GOD MAKES ALL THINGS NEW

Text: REVELATION 21:1-8

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INTRODUCTION:

1. The emphasis today is on the new year. While there is nothing in the Bible about celebrating the new year, the word “new” is an important word in Scripture.
2. Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, heis a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.”
3. Colossians 3:9, 10 says, “Ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him.”
4. We see the word “new” four times here in our text (21:1, 2, 5).

1. A NEW EMPHASIS ON ETERNITY (21:1)
2. A NEW EMPHASIS ON GOD’S HOLINESS (21:2)
3. A NEW EMPHASIS ON GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY (21:3-8)

 

I. A NEW EMPHASIS ON ETERNITY (21:1)

1. John says in verse 1, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth….” When most of us look at this verse, and we think of eternity, we are not thinking about the one million people packed into Times Square last night, or the bomb-sniffing dogs deployed in the square and throughout the subway, or the harbor and helicopter patrols.
2. As we read the Word of God, we should get our minds off of bomb-sniffing dogs, and helicopters, and terrorism, and think of eternity.
3. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth….” (21:1).
4. When we consider the new heaven and the new earth, politics and sports and the economy, etc. do not seem all that important.
5. We might think of celebrities, who have recently died from drugs, or alcohol, or old age, and that is only because now we stop to think that these rich and famous celebrities are either in heaven or in hell (cf. 21:8).
6. We are thinking now of eternity – “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.”
7. Where are you going to spend eternity?
8. The Bible says, “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Hebrews 9:27).
9. If you are not saved, the Bible says you will have to face the judgment of God (20:11-15; 21:8).
10. This world is very wicked.  The miseries of this present earth in all of its awful rebellion against God are seen and felt everywhere.  This old world is blighted and cursed by sin.
11. The good news is that Revelation 21 teaches that there will be a new heaven and a new earth.  The new heaven and the new earth will replace the old heaven and the old earth (cf. Revelation 20:11).
12. The new heaven and new earth will not be the old heaven and earth renovated, but an act of new creation.
13. There are several references in the Bible which teach that this present world will be destroyed. 
14. Jesus said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33; cf. II Peter 3:10, 11).
15. This present earth and heaven, the scene of the struggle with Satan and sin, shall be displaced by an entirely new order suited for eternity.
16. John Walvoord says, "The whole structure of the universe is operating on the principle of a clock that is running down…God (can) create a new heaven and a new earth by divine fiat in keeping with His purposes for eternity to come" (The Revelation of Jesus Christ).
17. In other words, the clock is slowly running down, but some day, God is going to stop the clock!
18. No description is given of either the new heaven or the new earth in Revelation 21:1 except for the statement, “There was no more sea.”
19. Today, more than three quarters of the earth is covered by the oceans, but the new earth apparently will have no bodies of water except for the river mentioned in Revelation 22:2.
20. I have to admit I have always been a little bothered by that statement in Revelation 21:1, "and there was no more sea," because I love the ocean.
21. I read something the by a preacher (in heaven now) named Ray Stedman that I found very interesting. He said, "A man said to me last week, 'I don't think I'm going to like the new heavens and the new earth, because I love the ocean.' I understand that feeling. I love the ocean too. But the one reason we have a salt sea that covers more than half of this planet is because it is God's great antiseptic to cleanse the earth and make life possible on earth. Had it not been for the ocean, and the salt in it particularly, life on this planet would have ceased many centuries ago. It is the ocean that purges, cleanses, and preserves it. The sea is an antiseptic in which all the pollution and filth that man pours into it is absorbed, cleansed and changed. But there will be no more pollution, no more filth, no more need for cleansing in the new universe" (Bible Studies in the Book of Revelation).
22. No longer will this wicked old world be polluted by adultery, and pornography, and homosexuality, and stealing and killing, and drugs and drinking, etc.
23. No longer will this wicked old world be infested with thistles and thorns and briers.
24. No more let sins and sorrows grow,
    Nor thorns infest the ground;
    He comes to make His blessings flow
    Far as the curse is found,
    Far as the curse is found,
    Far as, far as, the curse is found. — Isaac Watts

 

II. A NEW EMPHASIS ON GOD’S HOLINESS (21:2)

1. After mentioning the new heaven and the new earth, John says, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (21:2).
2. There are no holy cities in this world today.
3. The Muslims call Mecca their holy city, but it is not holy.
4. The Roman Catholics call Rome their holy city, but it is not holy.
5. All of the cities in this wicked world are dirty and dangerous and sinful.
6. John says, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (21:2).
7. In Revelation 11:8, the earthly Jerusalem is referred to as "Sodom and Egypt." This past July, over 25,000 homosexuals marched in the Jerusalem Gay Pride Parade.  That is why God now calls Jerusalem "Sodom and Egypt."
8. But here in Revelation 21:2, we see a contrast – the new Jerusalem is referred to as “the holy city, new Jerusalem.”
9. Jerusalem is called "the holy city" in Nehemiah 11:1 and 11:18.
10. It's also called "the holy city" by Isaiah and Daniel.
11. It is called “the holy city” in Matthew 4:5 and 27:53. But not now.
12. The picture changes when we get to the book of Revelation. Jerusalem has been polluted and corrupted by sin, and now God's people look to the new Jerusalem.
13. Revelation 3:12 refers to “the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God.”
14. The new Jerusalem will come down from God out of heaven. The language seems to imply that it has been in existence in heaven prior to this event.
15. This could be what our Lord meant when He said in John 14:2, “I go to prepare a place for you,” because many of the Scriptures which people associate with heaven are actually prophecies describing the new Jerusalem (cf. 21:21).

 

III. A NEW EMPHASIS ON GOD’S SOVEREIGNTY (21:3-8)

1. Verse 5 tells us that the Lord Himself is now speaking. “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.”
2. Isn’t it wonderful to consider that God makes all things new!
3. When I read these sad stories about the deaths of these worldly celebrities, full of sordid details about adultery and homosexuality and mental instability and drug abuse, I thought – how sad that these lost sinners didn’t know that God makes all things new.
4. How sad that they didn’t know about the grace of God.
5. How sad that they ignored the Gospel message (John 3:16).
6. “Behold, I make all things new” (21:5).
7. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men” (21:3). God will dwell with men (21:3, 4).
8. This signifies that God will be present with men in the new earth and in the new Jerusalem – “And He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God” (21:3).
9. "The tabernacle of God is with men" (Revelation 21:3).  The word for “dwell” is the verb form for the noun translated “tabernacle.”
10. John 1:14 says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt ("tabernacled") among us." The word translated "dwelt" means, "to set up a tabernacle."
11. Matthew 1:23 says, “Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”
12. In contrast to their former suffering, God is stated to “wipe away all tears from their eyes” (21:4; cf. 7:13-17).
13. "And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (21:4b).
14. Not only will the old earth and heaven pass away, but all those things that are associated with the old earth -- death, sorrow, crying, and pain -- will all vanish.
15. All those things which bring sadness, and which would mar the situation in the new heaven and the new earth, will be gone forever.
16. The voice from the throne of God says in verse 6: “It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end.”
17. In Revelation 1:8 and 11, the Lord Jesus Christ is called the "Alpha and Omega," emphasizing that He is eternal – He is the first and the last (cf. 22:12, 13).
18. "Alpha and Omega,” are the first and last letters in the Greek alphabet.
19. Three promises are made in Revelation 21:6 and 7.

• "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." This refers to the abundant blessings which flow from our salvation (cf. John 4:13-14; 7:37-39).
• "He that overcometh shall inherit all things" (Rev. 21:7). The same promise is given to the seven churches (cf. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). To be an overcomer you must be saved (cf. I John 5:4, 5).
• "And I will be his God, and he shall be my son" (21:7). Are you a child of God? (II Cor. 6:17, 18). Some people say they are children of God but they live like children of the devil.

 

CONCLUSION:

1. This is the very first day of a new year. As we are reminded by reading the book of Revelation, the Lord is coming soon (22:20).

May be morning, may be noon,
May be evening and may be soon!
Coming again, Coming again;
O what a wonderful day it will be -
Jesus is coming again! — John W. Peterson

2. The Lord could return any day now. Let’s get busy winning souls.
3. The apostle Paul said, “But this I say, brethren, the time is short” (I Corinthians 7:29).
4. Paul also said, “Redeeming the time, because the days are evil” (Ephesians 5:16).
5. I heard about a preacher who was talking to a patient in the hospital. He told the sick man, “The time for you to get right with God is the day before you die.” “But,” the man said, “I may die today!”
6. "That’s right,” the preacher said. “Therefore, you need to get right with God today.”
7. I’ll never forget a little card I saw: On one side was a picture of a funeral hearse. On the other side, these words were written: “You may tie your shoes this morning, but the undertaker may untie them this evening. Prepare to meet thy God!”
8. Make up your mind this New Year’s Day that you are going to serve God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.