The Revelation chapter 21, the
title of our lesson this morning, a new heaven and a new earth.
After our Lord has come and resurrected his people, taking all of his
people out of this earth, glorified them. And after that, Satan and
every other enemy of our Lord has been cast into hell. After
all that happens, God's going to burn up this creation. He's
going to burn it up. dispose of it and create a new
heaven and a new earth. If you look back a few pages
at 2nd Peter chapter 3. 2nd Peter chapter 3. Verse 10. But the day of the
Lord will come as a thief in the night in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise and the elements shall
melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works
that are therein shall be burned up. At that time, when all those
elements, everything in this creation is burned up, every
trace of sin will be gone forever from God's creation. Brother
Don Fortner said in his commentary, I like what he said here. He
says, the slime of the serpent will be erased from God's creation
when all this is burned up. After God burns up this creation,
he's going to create new heavens and a new earth. Look over Isaiah
chapter 65. You know, this isn't just something
that the Apostle John had revealed to him, but Isaiah had this revealed
to him as well. After our Lord burns up this
creation, he's going to create new heavens and new earth wherein
dwelleth righteousness, where everything is righteous. And
sin will be so far gone from that creation, the effect of
sin will be so far gone from that creation the effects of
sin won't even be remembered anymore. Isaiah 65 verse 17. For behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth and the former shall not be remembered nor come
to mind. It won't even come to our mind
anymore, the effect of sin in this, in our bodies, in this
life. Now we read those promises. I mean, I'm not telling you something
you hadn't heard before, but we read those promises and we really
can't comprehend it. That is so wonderful. We just can't imagine it because
it's so far removed from our experience. Sin is all we know,
but that's God's promise to his people. And he gave John a vision
of it. Revelation 21 verse one. And
I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea. Now
that word new means a new kind of creation. The word means unworn,
unworn, unprecedented, and unheard of. It's something that we just
can't even imagine. This new creation is a creation
that's been renewed or regenerated, and it's far better than anything
we've ever known before, far better than anything we've even
imagined. And the order of the old creation will be gone. The new creation is not going
to have any sin in it. Can you imagine? I would imagine
there's going to be grass in the new creation, but there's
not going to be one thorn, one thistle, or one weed. All of
the effects of sin will be gone. Every trace of it will be gone. Now, we can't really imagine
that, can we? We can't imagine what it will be like to live
in a world without sin, to live in a body without sin. But John
gives us some descriptions here in this chapter of the new creation
that will wet our appetite for it. And the first one is this,
in the new creation, there won't be any division. He says it at
the end of verse one, and there was no more sea. Now, seas represent
barriers. You know, John's day was very
difficult, if not impossible, to cross a sea or an ocean. Even
in our day, countries are separated by oceans, aren't they? Seas
form just a natural boundary between countries. But in the
new creation, They're not going to be that anymore. In this creation,
there's separation. There's separation from God because
of our sin. And that's a divide between us
and God. We can't cross. Now, thankfully, God's son crossed
it, but it's a divide we can't cross. But in the new creation,
we're not going to be separated from God anymore. There'll be
no distance between us and him because sin will be gone. And
we'll see this in these coming verses. We'll be with him. That division will be gone. Seas
also represent tumult. Seas just rage and roar. Even in calm weather, the sea
is constantly churning. It never quits for a moment,
just constantly churning. And when storms come in, those
huge storms blow in off of the sea. That's its creation in it. It's full of tumult. It's just
constantly churning. David, when he looked at his
world, he said, why do the heathen rage? Why do they imagine a vain
thing? Men have tumult and storms in
this life over everything. When you know people, they're
mad at everything. I don't care what you do, whether
you go left or right, it don't matter. They're mad. It's just there are tumult about
everything. especially over doctrine, especially
over faith. This world is full of it. In
the previous chapters, we saw the beast come up and cause all
kinds of trouble in this creation. Where did he come from? He came
from the sea. That's what those seas represent.
But in the new creation, when God makes everything new, there's
not going to be more storms. There's not going to be any more
tumults. There's not going to be any more churning. The master will have
appeared. and said not just to the sea,
but the whole creation. Peace be still. And it'll be
still. No more storms. Everything will
be peaceful. Everybody who lives in that new
creation is going to live together in perfect harmony. Never a cross
word, never a cross thought. They'll all live together in
harmony because they're all in love with and they're all worshiping
the same person, the Lord Jesus Christ. We won't be interested
in anything but Him. So there's not going to be time
for, there's not going to be any way that a tumult or something,
a storm can come up, because we're only going to be interested
in worshiping our Savior. The seas also represent depths.
You can't see to the bottom of the ocean. Now, nobody could
see to the bottom of the ocean in John's day. In our day, you
can do that in places. But even though they did go find
the Titanic there at the bottom of the sea, Most of the ocean
floor is still a mystery to us. It is too vast. It's too deep.
There's too much of it for us to be able to explore and understand
what's going on down there. Well, that's this creation in
this creation. By God's grace, his people see
Christ. But you've got to admit, it's not very clear, is it? If
you see him, if you know him, you want to see more, don't you?
You want to know more. And it can't be done in this
In this life, all we're going to see is through a glass darkly. But in the new creation, there's
not going to be any of that. There's not going to be any distance
between us and God. We'll be with him. We'll see
him face to face. Here, we see by faith. In the
new creation, faith will have given way to sight. And that
sight will be 20-20 vision. We'll see him as he is. And that
new creation is going to be a good place for God's people to dwell
in. Because that new creation is going to be perfect, and God's
going to make his people perfect and dwell in it. God's people
will be made perfect and sinless, too. Look at verse 2. And I,
John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. Now,
this new city, it's not a city coming down out of heaven that's
going to settle upon the earth. It means God's people, it means
his elect. And those people are described
as holy. Well, how is it that they were
made holy? Well, they are made holy in Christ. Their sin has
been purged by the blood of Christ. Christ is their righteousness.
John describes God's people as coming down from God out of heaven.
Well, how'd they get there? Well, before God burned up this
creation, he took his people out of it. They met the Lord
in the air. And then God burned up this creation. They couldn't
be here when God was burning up this creation, could they?
Any more than Lot could stay in Sodom. That angel said, told
Lot, you've got to get out of here. I can't burn this place
up while you're here. Well, that's God's people. He's
not going to burn up this creation until he takes his people out
of it. And then the bride has met Christ in the air. Now she's
coming back down out of heaven. with Christ. She's coming from
that place where Christ sits in throne. She's been with Him. She's been in Him. She's coming
with Him. And that's no surprise. God's people have always been
in Christ. One way or another, they've always
been in Christ. They were in Christ in divine
election. The Father put them in Christ. That's how they got
there. They were in Christ in representation. Everything He
did, His people did. When he lived, they lived. When
he died, they died. When he rose again, they rose
again. When he sat down because the work was finished, they sat
down in him. And now she's perfectly acquitted. No more in a body of sin. She's
been made body and soul just like Christ. That was God's purpose
in redemption all along, to glorify his son by making his people
just like Christ. And that's how she's described
here as a bride adorned for her husband. But she didn't adorn
herself, did she? No, Christ adorned her. He put
his beauty upon her. Just like that baby Ezekiel found,
cast out into the open field to the loathing of its person,
he found that baby polluted in her own blood. When he saw her,
he said, your time was a time of love. And in his love, he
took that baby, he washed her, he made her beautiful in his
beauty that he put on her. That's his pride. She's been
made beautiful in Christ's beauty that he put on her. You know,
people like to talk about Christ's righteousness, his imputed righteousness
or his imparted righteousness. That's what's going on here.
It's both. It's not just an illegal transaction. Christ's righteousness has been
imparted to her. She has made what he is. And she's beautiful. And those
people have perfect peace. Jerusalem is the city of peace. Well, this new Jerusalem is where
people are going to enjoy real, perfect, eternal, lasting peace. She's been made beautiful and
she'll enjoy that peace with God. And thirdly, the glory of
the new creation will be people, his people dwelling with Christ.
Verse three. And I heard a great voice out
of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.
And he see this tabernacle as a person. He will dwell with
him and they should be his people. And God himself should be with
them and be their God. See, the tabernacle is not a
tent. The Lord's not going to recreate
Israel, you know, on the earth. It's not the tabernacles, not
a tent where the Lord's worshiped like that tent Moses built, where
the Lord was worshiped there in the wilderness. This tabernacle
we looked at, man, we spent weeks looking at the tabernacles, the
picture of Christ. But this isn't a picture. This
is the real McCoy. This is Christ himself. He shall
dwell with them. I don't know a lot about what
heaven will be like. I don't know a lot about this
new creation. I mean, I read about it and you
have to say, I can't really understand that. I just can't envision what
that will be like. But this one thing I know, the
glory of heaven will be to be able to be with Christ. He will
dwell with them. The joy of God's people will
be that Christ himself will be with them, that he'll dwell with
them. We can't comprehend the soul
thrilling rapture of seeing Christ the Savior face to face. I long
for it, but it's going to be infinitely better than what we
think it's going to be. You think how much we enjoy his presence
now. You know what makes the worship service special? It's
not you get a warm, fuzzy feeling because you're doing something
religious. What makes the worship service special to God's people
is this. Christ is here. He said where two or three are
gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them. Every once in a while, we don't
worship always like, you know, we should, but every once in
a while, God enables us to worship, don't we? Our hearts are thrilled. Our hearts are thrilled because
we've been in his presence. There, it'll be face to face, perfectly. And it'll never be interrupted
there like it is here. We're not going to have to say,
well, we have to call it quits because the water's off. The
water's frozen. It'll never be interrupted. Now,
this dwelling with them, that's a whole lot more living in the
same town together, living in the same creation together. This
is living in union with Christ. I mean, this is real living.
They will be his people and he will be their God. Now, several
times in scripture, God made that promise that I'll be your
God and you'll be my people. And that new creation, God's
people are going to have the fulfillment of that promise.
and every other promise in scripture, they're going to have the fulfillment
of it. He will be with us. He will be our God, and we will
be his people. That's going to be the joy of
that new creation. Fourthly, the new creation is
going to be a place of perfect bliss. Verse four. And God shall
wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there should be no
more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither should there
be any more pain. for the former things are passed
away. Now since sin is gone, there's not many reason in the
new creation for sorrow. There's not many reason for sickness.
Nothing there can cause sickness. Nothing there will cause pain
or suffering. God himself shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes. Everybody's had a little child that skinned their knee
or something. You wipe their tears away from their eyes and
you say, now, now, you know, Well, they still got that big
old spot on their knee. There's still a reason to cry,
isn't there? But when God himself wipes away the tears from our
eyes, it means more than us wiping away the tears off the face of
a child. It means that he will have taken
away every reason for us to cry. Every reason will be completely
gone. If you look at Hebrews chapter
five, I'll show you how he did it. He took away those tears. He took away every reason for
his people to have tears, because Christ, our high priest, took
them for us. Hebrews chapter five, verse seven. Who in the days of his flesh,
when he'd offered up prayers and supplications, with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death,
he was heard in that he feared. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered. And being made perfect,
he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that
obey him. And that obeying him is believing
him. Unto all those that believe him, he took their tears away
from them, and he took them and suffered them for them. So in
glory, there's not going to be any reason for tears. In the
new creation, there'll be no more death. Now, again, that's
something we can't imagine. I mean, this Everything dies
in this creation, animals, plants, people. Last year, we had a number of
funerals. This year, we're going to too. I mean, it's just this
life, everything dies. I love what Brother Henry said
one time at a funeral. We're not going to do this there.
There'll be no more death. There'll be no more funerals.
There'll be no more long goodbyes. Christ suffered and died for
his people. so they'll have eternal life, so they'll never die. You
think about in this first creation, this creation, when our Lord
Jesus was in his earthly ministry, no one ever died in his presence,
did they? Ever. You can't die in the presence
of life himself. Well, then you can be sure that's
not gonna happen in the new creation. We'll be with him. There'll be
no more death there, no more funerals. In the new creation,
there'll be no more sorrow. They're not gonna be any more
heartaches, any more trials, any more sorrow to the heart
of God's people. Because Christ bore them all
away from his people. He was a man of sorrows, acquainted
with greed. He hath borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows. He carried them away from us
so he won't have them anymore. In the new creation, John says
there'll be no more crying. Now we already saw there's gonna
be no more tears. So why does he say there's going to be no
more crying? It seems kind of redundant, doesn't it? Well,
the word crying means an outcry or a tumult or conflict. In the
new creation, there's going to be no more tumult. There's going
to be no more shouts of alarm. There's going to be no more shouts
of argument. There'll be perfect peace there
because there will be enjoying the peace that Christ made for
his people through the blood of his cross. And the new creation,
There'll be no more pain. And the word means anguish. I
mean, this is more than just a hurt finger. This is anguish. I was talking with Jackie Simpson
yesterday evening. She's in a good deal of pain.
I mean, she said, now if I'm sitting down facing forward,
it's OK. But boy, if I turn any to the
left or the right, it's ugh. We're not going to have any of
that there. None. There's not going to be mental
pain, mental anguish. There's not gonna be emotional
pain. There won't be physical pain. There won't be the pain
of loneliness. There won't be the pain of loss.
There's not gonna be the pain of worry because Christ took
it all away. He bore all of the anguish for
his people at Calvary. So there's nothing left for his
people. The sin that causes all that pain and anguish and suffering
will all be gone. Christ put it away under the
blood of his cross. So in that new creation, All
the former things will be passed away. They're just, they're gone.
They're not being more weeping. And I'll tell you what else. It's hard, this is another thing
that's hard for us to imagine. When we think back over our past,
over our lives, we've been talking to our daughters,
they've been asking us questions about being parents, you know,
and I think back over some days,
I wish I could do it no more. There, I'm not going to do that.
We're not going to be weeping over the former things that went
on in this life. We're not going to cry over what
went on here. All the sorrow that we have over our past sin.
I had a dear, dear friend. He worried himself sick to the
day he died about the sins of his youth and all the things
he did before he knew the Lord. He's not doing that now. That's
gone. We're not going to be remembering
those things anymore. We're not going to have any worry,
any doubt or any fear because Christ our Savior took away the
sin that causes all that. We'll have none of that in the
new creation. Does this new creation sound
to you like a pipe dream? That sounds too good to be true.
Here's the fifth thing about this new creation. You can be
sure of it because Christ himself promised it. Verse five. He that
sat upon the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he
said unto me, write, for these words are true and faithful.
He said unto me, it is done. I'm Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I will give unto him that is
a thirst for the fountain of the water of life freely. See,
Christ himself told John, this is my promise. I make all things
new. And he said, you write them down.
You write them down. so they can't be changed. You
write them down so my people won't forget them. You write
them down so my people can go back and look at this often.
Behold, I make all things new. And these sayings are true and
they're faithful. You can count on them because
of the one who promised them. The one who made this promise,
his name is faithful. His name is true. All his promises
are truth and faithful. He's going to do it. Now, I don't
know when, but he's going to do it. And he says here, it's
done. He says, as he sits upon the
throne of glory, the exact same thing he said hanging upon Calvary's
tree. You know, Christ was on the cross. He didn't abdicate the throne.
He was still king. He said the same thing hanging
there that he tells John as he sits on the throne, it's finished. Here's why you know this is coming. God's promise is sure to his
people because he has already accomplished their salvation.
He's already made everything new for them. And when Christ
said it is finished, their salvation was accomplished and their end
was finished too. Their end was made sure. He told
his disciples, don't worry, don't fear. I go to prepare a place
for you and to prepare you for the place. Here it is. John's Zod is finished. Both
the place is prepared and the people are prepared for it. It's
finished. Lord willing, we'll get into this more next week. But this is very interesting.
He says this in the present tense. I've told you over and over again
in our study through the book of Revelation. This is not telling
us all things that are going to happen in the future. The
book of Revelation tells us what God already has done and what
he is doing and what he will yet do for his people. He says
this in the present tense. I make all things. It's not just
one day I will make all things new. That's what he's doing right
now. He's making all things new. When
his people are born again, he's made them new, hasn't he? Now
look back at 2 Peter 3 again. Seeing these things are so. This
is true now. This is the promise of our God.
True and faithful. Then how should we live our life
and the rest of our time in this creation? 2 Peter 3. Verse 11. Seeing then that all these things
should be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in
all holy conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto
the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat. Nevertheless, we, according to his promise. Why do we look
for the new heavens and new earth? Because he promised it. Nevertheless,
we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new
earth, wherein dwells righteousness. That's how we should live the
rest of our time that God gives us in this creation. We should
be looking for him to fulfill his promise to make all things
new. Then here's the sixth thing at the end of verse six, we've
got a description of the people in this life who are going to
live with Christ in that new creation. He says at the end
of verse six, I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain
of the water of life freely. The people who live with Christ
in the new creation, I can tell you how you'll find them in this
creation. You're going to find them to be thirsty people. Now,
if you're thirsty, you recognize that you have a need of something
in your body that you don't have. God's people are described in
scripture as those who hunger and thirst after righteousness.
They don't have any. They can't produce any. God's
people have a hunger for spiritual life because they're damning
themselves. They can't produce any. Notice how gracious, how
just can't even think of a right word, how gracious our Savior
is. He's, my people are in need. They're thirsty. I'm going to
freely give them everything they need. I'll freely give them the
water of life. Really what he does is he gives
himself. Christ is everything we need. And he freely gives
himself for his people. He freely gives himself to his
people. If any man thirst, are you thirsty? Is this describing thirsty? Our
Lord said, come on, I'll give you a drink. Oh, if you knew
the gift of God and who it is that sayeth to you, give me to
drink, you would have asked. You'd have asked of him and he
would have given you, freely given you living water. Oh, everyone
that thirsted, if there's anybody here that's thirsty, this is
what God says to you. Come ye to the waters. You have
no money, come, buy, eat, drink, come and buy wine and milk without
money and without price. If you're thirsty, come to Christ.
He'll freely give you the water of life. Everybody who's needy,
in this life, spiritually needy in this life, is going to be
with Christ in that new creation because Christ will freely give
them everything they need. You're right, Cosetta, I'm not
a freewheeler. I love free grace. This is free grace. I freely
give them the water of life. The second, here's the description
of those who will be in glory with Christ. Every one of them
will have overcome. Verse seven, he that overcometh
shall inherit all things and I'll be his God and he should
be my son. Now everyone in glory will have
overcome. They'll have overcome sin, they'll
have overcome Satan, they'll have overcome the beast of false
religion. Everyone in glory will have overcome their own weaknesses
and their own fears. Now you hear that on the surface,
you worry, you think, well, I can't overcome anything. I mean, if
I've got to overcome in order to go to glory, I don't have
a hope. I'm just left in utter despair.
How can any son of Adam overcome? How is that possible? Look back
at 1 John chapter 4. You know there's just one way,
and it's in Christ. 1 John 4 verse 4. Year of God, little children,
and have overcome them because greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world. If you believe Christ, you've
already overcome. Isn't that what he says? Ye have
overcome. If you're in Christ, you believe
him, you've already overcome. Look across the page at chapter
five, verse four. For whosoever is born of God
overcometh the world. And this is the victory that
overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh
the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the son of God.
If you believe on Christ, if you have faith in him, you've
already overcome, you are overcoming. And then one more scripture,
Revelation chapter 12, verse 11. This is talking about Satan,
the accuser of the brethren in verse 10 and verse 11. And they
overcame him. How did they overcome Satan,
the accuser of the brethren? By the blood of the lame and
by the word of their testimony. They love not their lives under
debt. We will overcome by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ because his blood washed away all the
sin of his people. Now, remember, the theme of revelation
is Christ wins. Whatever enemy there is, whatever
opposition there is, Christ wins. And we who believe him will be
more than conquerors in him. And then here's the last thing.
We saw who will be with Christ in that new creation. And verse
eight tells us who won't be with Christ in that new creation.
But the fearful and the unbelieving and the abominable and the murderers
and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.
which is the second death. Now, all the people here described
in verse eight are the flesh. And I'm not going to go through
each one of these descriptions. All these things described is
the depravity of our flesh. This describes every one of us
by nature. So everyone who's in the flesh,
everyone who's outside of Christ without faith in Christ is going
to be damned. And here's the point I want us
to take from this next verse. This is where I plan to go into
next week. You must be born again. We can't be like we are in this
flesh. We must be born again. And just having a profession
of religion, just having an outward show of religion is not good
enough. We've got to be born again. We've got to be made new
just like the creation is going to be made new. We must be made
new. We must be made a new creature
in Christ in order to live in glory with him. So where does
that leave us? It leaves us completely dependent
upon Christ. Then what should I do? Come to
him. Come to him right now. He says,
behold, I make all things new. That's what he's doing for his
people through the preaching of the gospel right now. He's
making them new. That's how they're born again.
He makes them new through the preaching of the gospel. If you
would be made new, if you would be born again, if you'd have
that thirst that's in you, Quince, come to Christ. Come to him.
He's the Savior. And it will be the glory of heaven,
the glory of the new creation to be with him, to see him face
to