New Creation

Revelation 21:1-8

Immanuel – 8/14/22

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. He then made man and woman to inhabit that earth, and said, Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion [over it] (Genesis 1:28). The earth was their inheritance, and they were to rule it. It was paradise – perfect humans with God in their midst – heaven on earth.

But humanity fell from perfection, and all of creation came crashing down with them. A terrible separation tore heaven from earth.

In time, God came down to earth. He condescended and spoke to Abraham. He promised Abraham land, countless descendants, that the whole world would be blessed through him, and that kings would come from him. In other words, God initiated a chain of events that would restore what Adam and Eve had lost.

From Abraham came Israel, a people God set-apart at Mount Sinai. And it was there that God came down and said: “If you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6).

God was preparing His people to be a kingdom of priests. They were to lead the nations to God, thus ruling the earth through their priestly ministry. God was doing this because the earth is His; for He deserves worship, not just from the land of Israel, but from the whole planet.

Later, God made a promise to David. In this covenant, God promised that all of these earlier covenants and promises would be fulfilled and accomplished through a future and coming King, one of David’s descendants. This King would establish an eternal temple and an eternal throne.

At the end of his book, Isaiah prophesies that the nations will stream in and worship this King. Through Him will the nations be blessed. Through Him will heaven unite with earth once again.

Purpose

I want to link the new covenant of Christ with the uniting of heaven and earth.

Read Revelation 21:1-8

Let us briefly get our bearing in Revelation. We are still firmly fixed in part 3 of Revelation. Earlier in part 3, seven trumpets were blown; each one of these were judgements that came upon the Jewish religious establishment. With these seven judgements the old covenant system forever passed away: no more sacrifices, no more Levitical system of priests, no more temples of stone.

The world that could only relate to God through these old covenant systems was over. Or, put another way, it was the end of that world.

Now, still in part 3, and in stark contrast to the seven trumpet judgements, John sees seven visions of the new covenant. Revelation 21:1-8 is the last of these seven visions.

It is critical to remember that these seven visions are not meant to be understood chronologically. These are different images of the same thing: the new covenant age. Each one emphasizes different new covenant elements, each one adds more color and depth to the whole, each one is equally true and active throughout the entire new covenant age.

Read vs 1

New Heaven and Earth

I would wager that most of you have always thought that this passage is about heaven; and if not heaven, then what life will be like after the resurrection, in our eternal state. This present world is going to burn up and God will create a new earth. It’s what I once thought too.

But I want to show you something that I think will change your mind. It’s what John is quoting.

“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.” -Isaiah 65:17-20

In this passage you hear much of the same language that we find in Revelation 21. Isaiah and John are talking about the same thing, the time when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. But notice some striking elements. People are dying and having children; sinners are present.

If people are dying and sinners are present, then this new heaven and new earth cannot be referring to the eternal state. It must be referring to something else.

I believe Scripture is clearly teaching us that the new heaven and new earth is the same thing as Millennial reign of Christ: the new covenant area. In other words, we are living in this new heaven and new earth today.

To understand this, let us first ask a question. What does it mean that there will be a new heaven? What was wrong with the first heaven? Why would it pass away, and how would a new heaven be different?

Though the sky and outer space can both be called heaven in Scripture, this passage is clearly talking about the dwelling place of God. The heaven that has no deficiency. It is perfect. There is no reason then, that God would destroy heaven to make a new one. Instead, there is something else is passing away that utterly transforms heaven forever, to such a degree that God calls it the new heaven.

The separation that divides heaven and earth is being destroyed. Heaven, the same heaven that exists today, is coming to earth, the same earth that exists today. This is why we read earlier in Revelation:

The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. -Revelation 11:15

Then a few verses later:

Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen within His temple. -Revelation 11:19

The only way this concept makes sense is if the temple in heaven is opened, or made accessible, to those for which it was formerly inaccessible: sinners. But this opening of the temple is a symbol of how heaven has been opened to humanity through Christ Jesus. For Jesus brought heaven, the eternal heaven that has always existed, to earth.

This is why Jesus repeatedly refers to His kingdom on earth as the “kingdom of heaven.” The kingdom of God has become the kingdom of the world. And in this kingdom of heaven, as we saw last week, wheat and tares – sinners and saints – coexist (Matthew 13:24-30). People will die and be born, as Isaiah says.

This is the new heaven and earth, because we live within the kingdom of heaven!

God is not destroying the old heaven, He is transforming it by bring it to earth. Similarly, God is not going to destroy the earth. He is transforming it, making it new. The earth, the same earth that exists today, is uniting with heaven.

Consider, what is it that divides heaven and earth? It’s the same thing that cast Adam and Even from the garden: sin. The Mosaic covenant of law reveals how vast is this separation. Those 613 laws illumine how painfully sinful we are, and that God is aflame in a perfection of holiness. The law showed us that no man can ascend to God; no man can reach God.

This is why God the Son fulfilled the law for us. He did what no man could do. Man could not ascend to God, so God condescended to man. Now, through faith, His righteousness becomes our righteousness. He ascended to the Father, and He brings us with Him.

Paul even tells us that, in some measure, this has already happened:

[God] raised us up with [Jesus] and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. -Ephesians 2:6-7

Therefore, for those who are in Christ, we have already ascended with Jesus: in part now, in full at the resurrection. In other words, today we live in heaven united to earth through the gospel.

We know the joy of the Lord. We know the love of the Father. We know a peace that surpasses understanding. We have a hope unfading, a life abundant, a thankfulness abounding, a truth unshakable. All of these come from heaven. But here we are on earth. Therefore, the more we live in these heavenly realities, the more heaven touches earth; the more this world is recreated.

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, behold, the new has come. -2 Corinthians 5:17

This is true for the individual. But what is true for the individual is true for the collective. The more this world is united to Christ, the more the old things pass away and the new things come – the more a new creation is realized for the planet.

The new creation overcomes the old creation. No way that the corrupted and fallen old creation would overcome the new.

This is exactly why Paul writes:

For the creation waits with eager longing 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 will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. -Romans 8:19-21

Paul writes creation does not eagerly await for the return of Christ, but the revealing of the sons of God! The implication is that as more of the sons and daughters of God are revealed on earth, the more creation is freed from its bondage. In other words, the way God transforms this world is through His sons and daughters. This is why creation longs for the revealing of the sons of God.

Now, for all this to happen, the old order had to pass away first. Just as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17, the old has passed away, behold, the new has come. First, God tore down the Mosaic covenant. Christ fulfilled it. Therefore, the priests, the sacrifices, the temple, and all the symbols that belonged to the old covenant were torn down, along with all those who refused to let them go.

For a world that could only gain access to God through these symbols, it was the end of the world.

The end of all things is at hand. -1 Peter 4:7

The present form of this world is passing away. -1 Corinthians 7:31

Access to God through the Mosaic covenant was torn down, and in its place we have access to the holiest of places through the blood of Jesus. With the fall of Jerusalem also came the fall of every other system that separated God from man. Pagan systems are shattered by this King of all kings.

In verse 1 of our passage we see that the sea is also passing away. We shouldn’t read this literally, for the new heaven and the new earth will not be planet without oceans. Remember, the Bible frequently uses the sea as a symbol for the Gentile world. And in Jesus, the Gentiles are granted access to God, they become the people of God.

There is neither Jew nor Greek…for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.

-Galatians 3:28-29

The mystery is that the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promises in Christ Jesus through the gospel. -Ephesians 3:6

The old world, with its terrible abyss that divided God and man, whether by Mosaic Law or proud idolatry, was destroyed when Christ ripped that dividing curtain in two.

The world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. -1 John 2:17

The chaos of the Gentile world is subdued by Christ, as they/we are granted access to God. The sea is no more!

The old world is passing away. Behold a new has come. In Christ, heaven and earth is uniting.

For in [Jesus] all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. -Colossians 1:19-20

This passage, which is very clearly in the past tense, talks about how everything has been reconciled to God through Jesus. Jesus has united heaven and earth. Or, you could say, Jesus has brought heaven to earth. It has already happened, because Jesus has already made peace by the blood of His cross.

Similarly, we read in Ephesians:

[God] making known to us the mystery of his will, according to His purpose, which He set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in heaven and things on earth. -Ephesians 1:9-10

It’s the same sort of language found in Colossians. Heaven and earth are united in and through Christ. Paul calls this the fulness of time. Elsewhere he writes:

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son. -Galatians 4:4

Jesus initiated the fullness of time. You know what that means? We live in the fulness of time! We live in the new covenant age, the age for which the old covenant longed. The promised land was never fully realized in the old covenant. Why? Because the old covenant was unable to bring anything to fulfillment. All fulfillments are realized in the new covenant, are realize in Christ.

This is the fulfillment of time!

Let continue in Revelation to see what this new heaven and new earth look like.

Read vs 2

Realities Today

Next week we will deep dive into this New Jerusalem. Today I will simply say that the New Jerusalem is the church, and the church is the New Jerusalem.

The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. -Galatians 4:26

But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.

-Hebrews 12:22-24

Through faith in Jesus you have entered the church. You have entered the New Jerusalem. That’s what the writer of Hebrews is saying. The moment you came to faith, you were born of the New Jerusalem – a new creation.

But more on all of that next week.

Read vs 3

When heaven and earth unite, like never before, God will dwell with His people. If verse 3 were translated literally, we would read, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with man. He will tabernacle with them…

Do you know how John opens His gospel?

The Word became flesh and dwelt (tabernacled) among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. -John 1:14

Even today, the Living God, the Spirit of Christ, tabernacles/dwells with us.

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?

-1 Corinthians 3:16

God dwells with you now. Church, you are God’s people; and God Himself is with you as your God!

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. -1 Peter 2:9-10

When you are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, God has come to dwell with you. Heaven has entered into this very earthly heart; and behold, we are new creations!

Read vs 4

Why would there be tears in eternity? Isn’t now, in this age, that we need God to wipe away the tears? Yes! And like Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:10, we are sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. For no matter our afflictions, we have a God who comforts us.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ’s sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. -2 Corinthians 1:3-5

If we offer comfort to one another, in the name of Jesus, then Christ is using our hands to wipe away the tears of each other. This is what Paul is telling us; for are we or are we not the body of Christ? For we comfort one another by pointing each other to the joys, hopes, and truths of the gospel. And in so doing, it is Christ wiping away our tears.

And in this new covenant age, death is no more. As Jesus said,

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.” -John 11:25-26

We shall not taste death. Death has no power over us. Though these bodies will die, yet will we live forever! And our eternal life has already begun!

When we live on earth, with our eyes fixed on heaven, all of our crying and pain is powerfully transformed!

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. -Romans 8:18

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. -2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Do you see how Jesus changes everything? Even the greatest sufferings of this age become light and momentary when we compare it to the eternal weight of glory that we have in Jesus Christ!

Revelation 21 is filled with symbols, windows into glorious gospel truths for today. This earth, just like you, are not destined for the garbage!

If you know Jesus, then you know He has transformed your world. And if He has transformed your world, then you can bet that He has transformed the world for millions and millions of others that also love Him. Can’t you see it? If that pattern continues, grows to more and more people, will it not have a powerful, transformative effect on planet Earth?

Yes! And that is what Jesus came for. He did not come for you alone.

For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should no perish but have eternal life. -John 3:16

Jesus came for the whole world. And it is the world He is after!

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to Himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ.

-2 Corinthians 5:17-20

Jesus is reconciling the world to Himself! He sent us out into the world, to bring the world to Him. We are His ambassadors! God is recreating – through reconciliation – the world through the Body of Christ, His Church, us.

Read vs 5-6

Recreation

Notice the timing of these verses. God says He is making all things new. The new heaven and the new earth don’t come into existence all at once. Rather, God is engaged in a process of recreating. He is doing it. Again, as we have seen from all over the New Testament, God is recreating the world through the Church; for where we go, there goes the transformative, life-giving Holy Spirit.

But then, in verse 6, God says, “It is done.” This is not an announcement, at the end of time, declaring the completion of things. Look at the whole quote: “It is done! I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the End.” God says these words directly to John as a prophesy.

Remember, Revelation relates to time in a similar way that the Alpha and Omega relates to time. Time is both compressed and stretched, depending on the context of the passage. When God says, “It is done,” even if He said it in eternity past, it is as good as done. His promises do not fail, His word cannot be broken. What He says will be accomplished and nothing can thwart Him!

When He says, “It is done,” it is like Jesus saying, “It is finished.” God has declared that He will recreate the world, and He is recreating it through the church, and He started that recreation at the cross. Nothing will stop it. Nothing will divert it. It will happen. Because, for God, He holds the beginning and the end in a single moment.

And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. -Philippians 1:6

Similarly, He who began a good work on this earth will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. God declared it in eternity past. He began it at the cross. He is accomplishing it through His Spirit-filled people. He will finish it at the return of Christ. God is making all things new!

John is told to write down God’s word beforehand so that we will always know His word is trustworthy and true.

And anyone who is thirsty is invited to take part of this great recreative work. For, to the thirsty, God gives the Holy Spirit without measure and without price!

Jesus said to the Samaritan woman at the well,

“Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” -John 4:13-14

And from inside the old temple, Jesus spoke of a new temple, and the waters that would flow there.

“If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” Now this He said about the Spirit. -John 7:37-39

Yes, we are the temple of the Living God. We are the New Jerusalem. The Holy Spirit bursts from out of the Church with His transformative, life-giving waters. Once the world was flooded in judgement. Now it is being flooded in gospel salvation in righteousness and joy and peace. God is making all things new!

Read vs 7

Once more, Scripture testifies that this a true today.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. -Romans 8:15-17

If Christ is your Lord, if the Holy Spirit dwells within you, then you are children of God! Then you are conquerors! Once sinners and enemies, now conquering sons and daughters! What a recreation!

If you have faith that Jesus has paid for your sins, then sin no longer has a hold over you and you are conqueror. If, by faith, it is no longer you who lives, but Christ who lives in you, then you are a conqueror. If, with your last breath, you say, “Into your hands I commit my spirit;” then you are a conqueror. And when, by faith, you behold the face of Jesus, you are a conqueror. For only the conquerors will faithfully endure the trials and temptations of this age.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. -Romans 8:35,37

Know, therefore, that everyone who conquers has not conquered because of their own strength. You conquer because of the powerful love of the Father who has called you, the Son who has redeemed you, and the Spirit who is sanctifying you. It is God in you that is strong when you are weak, wise when you are foolish, alive when you are dead!

He is the One who has adopted you and made you His sons and daughters. He did it!

And now, the Father gives His children all that is His. God possesses heaven and earth (Deuteronomy 10:14), and He gives it all to His children. He also lavishes upon you the heavenly blessings of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). Heaven meets earth.

Like loyal kings, we extend the dominion of our King of kings to the ends of the earth. Like priests, we lead the nations into this living temple, where all people can know joy in God. For God is making all things new through His church.

Read vs 8

Those that reject Jesus, who cling to the world that is dying, will likewise die. Any person that has lied, that has had a lustful thought, that has felt hatred, that is proud and selfish, all these will experience the eternal death.

And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.

-1 Corinthians 6:11

How incredible is the transforming work of the gospel! Not only is it this powerful for the individual, it is this powerful for the whole world. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, God is making all things new! Heaven and earth are united in Christ.

God has come to dwell with us, and He calls us His sons and daughters. And when in our afflictions, we find any comfort in the promises of the gospel, God is there, wiping away our tears.

How great the Father’s love for us! How powerful the cross of Christ! How transformative the work of the Spirit! We are new creations building a new creation; not by sight but by faith.

And one day our faith will become our sight. One day we will see a new creation consummated. The new heaven and new earth will be a work completed. On that day we will see the face of our beloved King, and as we weep with joy, He will reach out His nail scarred hands, and wipe away every tear. Then will it be finally done. Then will we be finally saved.

What was prophesied in Scripture, initiated at the cross, and grows in our day, cannot be stopped.

I am making all things new. These words are trustworthy and true. It is done!