I invite you to turn this morning to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation chapter 21. We will anticipate coming back to our series in Matthew after the first of the year, a few weeks in. But today I thought, kind of close of a year, anticipating a new year, that we would look a passage and consider our hope. And this is a beautiful passage to help us with that. So Revelation chapter 21 this morning. Let's give our attention. This is found on page 1233 to the wonderful word of the Lord.
"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. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe 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 And he who was seated on the throne said, behold I am making all things new Also, he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true And he said to me, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake of the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.
May the Lord bless the hearing of his work.
The apostle Peter made a wonderful statement in his epistle that I think drives the passage this morning and the intention of John in the Revelation to encourage the church and to help us and to bless us in the hope that is set before us. Peter said, "Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ." That is really the summary of what we're looking at today: set your hope fully on the grace that will be given to you, brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
God has made his people a people of hope. God has given us great hope in this world, and hope is not, as we think, wishful thinking as it's commonly used in our language. the Scriptures, the language of hope is something that is sure. It's something that is certain that it will come to pass, and that's what the Scriptures call us to. When we are to consider this hope that is given to us, we of course are living in an age of what we call nihilism, when that has become the predominant belief that people simply are going through life more than ever at this time, that life is meaningless, that life has no meaning at all. And that you can appreciate would give people no incentive to really live for what is most important. If you are in nihilism, if that's your position, then of course you're going to come up with the idea that this life is it, and therefore we live it out in terms of "eat, drink, and be merry" and store up, because this is the final end of it all.
The Lord is wonderful to us, because throughout the Scriptures, He wants to drive His people forward in hope. As I said, you're either going backward or you're going forward in the Christian life. And this particular passage is pushing us forward. All the New Testament does that. It pushes us forward in hope of the promises of God.
And what is here this morning is something that is described, that is being shown to us of what is soon to happen. Of what is soon to happen. Now, we say these things all the time: "This is what will be. This is what will happen." But it's the way that John communicates this. It's the emphasis that's given on the certainty that what I am about to describe will happen. It will happen. That's the beauty of this. And he wants to guide us in life with this before us. He wants to set it against the backdrop of all the opposition in the world and all the difficulties in the world and all the hardships, and set this in contrast and say, "But this is soon to come."
Now, what kind of effect should that have? What kind of deep effect in the life of the believer should that have? That's the intention of this. He wants to guide us in hope. And that's what chapter 21 is, the sort of crowning chapter 21 and 22 of this book that goes through so much difficulty and hardship. He wants rock-solid faith in this promise. He wants rock-solid trust and faith in what is described. And what might that do for you? That's a great question, I think, to wrestle through a little bit. If we believe this and we are certain of this, how might that affect the present? That's John's intention here.
What we have is a look at the new world. We have a look at the new world. God is providing us with certainty this will come to pass to strive for it, to encourage us with this. And the point in Revelation, at this particular point in the book, he has been capturing all, as we considered a few weeks ago, that we are in a great war. This is important. It's a brutal struggle that we are in. If you're at all engaged, and you could be disengaged, but if you're all engaged and are giving any measure of pursuit to the Christian life, you realize how hard this is.
Casting off works of darkness, as I was talking about, is one of the most difficult things to do. And then we live with three sworn enemies coming at us: the world, the devil, and our own flesh. All of them are too powerful for us. All of them. It's a brutal struggle this life is. It feels like it never ends, doesn't it? That's the reality. And I think John wanted this chapter to shine after all that struggle and description of struggle, for this chapter to shine in the hope that it gives to us.
"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."
The contrast that he's making is that everything that we have experienced in the first creation, due to the fall into sin due to the ruin that sin brought, everything that is represented in this is represented by the language of a turbulent sea that we are in. That's why the contrast in chapter 4 and 5 is so beautiful: that around the throne is a sea of glass like crystal. There's no turbulence in heaven. But the whole earth is pictured as a turbulent sea, a raging sea. "You rule, Psalm 89:9, the raging of the sea. When its waves rise, you still them."
You remember when Jesus was out on the boat? This is what the whole imagery was, to help us with life. "And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm, a mega calm over the turbulent waters. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. They were glad that the waters were quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven," Psalm 107.
The Lord is pictured as completely doing away with the whole sea in Revelation chapter 21. All the turbulence, all the difficulty. We live in the valley of the shadow of death. I always say at this time of year, I don't think it's ever failed that we get hit with some really difficult news just in life toward the end of a year in December. And we live under constant worry and expectation of bad news. I mentioned the other day in the sermon that Senator Sasse was diagnosed with stage 4 pancreatic cancer. He's 53. He will die. That hit home because that's the cancer that took my dad at 67. It's the threat we're always under. You think about this? It's the threat we're always under. We never know, and what does this do? How do you live thinking that you never know what kind of shocking news is coming? And you can't evade it. We actually carry about bodies that are dying. We are dying. So that we always live under the present threat that death could come at any time. And what do we all try to do with that? Fight it. Of course. Of course. I want to live. So do you. That's what we want to live.
We have conflict after conflict in life, don't we? It would be interesting to see what kind of conflicts if I talk to you right now. We're often confused. We're subject to mind and body problems constantly: depression, sickness, hardship. And even in the midst of it, God's given us a pretty good go of it, hasn't he? Truth be told, it's pretty remarkable the lives we live because he's a help to us. For any reason, we can call upon him, and he helps us through all this. It's like James Boyce said, "God would give us everything now if we could handle it." We are under constant threat. The sentence of death is on us, and we try to make for the perfect life. We're beset with some new problem, some new evil. It's hard to see clearly at moments like this.
That's really the context of the book of Revelation with Roman persecution, with the government going crazy on them. and John sees something mind-blowing in the midst of this. He's standing and he's looking, and he describes it as much as he's able for us. Everything says John, of what I saw, was recreated brand new. Peter describes this in Second Peter chapter 3: "But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burnt up and dissolved, in the earth and the works that are done will be exposed." John says, as we open up chapter 21, "I saw a new heavens and a new earth. I see it. I see it."
This is the heart of the passage as we come to it. What is central to this passage is in one little statement here. He brings together a string of themes, all from the original creation and some of the most beautiful imagery that's given in the Bible. Then says John, "I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."
Everything, John says, that is sinful, everything that is corrupt, is gone. Pain, suffering, sickness, death gone And in verse 2, in one verse, he strings together all the original creation imagery in the most beautiful way of all the major themes of the promises of God throughout history: the holy city, communion with God, the imagery of a marriage feast is all brought together and that god himself is dwelling with his people.
If you know Genesis, that was the great problem after the fall. When Adam sinned, you remember boys and girls, God put up the flame flaming swords and he kicked them out of the garden, out of his presence. "Therefore, the Lord God sent him from the garden out from the garden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life." And so the people are pictured in Genesis after Cain, especially Cain's death as wanderers. They're wanders in the earth. They're trying to find a way in the earth. They're trying to make meaning of life in the earth, and it culminated in one great event in Genesis to teach us of all of man's pursuit throughout history. This culminates in chapter 6, and 9 and 10 actually, 10 and 11 of Genesis with the Tower of Babel event.
They came together and they tried to build a tower which would do what? Reach to the heavens. "We will get heaven back. We will achieve the happiness again, and we will make a name for ourselves, and we will achieve the tree of life." And if you study that carefully, they wanted it all absent of God. That's the story of humanity. That is human life to this day. We wander through this world trying to find hope, trying to find meaning, trying to find fulfillment, trying to find happiness, trying to overcome the misery of what I just described a moment ago.
I was reading the other day that somebody, this is what they're actually thinking now. In the next 40 to 100 years, this guy said, "Experts say that dying may become a thing of the past." Do these fools really believe that? "For centuries, humans have dreamed of living forever." Now, tell me if you'd want this here. "But that fantasy might not stay fiction for long. With breakthroughs in biotechnology, brain-computer interfaces, and digital consciousness, some futurists argue that the end of biological death could be within reach this century. If you survive to 2050, they say you might just dodge death entirely." This is what they think.
Now, it's in this that being back in the presence of God, you notice, is never their concern. Isn't that right? Does anyone care about that? Alienation from God is our greatest sadness. What is our greatest frustration in this life, with this life? It's our absence as believers from the presence of God.
What God did from the beginning was make a promise. Remember what God said to Abraham? Remember what God did at Sinai and then the building of the tabernacle? God said, "I will dwell with you." Highlighted is the promise to Abraham in the covenant of grace: "I will be your God, and you will be my people." What we have in Revelation 21 is the fulfillment of that. What is that? God will actually dwell with us. This is the hope that God gave to Abraham. Remember what Abraham looked for? "The city that has foundations, whose builder and maker is God."
I think Dr. Godfrey's preaching on Psalm 46 tonight. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore, we will not fear, though the earth give way, though the mountains be moved in the heart of the sea, though its waters roam and foam, roar and foam. Though the mountains tremble at its swelling, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God. God is in the midst of her. She shall not be moved."
God's prepared a city for us. God's prepared a city for us. And that's described in Revelation 21. Even the measurements of the city using Old Testament language: "And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold the dwelling place of God is with man. There it is! The dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their god
That's what we look forward to. That's the hope. I don't even know how to preach that. I really don't. I was thinking about this: How do you, how do you communicate this? It's inconceivable to our minds. That's why it's hard. The Scripture gives us language. But whatever is described here, what is described, and we miss this, we sort of think of heaven, that we're just floating around without bodies up there somewhere. That is such a wrong conception. Oh no, you get your bodies back. You get them really good. Like there's no problems with them at this point. resurrected explosive, powerful bodies back. And heaven and earth are brought together. This earth, new, is brought. The the whatever is separated is brought together in Revelation chapter 21. The separation is over, and the whole imagery here is that the new heavens and the new earth comes with the language of feast. And we're in this resurrected earth with the new heavens, having direct access to God to enjoy Him. To enjoy Him.
Also, we've always said that people who aren't, and hate His worship today and refuse Him today, they're just merely saying, "I don't want to be with Him in eternity."
Consider this, Isaiah 65. I'll just read it because it's so beautiful:
"For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come to 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 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 sound of distress. The cry no more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days and 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. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruit. They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat, for like the days of a tree shall be the days of my people, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands."
That's your problem, isn't it? It's hard to even enjoy it. "They shall not labor in vain How about this one? or bear children for calamity. For they shall be the offspring of the blessed of the Lord and their descendants with them. Before they call, I will answer. While they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox. The dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountains, says the Lord."
Revelation's picking this up at chapter 21. The second great emphasis in this chapter is what he wants to say to you about the certainty of this. I want you to live by faith that this will be so. I don't want in the current hardships on the earth, I want you to not lose sight of what is so, of what is certainly yours, is what he's saying.
Notice verse five. Listen to the certainty of this language in Revelation 21. "And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. And he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, listen to this: It's done. It's done. It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.
Did you notice how he spoke to John in the vision? "It's done." He wanted it recorded this way. I want you to have absolute certainty that I'm giving you this. I am making it all new.
I've told you the story before of the man I sat with who's in a gang right over here at a restaurant, and the only way I could get through him was to this truth. "Do you know that God's going to make everything brand new?" He'd never heard that. He says, "Well, if God's going to make something new, I want to hear more about that, because this is awful." He had been shot at the night before.
"Behold, look, write it down. What I'm saying is trustworthy and true. There is nothing more certain than what I'm telling you." This is the emphasis of this. It will happen. That's one of the most heart-assuring verses in the Bible, promises. See, the Bible is indeed a compilation of promises. This will be so. All of it's coming. It is done. I'm the Alpha, the Omega.
Remember, God does not change in his attribute. That truth that he does not change. He's eternal, he's infinite. He's speaking here of it's as good as done.
I remind you, the whole book has talked like that. In chapter 7, he said this: "After these things I looked." We're back. He's giving us visions the whole way through the book of things. It's not a consecutive read. And in chapter 7, he said, "Behold, I looked, and a great multitude which no man could number, of all the nations and tribes and peoples and tongues. These are the sealed. These are as the sand of the seashore." That's how many will be there. What an encouragement, right? I mean, this is what, it's interesting when Jesus was asked how many will be there, he didn't answer it. Revelation says it'll be full. We will be surprised. We will be surprised.
I want you to notice how he said it. "Then I looked. These are the ones standing around the throne, worshiping, clothed in white robes. They are pure, and they have palm branches in their hands, and they're crying out, and they're singing a new song: salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the lamb And as they say this, the elders and the angels around the throne drop and worship. I mean, this is awesome. "Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving and honor and power and might be to our God forever and ever. Amen!"
One of the elders asked John, who is that "John, what are you looking at?" You know, says John, "These are the ones out of the great tribulation." That's your whole life. That's my life. It's great tribulation. This whole thing the days in which we've been afflicted. Now, we can try to deny that and try to create remember the hallmark card but you know it's not true. Stop it. You can send hallmark cards. I did not mean it like that. Send your i have a winner by the way, the hallmark cards but it's not superficial judgments. We look at everything.
Where was I? John sees every last one of God's people there. Not one was lost. Through the tribulation on earth, as difficult as it was, beloved. That's really a powerful point. Through all this tribulation, he didn't lose one. Isn't that what Jesus said? "I won't lose one."
And they're pictured before the throne day and night, and yes, inhabiting the new heavens and the new earth. And in the vision, he says, "Never again this is the vision of chapter seven, never again will they, this is for you widows and widowers, feel alone," or anyone else. "For he who sits on the throne dwells with them. Never again will they face famine or pain. The sun won't scorch them. Why? Because the Lamb forever and ever, notice this, will shepherd them to living fountains of waters."
That's the stuff Revelation describes. And Revelation, with verse 4 of chapter 21, wants to deeply encourage us, deeply encourage us.
"And God will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death. No more sorrow. No more crying. There will be no more pain. Former things are gone."
Every one of the sorrows that we face in this life and even the memory of them on this earth God will take his gracious hand and wipe every tear from your eye forever. Forever. And you will have nothing but joy. As I said, all the sorrows of this life, all the crying, think of how much pain comes with grief. Produces painful crying because of death. That's gone forever. It's done. Did you hear that? It's done. I'm bringing heaven to you. A brand new heavens and earth. With your new bodies, you will never cry again. You who've lost husbands and wives and children, that'll never be again. Never will you mourn over their sorrows.
Never again will sin hurt his people. I am as your father wiping it away forever, and you will enjoy the tabernacling of God with you forever as your reward. "Behold, I make it all new. Write it down, John. It's done. I will give you that stream of water to drink forever as a gift."
That's where this final call is meant to encourage us. After all that, you know what he says? Something that's been a major theme of the whole book of Revelation: "To him who overcomes. To him who overcomes. To him who overcomes shall inherit this. I will be as God. He shall be my son."
He's encouraging you to the battle, to engage in it. That's what it is. To not say, "I give up," and not say, "I'm done with all this. I can't handle all this." He has a will for you. And in a powerful reversal, he says, "Let me tell you who are the true cowards in this life. It's not you. It's not you."
On the outside of the kingdom on that day, those who go in the lake of fire are "the cowardly, the faithless. Notice that the detestable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and the liars. Their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
Those who lead lives refusing to believe are the cowards in this life is what he's saying. And their sins accumulate. But not you. You're not his cowards. That's the emphasis of this. Those who choose to live in darkness and refuse the Lord, they're the cowards. But not you. You overcome. You overcome. And that's what Revelation is encouraging us with.
We overcome by the blood of the Lamb. We rise up through all this, as difficult as it is, because it's a short, momentary affliction. But our names are written in the Lamb's book of life. It's a reminder that you are His chosen people. That this is your hope. So trust Him. Trust Him.
Remember, you're not, and you don't belong here. You are here for the testimony of Jesus Christ, that many others would enter as you have, and no matter what com comes, that you you belong to him in body and in soul in life and in death.
So Heidelberg says, "To your faithful Savior, Jesus Christ, he has purchased you with his precious blood. He has set you free from the tyranny of the devil. He watches over you in such a way that not a hair can fall from your head without the will of your Father in heaven. And he's told you all things work together for your salvation, and that he's given you his Spirit."
So run the race with endurance. Finish this year strong, and whatever time he gives you, run into the next year strong by his grace. Live by faith in this hope, and whatever he has for you, rise up in your momentary affliction and overcome by the blood of the Lamb, because he loves you and he cares for you. But don't be caught outside by not believing these things. Come to the Lord today. Stand firm. His plan is good. His plan is right. He does everything well, and you're soon gonna see it.
Whatever news we get, whatever comes at us, we have the grace of God through this life, and he is a help and a refuge to his people. Stand firm. First Peter: "Prepare your minds for action. Be sober minded Set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ."
Amen.
Lord, thank you for encouraging us with such a word. Thank you for giving us hope. We confess the clouds and the difficulty and the tribulation on this earth often takes our eyes off your promises, but it is done. It is certain. And in that hope we trust you. So give your people great grace and help, and whatever you have for them, and may they know your steadfast love that endures forever.
In jesus name we pray. Amen.