Sermon Tone Analysis

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

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

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.