All Things New
Notes
Transcript
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. 7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. 8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Recap of the Book of Revelation. Show the chart here.
A Mini-series on Heaven
All Things New
The centerpiece of the message today is found in verse 5:
God: “Behold, I make all things new.”
What will God make new?
1. A New Heaven and a New Earth.
2. The New Jerusalem.
3. A New Creation.
4. A New Age.
1. A New Heaven and a New Earth.
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
The Renewal of all things. The Restoration of Perfection.
“no more” appears many times in this description.. strong words - “No more”
We want “no more” of anything that is in this world and inherently problematic or fearsome.
No more sea. - seas and oceans, symbol of separation, dangers, storms, have you looked at the sea on a dark night, imagining the creatures under the water.
Now, I know there are a lot of people who love the ocean.. the beach,, and deep sea fishing, surfing… I can’t imagine these people making it to the beautiful new heavens and the new earth,, oh no, no ocean?… i should have spent the whole thousand years surfing.... no… think of the alternative…
no more tears
no more death
no more sorrow
no more crying
no more pain
2. The New Jerusalem.
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Completion of Christ’s Construction
1 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.
(Perfect HVAC system)
A New City - The New Jerusalem.
We need to think of the concept of heaven differently.The thought of Heaven not just a destination but rather a place that Jesus is preparing for us.. meticulously making the place so beautiful!
It is both a metaphor of the work He is doing in our lives
and also a future reality that we can expectantly look forward to
“A bride, adorned for her husband.” - Made beautiful by the Lord Jesus..
Have you ever seen an ugly bride on her wedding day? Their work of beautifying starts at 1 in the morning...
Also, metaphorically His work for the church..
25 Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, 26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, 27 that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish. 28 So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
We are mere pilgrims.. We are in a journey to a final destination and that final destiny is actually a city:
We are to be like faithful Abraham:
9 By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; 10 for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Father Abraham looked beyond the blessings he received.. he looked for what is eternal, the eternal city.
What makes the New Jerusalem a wonderful place is the eternal presence of God.
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
Faith becomes sight
We will see God
We will embrace Jesus.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
No more mourning - we will see our deeply departed loved ones (talk)
No more tears - explain
no more pain - arthritis, back pains.. I would like to bow down before you but my knee… i would like to sweep the streets of gold but my back...
We will be brought back to the main purpose we are created for, the worship of our God.
We are made to worship.
3. A New Creation.
Through all of human history, the church age, the tribulation period, the millennial Kingdom, with all the changes that has happened and will happen, God is the only constant, He is the only One Who has not changed.
Man through sin drifted away, but we see here a renewal of all things.
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
Through the corruption that has taken place in humanity, only the Lord remains to be the constant.
John must have been mesmerized by the majestic beauty of what he saw, that he stopped writing.. and God said — write! for these words are faithful and true!
Do not miss anything.. because this is to be passed down to generations — to us!
4. A New Age.
The Lord reiterates this by saying:
6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
The Alpha and Omega - First and last letters of the Greek alphabet.. The Lord is eternal — and He will usher us into an eternal state with Him.
There is a promise extended to us — “I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.”
The fountain of eternal life..
The Lord speaks to us regarding the eternal state.
7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
Who is he who overcomes? Is it a special group of people who are the overcomers? “Overcomers please rise!”
Who is he who overcomes the world?
5 Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
Who are they who overcome Satan?
11 And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
We overcome not on our own, we overcome by our faith in the Lord Jesus and we can only overcome by the Person we put our faith in - The Lord Jesus Christ.
WE OVERCOME BY THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB AND THE WORD OF OUR TESTIMONY!
“He who overcomes shall inherit all things...” God’s “will”. Inheritance… 1Peter
We now know that those who overcome will be in the New heaven, but who will not make it?
8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Oh no, I just… these people actually are unsaved people.. did not put their trust in the Lord Jesus.
In fact, there will be unbelievers, murderers, all types of sinners who will make it. But I need to qualify it, former unbelievers, murderers, drug pushers, former sinners will make it to heaven..
You may be surprised by who you will see in heaven.. people you avoided on earth..that is why i transferred churches
..they will make it there because of the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ over them.
Sinners saved by grace.
The Only way anyone can make it to heaven, is by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and through His finished work on Calvary’s cross.
(Final thoughts)
This vision of heaven must be a huge encouragement to the Christians of John’s time (describe their struggles and persecutions).. what about our time.. satisfied with the fleeting comforts of this world..
Christians do not get excited about heaven anymore.
Heaven is only talked about when someone dies
We have been desensitized of the longing for the eternal presence of Jesus.
We have also become comfortable in this life and in this world. Comfortable inside the church.. It is a problem, if we have become so comfortable that we do not excitedly look forward to our final destination in heaven or if we no longer do what we are supposed to do as Christ followers.
We have to bring as many souls with us to heaven.
Note this:
8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Do you know someone who is any of this? You may or may not, but you know what? We were no different from these or may be one of these described, we were (enumerate) … apart from the grace of God.
We have to tell them!
ETERNITY IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD IS OUR TRUE HOME!
God will make all things new but even now, He wants to make you new..
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.