Series: Revelation: The Best is Yet to Come

Title: “What’s the New Heaven and New Earth?”

Scripture: Revelation 21:1-8 (Commentary helps listed at the end)

Need: To believe that the best is yet to come.

The saying goes, “I may not know what the future holds, but I do know who holds the future.”

1. In one sense, this is true. I do not know what tomorrow holds. But,

2. In another sense—a sense that matters much more—this statement falls short. Because in light of God’s revelation, we DO know the future. And the future is bright and clear that the best is yet to come.

Questions: Do you believe that the best is yet to come? Are you living like you believe that? Or are you living in fear? Or shame? Or guilt?

Bottom line: We look forward to a new heaven, earth and city because there we will:

1. Live in God’s presence

2. experiencing his mercy

3. Satisfied by his pleasures, and

4. Aware of his justice forever.

• Do you believe that the best is yet to come?

• Can you picture it?

• Or are you picturing something that you think is even better?

• Is that even possible?

INTRODUCTION

Opening story:

Our wedding day and weekend January 1988 was an exciting day full of stresses and reunions. But because of a massive ice storm that was paralyzing even the northerners along the Atlantic coast, it was even more stressful.

• Massive ice storm - From NYTimes.com

  
  

  • In South Carolina a tractor-trailer carrying 260 land mines collided with a small car last night in Myrtle Beach after skidding on ice. Traffic was blocked for 30 minutes as military bomb experts worked to secure the area, There were no injuries and the authorities said residents were not in danger. https://www.nytimes.com/1988/01/08/us/storm-drops-a-foot-of-snow-on-much-of-the-south.html

  • The storm sent many Southerners to grocery stores to stock up on supplies, and, in Little Rock, Ark., residents scooped up videos.

  • ''We had to beat them off with a stick,'' said Wallace Wyeth, manager of Goodtime Video. ''We're averaging about three tapes per customer.''

  • At the Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, S.C., the polar bears were kept in their heated dens for their safety, ''just in case the pool freezes over or something,'' said Linda Roberts, a mammal keeper. ''They could jump in and it wouldn't be good for them.''

• It took our friend Randy 24 hours to drive the normally 8-hour drive from Pennsylvania. Another friend ran into a bridge abutment on his way from Louisville. My brother did a 360 spin in his RX-7.

• Lots of people late or missed it

• Terrible night before for me (lots of pent up frustration from my groomsmen or maybe just not happy to rent a tux)

• I couldn’t wait to be married

• Honeymoon destination canceled

• Great honeymoon and start to the rest of our life together

Despite all of the stresses, we were still excited about our wedding day and it was a good one. But let me tell you what we were not thinking. We weren’t thinking that this would be the best day of our marriage. We weren’t thinking that there would never be another day in our marriage as good as that one. We truly believed that in our marriage, the best was yet to come. And that’s the point of today’s message.

Just like…

• When we hunger, that’s our body’s way of telling us that there’s something out there that satisfies this hunger.

• When we thirst, that’s our body’s way of telling us that there’s something out there that satisfies this thirst.

We yearn for a better life, a more fulfilling life, a more abundant life, even a longer life, that’s our soul telling us that there’s something out there that satisfies all of that. Forever.

So when I think about eternity, I now think about the new heaven, earth and city because I know I’ll spend it living in the presence of my creator, experiencing his mercy, satisfied by his pleasures and aware of his justice forever.

What about you?

Opening question: Do you live in anticipation that the best is yet to come? Does that impact how you live each day?

OUR NEED

Our need is to believe that the best is yet to come.

Last week’s bottom line: The text teaches us that one day each and every one of us will stand before God and his throne and will be asked to give an account for our lives. (It’s true it’s already written down) There’s a God, you’re not him. Are you ready to meet him?

Bottom line: We look forward to the new heaven, earth and city as we:

1. Live in God’s presence,

2. Experiencing his mercy,

3. Satisfied by his pleasures, and

4. Aware of his justice forever.

Read Rev 21:1-8

CONTEXT

We have seen:

• Jesus and his churches (1-3)

• The throne and judgments of God (6-16)

• The whore, the King, and his bride (17-22)

Transition: This passage is about:

1. The fulfillment of God’s Old Testament promises, and

2. The completion of the story of our world as we know it.

It’s also noteworthy that these last 2 chapters of Revelation and of the Bible occur when sin has been abolished from the universe. No more sin, shame, guilt, death—it’s all history.

OUTLINE (Jim Hamilton’s)

I. The former things have passed away. (21:1-4) “The old has gone…” (2 Cor 5:17)

MAIN THEME: The old is gone.

HOLD UP AN OLD IPHONE and contrast it with my new one. The old has passed away…

We could summarize these four verses as:

“The old has gone, the new is here!” 2 Cor 5:17 NIV

A. Describes the new heaven, earth and city. (1-2)

1. Still heaven, earth and city (symbolic and literal)

2. No sea which is where they would remember evil comes from

   1. Rev 13:1 “The beast came up out of the sea”

   2. Job 41 “Leviathan”

3. Holy city—the cube is the holy of Holmes

B. Describes life in the new city

1. God with us (Immanuel)

2. No more tears…

3. No more death…

“In a new cosmos, in a holy city, with no sea from which an evil snake might arise, God will dwell with his people in intimate, covenant relationship.” -J Hamilton

To believers: “God is going to dwell with you and comfort you. Find in that hope the

• resolution to all tension

• The comfort for all sorrow

• The healing from every disaster

• And the consolation that swallows up every disappointment” -J Hamilton

God is > all your pain

To not yet believers: “If you’re not a believer in Jesus, let me invite you to try and to imagine something better than this passage offers you…is what draws you away from God really better than this?” -J Hamilton

II. “I am making all things new” (21:5-8): “The new is here!” (2 Cor 5:17)

God makes 3 statements about his new state of affairs in the new:

HOLD UP THE NEWER IPHONE…

A. Statement of what God is doing. (5)

B. Command to write. (5)

C. Statement of who God is and what he promises to both the righteous and the unrighteous. (6-8)

1. A promise to the righteous.

2. A warning to the unrighteous.

A. What God is doing (5): Making all things NEW (not renovating).

B. “Write this down.” (5): God is faithful.

1. God asserting his faithfulness to do what he’s already said/written he will do.

2. What is written will come to pass. It’s as good as done. When we believe the Bible we’re believing what it tells us about itself.

3. The Holy Spirit bears witness as well.

C. Statement of who God is and what he promises to both the righteous and the unrighteous. (6-8)

1. “It is done!” - He tells us this before it even happens. He’s trustworthy. His words are true.

2. “I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end” - God asserts his eternal nature. “If God is already at the end, then he knows what will happen.” -Hamilton

   1. Alpha is first letter of Greek alphabet.

   2. Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet.

3. A promise to the righteous. “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” The river of life—abundant and eternal life. What we crave at our core.

   1. Do you thirst for God? Or do you thirst for his things?

   2. Do you love his justice and mercy?

      1. To not love his justice is to celebrate corruption.

      2. To not love his mercy is to fail to love the most beautiful reality God has created. (Indian chief story)

   3. “Those who are victorious will inherit all this…” As “sons” of God, we have the same inheritance that Jesus himself has coming. Wow!

      1. “The sons of the King are exempt from taxation, as Jesus explains to Peter (Matt 17:24-27).

      2. This is why 21:6 says that God will give the right to drink ‘from the spring of the water of life without payment,’ and then verse 7 speaks of what those who overcome will inherit. Those who are united to Christ by faith are heirs according to the promise (Gal 3:26-29).” -Hamilton

4. A warning to the unrighteous.

   1. “But if God is not what you worship, if you thirst for things other than him, your life will show it…andy you will go where you belong, where you will get what you deserve—the lake of fire, the second death.” -Hamilton

   2. BQ: “What does a thirsty man do to get rid of his thirst? He drinks.” -D Akin

CONCLUSION

Better questions:

“Are you bothered by the so-called problem of evil? Have you ever asked yourself what would justify human history? What would make this world and everything that has been done in it worth creating?”

“If God is omniscient, then he knew everything that would happen in the world that he created when he started the project. What could possibly warrant all the pain, death, disease, rebellion, wickedness, and sorrow that has happened in this world? Babies die. People get AIDS and cancer. Murderers do awful things. People are enslaved to sins that ruin their lives. Dictators murder their citizens, and genocides take place. What would justify human history? Why would God create a world where all this would take place?”

“Why would God create a world where people rebel against him? A world where children reject the teaching of their parents and refuse to believe the gospel their parents believe. What would cause God to allow all this?”

“We may never fully understand what God has done in this world, but 21:1-8 shows us that God will make a new heaven and new earth that is pure, that, unlike the first one, will never be defiled. He will comfort those who trust him, wiping away every tear, protecting them from all sin, dwelling in their midst, satisfying their thirst, relating to them as a bridegroom in covenant, as a father to a beloved son, as a faithful God in covenant with his people. And God’s people will know him. They will know the glory of his justice and the glory of his mercy, and they will perceive these things in the salvation that comes through judgment. In studying Revelation, we pass through the final judgment in 20:11-15 on our way to the new heaven and new earth, in which righteousness dwells. God created the world so that he could make known his justice and his mercy. The justice God will demonstrate against the wicked is on display in the new heaven and new earth in his wrath on those who burn in the second death of the lake of fire in 21:8. For all eternity God’s justice will be on display so that the redeemed who enjoy God’s mercy will continue to feel the mercy they have received.” -Jim Hamilton, p. 388-389

Bottom line: We look forward to the new heaven, earth and city as we:

1. Live in God’s presence,

2. Experiencing his mercy,

3. Satisfied by his pleasures, and

4. Aware of his justice forever.

Pray

Lord’s Supper, 1 Corinthians 11:17-32

OTHER NOTES:

mak-i´-ah; from 5332; medication (“pharmacy”), i.e. (by extens.) magic (lit. or fig.):—sorcery, witchcraft.

5332. φαρμακεύς pharmakĕus, far-mak-yoos´; from φάρμακον pharmakŏn (a drug, i.e. spell-giving potion); a druggist (“pharmacist”) or poisoner, i.e. (by extens.) a magician:—sorcerer.

5333. φαρμακός pharmakŏs, far-mak-os´; the same as 5332:—sorcerer

OUTLINE (Don Wilmington’s Outline Bible)

I.

OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS:

A little girl once defined repentance as “Being sorry enough to stop doing it.”

Tear-filled vs fear-filled converts.

When we’re truly convicted of our sins, we tend to tear up with regret and at the thought of disappointing our loving Heavenly Father because of our thoughts, words, and/or actions. God doesn’t want fear-filled converts but tear-filled converts. (Ray Comfort)

MAIN COMMENTARY HELP:

• Exalting Jesus in Revelation by Daniel Akin

• Revelation by Jim Hamilton

• Revelation by Paige Patterson, New American Commentary series

• Breaking the Code by Bruce Metzger

• 2020 Sermons by Matt Chandler

• ESV Global Study Bible

• Bible in One Year by Nicky Gumbel

• Bible Knowledge Commentary

• The Outline Bible, Wilmington

• Discipleship on the Edge, Darrell W. Johnson