugs with the practices of spirit worship, witchcraft, and magic. “Idolaters” are worshipers of idols and images (this practice especially will be prevalent when the world bows to the antichrist’s image).
“All liars” are those who habitually deceive others.
None of these people will have access to the new Jerusalem. They will spend eternity “in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death”
In our Christian life, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. Two key messages in Revelation—assurance and warning—serve to keep us walking true, resting in grace, and striving for holiness. The message of assurance will bring comfort when we struggle with soul-crushing condemnation. The message of warning will spur us on when we have become complacent.
Passionately Look Forward To Heaven: Our Contemporary Application
Passionately Look Forward To Heaven: Our Contemporary Application
One of the most wonderful promises in the whole Bible is that persons who have put their faith in Jesus Christ will spend all of eternity with God in a place called heaven.
Paul reminds us in Philippians 3:20, “Our citizenship is in heaven.”
Hebrews 12:22 affirms, “Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem).”
This is our future home and our future hope, and that ought to make a difference in our lives today.
Have you ever heard somebody say that : “He is so heavenly minded that he is no earthly good.”
There is only one thing wrong with that statement: It is not true! The fact is those who are the most heavenly minded are the most earthly good.
That is why
Colossians 3:1–2 (CSB)
1 So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.
Colossians 3:12–17 (CSB)
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. 14 Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. 15 And let the peace of Christ, to which you were also called in one body, rule your hearts. And be thankful. 16 Let the word of Christ dwell richly among you, in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another through psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, in word or in deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
“A continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth “thrown in:” aim at earth and you will get neither. —C.S. Lewis (Mere Christianity, 134)
Points To Ponder
Points To Ponder
“PRINCIPLES FOR TODAY” by Craig S. Keener
“PRINCIPLES FOR TODAY” by Craig S. Keener
This passage provides many principles relevant for our lives today. (1) New Jerusalem is God’s creation (21:2: “from God”); all we can do is prepare our adornment with righteous acts (19:8; 21:2). Often even our Christian subculture invites competition with other Christians, denominations, ministers, and so forth. I find myself tempted at times to blend into some particular denomination’s or movement’s values to have a spiritual home; but God demands faithfulness above all, and those of us who achieve the most status in our Christian subcultures may actually have the least in the world to come (Mark 9:37; Luke 9:48). We may adorn ourselves for the new Jerusalem, but it is ours only by the grace of our heavenly Father’s love for us.
(2) The time for adorning ourselves with “righteous acts” (19:8) is now. Even though Revelation emphasizes the new Jerusalem as a future city, it is being built in the present. If the character of Babylon is evident in the world around us, the glory of God’s presence among us should be revealed at least in the way we live. In John’s theology, God’s glory is revealed in us through how we treat one another (John 13:34–35; 17:22–23; 1 John 4:12). In New Testament theology, though hope directs our attention toward the future, it also has implications for how we live in the present (Rom. 12:12; Col. 1:4–5; Titus 2:12–13; 1 John 3:3). The most faithful of John’s audience (esp. in Smyrna and Philadelphia) would have seen themselves as a persecuted minority; but Revelation also summons them to see themselves as heirs of the future. If we see ourselves according to the destiny to which God has called us, we will act accordingly.
(3) The promise that sorrows and troubles will pass is helpful in grief counseling, at funerals, but also in facing the obstacles of life; each reader and expositor probably can think of numerous specific applications for his or her own situations.
(4) God’s perfect dwelling will be with us; we will enjoy the intimacy of the Most Holy Place with him forever. If that is truly the future we yearn for, then we should enjoy the intimacy now available with him in prayer.98 That the new Jerusalem itself is a temple city promises us a continual experience of worship; as its citizens, we should begin to enjoy that worship now. Scripture indicates that we are already God’s temple and dwelling place (1 Cor. 3:16–17; 2 Cor. 6:16; Eph. 2:21–22); his presence is what sustains us in the face of our trials (Jer. 1:8; Acts 18:10; Heb. 13:5–6). In the future we will continue to be his dwelling for worship, except without the current distractions.
(5) The passage is full of contrasts between Babylon and the new Jerusalem. When I preach from here, I focus on how much greater is God’s city than what this world offers, to remind us to live for God’s promises and not for present satisfaction.
God’s incredible love. John borrows the image of the new Jerusalem as Christ’s bride from earlier sources (ultimately Israel as God’s bride in the Hebrew Bible). But he probably intends to convey the same image of God’s intimacy and love for his people implied in those earlier sources. One time in my life when I felt deeply in love, the force of this passage struck me: No matter how much I might love, my love was only a shadow of Christ’s love for us. Perhaps any symbol communicates only imperfectly the depth of Jesus’ love for us, but our best approximations of unselfish love, such as a strong marriage, can provide us some beginning sense of it. The ultimate portrait of God’s love for us is Jesus’ dying for us on the cross while we were yet his enemies (Rom. 5:6–10). Paul tells us that the Spirit comes into our hearts, pointing to that cross, and declaring, “See, I love you! I love you! I love you!” (cf. Rom. 5:5).
To the overworked pastor who feels unappreciated, to the wounded wife abandoned by her husband, to the shy child teased by peers for her weight or his pimples, to any of us in our brokenness, the greatest comfort is God’s love. We can afford to be vulnerable with him concerning our pain, because we know he shares our pain with us. When the hardships seem too great to bear—as they must have seemed to many of the first Christians who heard Revelation read to them—we must remember that his love gives us a promise of fulfillment ahead. And if the hardships tempt us to doubt his present love and our future hope, we only need look back to the cross, where God in the flesh shared our pain with us and in our stead.
True wealth. We also recognize that the standard of wealth for which people strive in this world will be a common substance by the standards of the coming world (21:18, 21). The truest wealth is the glory of the Lamb (21:11, 23–26; 22:5). For which world’s wealth will we devote our own labors (3:17–18)?99 We need no worldly wealth, no physical temple, not even created lights like sun or moon (21:22–26); God is the direct source of all. Even water flows from his throne (22:1), nourishing also the tree whose fruit brings life (22:2). To practice for the future, we should learn to depend on him now.
Following Christ or the world’s values. The vice list (21:8, 27) warns that we cannot truly follow Christ, yet deny him in how we live; fear and unbelief dare not dissuade us from martyrdom, so we need to strengthen Christian faith now before the test comes. We dare not compromise with the world’s values or betray or slander fellow Christians before the world or indulge false prophets of compromise in the church.
The lists of sins provide the severest possible warnings against such offenses (21:8, 27). This includes sexual immorality and magic arts. I came home and wept when I first encountered ministers who believed that sexual immorality was irresistible or feared to preach against it lest they offend their congregations. Given the warning here, one wonders how a shepherd can be faithful to the call and not address such matters of spiritual life and death to whatever extent necessary.100 Many cultures distinguish between “black magic” and “white magic,” but Revelation offers no such distinction because all magical activity is rooted in the demonic (9:20–21; 21:8; 22:15). Today this (and related biblical prohibitions of divination) include such sources as the “psychic hotlines”; in at least some church circles where I have ministered, more professing Christians were involved in such practices than one would have guessed.
Communicating eternal judgment and eternal bliss. America’s culture of tolerance has made talk of eternal judgment unfashionable, but we must find relevant ways to communicate that image at the appropriate time.101 “Four sections in the latter part of John’s prophecy end on the same note of stern warning (20:15; 21:8, 27; 22:15).”102 The only alternative to damnation in this passage is “overcoming” (21:7–8); chapters 2–3 reveal that each church faces different tests, but all are called to overcome.
The use of numbers 12,000 and 144 (21:16–17) emphasize, as we have noted, that the new Jerusalem is a city prepared for God’s servants (7:4–8). The magnificent dimensions also emphasize that God’s tiny remnant in this age (cf. 7:4; 11:1–2) have a glorious future, higher than the tower of Babel could have been and more splendid than Babylon in this age.
That the tree is for “the healing of the nations” (22:2) does not indicate that all people who have ever lived with be saved, a proposal that blatantly contradicts the theology of Revelation.103 Rather, it reminds us that representatives of all peoples will follow the Lamb in this age and constitute the nations in their ideal character in the world to come (21:24), bringing the gifts of all cultures to worship Jesus (see comment on 7:9). Indeed, the single tree of life in 22:2 (in contrast to Ezekiel’s trees) and single street in 21:21 and 22:2 may point to the fact that God has provided only one source of life and one “way” into the new Jerusalem (cf. John 14:6). To be sure, that street’s singleness refers to the main street and is a figure of speech (11:8), as may be the tree; but taken together with Revelation’s other Christocentric images, they emphasize the necessity of being in the Lamb’s book of life, of being the Lamb’s followers (14:4; 21:27).
[Craig S. Keener, Revelation, The NIV Application Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 508–511.]
“New Heaven, New Earth” by Tom Wright
“New Heaven, New Earth” by Tom Wright
When has there been a moment in your life when you have said to yourself, ‘This is new’? I don’t just mean a car with a few new gadgets, or a meal with a different combination of sauces and seasonings—though these, too, may point in the right direction. I’m thinking more of major life-experiences in which we think to ourselves, ‘Everything is going to be different now. This is quite new. This is a whole new world opening up.’
Such experiences might well include some major life-events: birth, marriage, full recovery from a long and dangerous illness, the experience of someone new coming to live with you. All these, interestingly, feature in the list of images which John uses as he builds up this breathtaking picture of the new heaven and new earth. ‘I will be his God and he shall be my son’ (verse 7): a final new birth. The holy city is like ‘a bride dressed up for her husband’: a wedding. There will be ‘no more death, or mourning or weeping or pain any more’: the great recovery. And, central to this whole picture, and indeed explaining what it all means, is the great promise: ‘God has come to dwell with humans.’ The new, permanent guest.
Putting it like this is in danger of belittling John’s picture, trimming it down to our comparatively trivial examples. But, as with all symbolism, these are signposts pointing into the unknown future; and at every point John is saying, ‘It’s like this, but much, much more so.’ The new heaven and new earth will be new in a new way; newness itself will be renewed, so that instead of a mere transition within ongoing human life, what God has planned will be the renewal of all things. ‘Look’, he said, ‘I am making all things new.’
All things: here we have the new heaven, the new earth, the new Jerusalem, the new Temple (which is the same thing as the new Jerusalem; as we shall see, there is no temple in the city because the whole city is the new temple), and, not least, the new people, people who have woken up to find themselves beyond the reach of death, tears and pain. ‘The first things have passed away.’
So many Christians have read John’s book expecting that the final scene will be a picture of ‘heaven’ that they fail completely to see the full glory of what he is saying. Plato was wrong. It isn’t a matter—it wasn’t ever a matter—of ‘heaven’ being the perfect world to which we shall (perhaps) go one day, and ‘earth’ being the shabby, second-rate temporary dwelling from which we shall be glad to depart for good. As we have seen throughout the book, ‘earth’ is a glorious part of God’s glorious creation, and ‘heaven’, though God’s own abode, is also the place where the ‘sea’ stands as a reminder of the power of evil, so much so that at one point there is ‘war in heaven’. God’s two-level world needs renewing in both its elements.
But when that is done, we are left not with a new heaven only, but a new heaven and a new earth—and they are joined together completely and for ever. The word ‘dwell’ in verse 3 is crucial, because the word John uses conjures up the idea of God ‘dwelling’ in the Temple in Jerusalem, revealing his glory in the midst of his people. This is what John’s gospel says about Jesus: the Word became flesh and lived, ‘dwelt’, pitched his tent, ‘tabernacled’, in our midst, and we gazed upon his glory. What God did in Jesus, coming to an unknowing world and an unwelcoming people, he is doing on a cosmic scale. He is coming to live, for ever, in our midst, a healing, comforting, celebrating presence. And the idea of ‘incarnation’, so long a key topic in our thinking about Jesus, is revealed as the key topic in our thinking about God’s future for the world. Heaven and earth were joined together in Jesus; heaven and earth will one day be joined fully and for ever. Paul says exactly the same thing in Ephesians 1:10.
That is why the closing scene in the Bible is not a vision of human beings going up to heaven, as in so much popular imagination, nor even of Jesus himself coming down to earth, but of the new Jerusalem itself coming down from heaven to earth. At first sight, this is a bit of a shock: surely the new Jerusalem, the bride of the lamb, consists of the people of God, and surely they are on earth already! How can they have been in heaven as well?
The clue here is that, as Paul says in Colossians 3:3, ‘our life is hidden with the Messiah in God’. When somebody belongs to the Messiah, they continue with their life on earth, but they have a secret life as well, a fresh gift from God, which becomes part of the hidden reality that will be ‘revealed’ at the last day (Colossians 3:4; 1 John 3:2). That is why, in those great scenes in Revelation 5, 7 and 19, there is a great, uncountable number of people standing around God’s throne in heaven, singing glad songs and shouting out their praises. This is the heavenly reality which corresponds to the (apparently) weak, feeble praises of the church on earth. And one day this heavenly reality will be revealed, revealed as the true partner of the lamb, now transformed, Cinderella-like, from slave-girl to bride.
The newness of this vision is not a matter of God throwing away his first creation and, as it were, trying again, having a second shot to see if he can get it right this time. That is the superficial impression many have received from 20:11, when heaven and earth flee from God’s presence, and from the statement in 10:6 that there would be ‘no more time’—which, as we have seen, is not saying that time itself will be abolished, but that there will be no more delay. What we have in Revelation 21 and 22, however, is the utter transformation of heaven and earth by means of God abolishing, from within both heaven and earth, everything that has to do both with the as-yet incomplete plan for creation and, more particularly, with the horrible, disgusting and tragic effects of human sin.
The new world, in other words, will be like the present one in the sense of its being a world full of beauty, power, delight, tenderness and glory. In this new world, for instance, the temple, which was properly there in heaven as well as on earth (11:19), will be abolished (21:22); not because it was a stupid idea for God to dwell among his people, but because the Temple was the advance model of God’s great hidden plan for the whole cosmos, now at last to be realized. The new world will be like the present one, but without all those features, particularly death, tears and everything that causes them, which make the present world what it is.
That is what is meant by there being ‘no more sea’. Throughout this book, as in much of the Bible, the sea is the dark force of chaos which threatens God’s plans and God’s people. It is the element from which the first monster emerged. It is contained in the first heaven, ‘contained’, that is, both in the sense that it is there as part of the furniture and in the sense that its boundary is strictly limited. Evil is only allowed to do enough to overreach itself and to bring about its own downfall. But in the new creation there will be no more sea, no more chaos, no place from which monsters might again emerge.
The centre of the picture, though, is not, or not yet, the new world itself, but the one true God who made the first creation and loved it so much that he sent the lamb to redeem and renew it. Up to now, ‘the one who sits on the throne’ has been mentioned only obliquely. He has been there; he has been worshipped; but all the talking has been done by Jesus, or by an angel, or by ‘a voice from heaven’. Now, at last, for the first time since the opening statement in 1:8, God himself addresses John, and through him addresses his churches and ours. This personal address by God himself is, it seems, part of the newness, just as in verse 4 God himself ‘will wipe away every tear from their eyes’, an act of utter gentleness and kindness to be performed not by some junior heavenly official but by God himself. Through this is a revelation of God’s eternal character, most of us, contemplating this wonderful prospect, will feel a whole new world opening up before us.
[Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone, For Everyone Bible Study Guides (London; Louisville, KY: SPCK; Westminster John Knox, 2011), 186–190.]
Question Needing Answers
Question Needing Answers
How can a city also be a bride? Who or what do you think this city-bride is?
What does it mean to be “God’s people”? How important is that concept in the Old Testament? The New? What is the difference between the Old Testament people and the New Testament people of God, if any?
Is there any particular significance to the eight classes of sinners listed in verse 8?
Do you think it is possible to be “so heavenly minded” that we become “no earthly good”? What is the real problem with people who are accused of this?
Compare the first few chapters of Genesis and the last few chapters of Revelation. What strikes you about the parallels and differences?
What is significant about there being “no sea” in the new heavens and the new earth? How does this give you hope in this life?
Reflect on the various ways you have seen the brokenness of this fallen world. Now read Revelation 21:4 and consider how God will set all things right.
Which of the promises of God in Revelation 21–22 do you most long for? Why?
Which of the characteristics in Revelation 21:8 is the most applicable warning for you, and how can you heed this warning today?
What is one thing about your life or ministry that can be changed to be more “heavenly minded” to be more effective for “earthly good”?
A Week’s Worth of Scripture
A Week’s Worth of Scripture
Monday
Philippians 3:12–21 (CSB)
12 Not that I have already reached the goal or am already perfect, but I make every effort to take hold of it because I also have been taken hold of by Christ Jesus. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead, 14 I pursue as my goal the prize promised by God’s heavenly call in Christ Jesus. 15 Therefore, let all of us who are mature think this way. And if you think differently about anything, God will reveal this also to you. 16 In any case, we should live up to whatever truth we have attained. 17 Join in imitating me, brothers and sisters, and pay careful attention to those who live according to the example you have in us. 18 For I have often told you, and now say again with tears, that many live as enemies of the cross of Christ. 19 Their end is destruction; their god is their stomach; their glory is in their shame; and they are focused on earthly things, 20 Our citizenship is in heaven, and we eagerly wait for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. 21 He will transform the body of our humble condition into the likeness of his glorious body, by the power that enables him to subject everything to himself.
Tuesday
Hebrews 12:14–29 (CSB)
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord. 15 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many. 16 And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal. 17 For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, even though he sought it with tears, because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance.
18 For you have not come to what could be touched, to a blazing fire, to darkness, gloom, and storm, 19 to the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of words. Those who heard it begged that not another word be spoken to them, 20 for they could not bear what was commanded: If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned. 21 The appearance was so terrifying that Moses said, I am trembling with fear. 22 Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, 23 to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge, who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, 24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.
25 See to it that you do not reject the one who speaks. For if they did not escape when they rejected him who warned them on earth, even less will we if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven. 26 His voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. 27 This expression, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what is not shaken might remain. 28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful. By it, we may serve God acceptably, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Wednesday
Isaiah 65:17–25 (CSB)
17 “For I will create new heavens and a new earth; the past events will not be remembered or come to mind. 18 Then be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating; for I will create Jerusalem to be a joy and its people to be a delight. 19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. The sound of weeping and crying will no longer be heard in her. 20 In her, a nursing infant will no longer live only a few days, or an old man not live out his days. Indeed, the one who dies at a hundred years old will be mourned as a young man, and the one who misses a hundred years will be considered cursed. 21 People will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 22 They will not build and others live in them; they will not plant and others eat. For my people’s lives will be like the lifetime of a tree. My chosen ones will fully enjoy the work of their hands. 23 They will not labor without success or bear children destined for disaster, for they will be a people blessed by the Lord along with their descendants. 24 Even before they call, I will answer; while they are still speaking, I will hear. 25 The wolf and the lamb will feed together, and the lion will eat straw like cattle, but the serpent’s food will be dust! They will not do what is evil or destroy on my entire holy mountain,” says the Lord.
Thursday
Leviticus 26:9–18 (CSB)
9 “I will turn to you, make you fruitful and multiply you, and confirm my covenant with you. 10 You will eat the old grain of the previous year and will clear out the old to make room for the new. 11 I will place my residence among you, and I will not reject you. 12 I will walk among you and be your God, and you will be my people. 13 I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, so that you would no longer be their slaves. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to live in freedom. 14 “But if you do not obey me and observe all these commands—15 if you reject my statutes and despise my ordinances, and do not observe all my commands—and break my covenant, 16 then I will do this to you: I will bring terror on you—wasting disease and fever that will cause your eyes to fail and your life to ebb away. You will sow your seed in vain because your enemies will eat it. 17 I will turn against you, so that you will be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee even though no one is pursuing you. 18 “But if after these things you will not obey me, I will proceed to discipline you seven times for your sins.
Friday
Romans 8:12–30 (CSB)
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, 13 because if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him. 18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. 19 For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God’s sons to be revealed. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly, but because of him who subjected it—in the hope 21 that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage to decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. 22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. 23 Not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits—we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. 24 Now in this hope we were saved, but hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? 25 Now if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. 26 In the same way the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with inexpressible groanings. 27 And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because he intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. 28 We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose. 29 For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. 30 And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified.
Saturday
John 7:37–44 (CSB)
37 On the last and most important day of the festival, Jesus stood up and cried out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. 38 The one who believes in me, as the Scripture has said, will have streams of living water flow from deep within him.” 39 He said this about the Spirit. Those who believed in Jesus were going to receive the Spirit, for the Spirit had not yet been given because Jesus had not yet been glorified.
40 When some from the crowd heard these words, they said, “This truly is the Prophet.” 41 Others said, “This is the Messiah.” But some said, “Surely the Messiah doesn’t come from Galilee, does he? 42 Doesn’t the Scripture say that the Messiah comes from David’s offspring and from the town of Bethlehem, where David lived?” 43 So the crowd was divided because of him. 44 Some of them wanted to seize him, but no one laid hands on him.