Revelation 21 Looking at the promise of what Christ purchased for us in His coming into this world. We are reminded at Christmas that Jesus promised us that He would return the second time. That He would come again. And so as we look through God's Word at this Christmas season, we are reminded that that promise will come true, that Christ will return, and we've been looking at what that means for us as God's people throughout the last few weeks. So let us read together the first eight verses of Revelation chapter 21. Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end. I will give of the mountain or fountain water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my son. but the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Thus far the reading of God's word, may he add his blessing to our consideration of it this morning. Brothers and sisters in our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus came into this world to save us. Now as we think about that, of course, that is what we would say the closer goal. The further goal of what Jesus was doing was to demonstrate the glory of God in His love towards sinners. In a world in which there was no salvation, in a world in which everything went along fine, there would not be a demonstration of God's justice, there would not be a demonstration of God's love, of His faithfulness, of His mercy. So in the midst of this, we look at what we look forward to in heaven. God has demonstrated in saving sinners His mercy, His love, His grace. And as we look at that, as we consider from our human perspective, the brokenness of this world and the promises of the new heaven and the new earth, we often can only define those things by the negative because we are so used to the brokenness of this world. And so he says in verse 4, God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away. And as we struggle in the brokenness of this world, God gives to us a picture. of all things made new, of all things made perfect. The new heaven and the new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. We are told that there is no night there, there is no sorrow, there is no pain. As we consider our lives, as we struggle with sin, our own sin and the effects of other sins in this world, what an awesome picture. Just even in that negative, to think there will be no more pain, there will be no more sorrow, there will be no more death. Every tear wiped away. How beautiful. The effects of sin reversed. And so as we consider Christ's return, the theme that we want to see from this passage is Christ's return ushers in the eternal blessing bought on the cross. and guaranteed in Christ's resurrection. Christ's return ushers in the eternal blessing bought on the cross and guaranteed in Christ's resurrection. In verses 1-3 and verse 5, we are told of God's renewal of the world. In verses 4 and 6-8, we are told that God will renew our relationships. So first of all, the world. We call it the new heavens and the new earth. The old heaven and the old earth, this earth shall either entirely be renewed or entirely replaced. The Bible isn't perfectly clear on which one is gonna happen. It tells us that the elements will melt with fervent heat. So we're not certain what exactly God's saying about that. But the renewal will be perfect. There is going to be a whole new creation. But it is a new heavens and a new earth. There will be a physical realm and a spiritual realm just as there is now. Perfected without the curse of sin, without the effects of sin, but a physical world. And as I said, from our current perspective, it's often only in reflection on what won't be there that we can consider what God has provided for us. We're told that the old heavens and the old earth will pass away. Remember what Jesus quoted, heaven and earth will pass away, but not one jot or one tittle of my word shall pass away till all is fulfilled. that God's Word will not change. Isaiah 34, verse 4, All the hosts of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll, and all their hosts shall fall down as a leaf falls from a vine, and as fruit falling from the fig tree. In Isaiah 51 verse 6, lift up your eyes to the heavens and look on the earth beneath, for heavens will vanish away like smoke. The earth will grow old like a garment, and those who dwell in it will die in like manner. But my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will not be abolished. Isaiah tells us that this world will not even come to mind because of how glorious the new heavens and the new earth will be. And Peter asks, because of that fact, how then shall we live? He continues, there will be no more sea. Now, for the Jewish perspective, the sea was very, very dangerous. They tried a few times, and they did send out some ships. But they often lost them. The sea was very, very dangerous. It represented untamable evil. And it represents division to us today. The unity of the people of the new earth will be full. Now think about the wonderful things that we know about the sea. And we can use it to a certain extent, but because we can't breathe underwater, it's very unreachable to us. Much of it, two-thirds of the world is underwater. And God gives to us the whole of the new heavens and the new earth. And then he talks about the new Jerusalem. Then I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The church is the new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride. We are the bride of Christ. Isaiah 62, verse 5, For as a young man marries a virgin, so your sons shall marry you. And as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you. God betroths us to Himself. God purifies us for Himself. The holy city coming down. As we continue in the book of Revelation, the Lord willing, in coming days and weeks, we will be more reminded of what that means. The new Jerusalem. Think of Jerusalem from an Israelite perspective. Dwelling in Jerusalem was the ideal for Israel. They would dwell in the very presence of God Himself by Temple Mount. But now, in the New Testament, we have direct access to God in prayer through Jesus Christ. But brothers and sisters, in the new heaven and the new earth, we will be able to see God face to face. to approach into His very presence. And God Himself will be with them. And He will dwell with them and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. that God will dwell among His people. In the Old Testament, the temple system was insulation from the perfect holy God represented in the Holy of Holies, and the sinful people on the outside. In Christ, we are brought into God's presence in worship. But in the New Testament, or the new heavens and the new earth, we are brought directly, God comes to his people. And so when we think about Emmanuel, God with us, Christ dwelled on this earth, but in the new heavens and the new earth, we will be beyond that to be in the very presence of the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And we're reminded that we are prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. We are adorned in Christ's righteousness. The wedding garments that we're told, Isaiah 61 verse 10, I will rejoice greatly in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with a robe of righteousness as a bride groom decks himself with ornaments and as a bride adorns herself with jewels. We are clothed in Christ's righteousness. We're told that our clothing of ourselves is the filthiness of sin, and Christ clothes us in His perfection. And the dwelling of the Lord with men, verse 3, And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. And He shall be their God, and they shall be His people. And He Himself will be with them and be their God. God announcements the tabernacle of God with men. The tent brings to mind the Old Testament tabernacle, God's dwelling place among men. God's tent, His home, if you will, even. And He will dwell with them. Leviticus 26.11, I will set my tabernacle among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. Remember that idea of insulation. Well, in the new heavens and the new earth, there is not that need of insulation. We are perfected in Christ. And we're going to look at verse 4 in just a moment. We're told in verse 5, And he who sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said to me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. Behold, I make all things new. We have that announcement again. And this is one of the reasons I believe that it's not just going to be a renewed creation. I believe that it is going to be a fully new creation. Everything new. as opposed to the refrain in Proverbs which says there is nothing new under the sun. Isaiah 43, 19, Behold, I will do a new thing. Now it shall spring forth. Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. We are reminded of the coming of Christ. This was a new thing for God to become man, to dwell among us, to take our God's judgment on us. The judgment we deserve. And God makes new. And then we look at relationships. The effects of sin are wiped away, verse 4, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. God Himself wiping away our tears as we Sorrow, perhaps, someone on this earth comes to us and comforts us and wipes our tears away. And that is comforting. But to think that the God of the universe comes to you and me to wipe away our sorrows, our tears. That God loves us that much. That God cares. about our tears. Isaiah 25.8, He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces. The rebuke of His people He will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. The rebuke of sin taken away. God wipes away their tears, and there will be no more death. The last enemy to be destroyed, we're told, is death. And Christ has won the victory over it. Death for a Christian, as we know from the catechism, reminds us that death for a Christian is not a judgment for sin, but a dying to sin and an entering into eternal life. But yet, that still is a horrific sadness to lose a loved one, and to consider all of the knowledge and wisdom that is lost in each person which dies. There will be no more death, no more loss in that way. Hosea 13, 14, I will ransom them from the power of the grave. I will redeem them from death. O death, I will be your plagues. O grave, I will be your destruction. Pity is hidden from our eyes. That God will not pity death. That God will destroy death. Nor sorrow. As we to take five minutes in our lives. There's always something to sorrow, isn't there? To think of a perfection in which we do not need to sorrow for a single thing. How awesome. How beautiful. To think that God gives this to us. who have sinned continually, who have failed, who have chosen sin so often, that God tells us there will not be sorrow at all, nor crying. As we think about sorrow, we will not need to cry. We will not be broken by the effects of sin and of the horrors of our sins and the brokenness of this world because it will not be broken. And no more pain. For some of us, pain has become just a way of life. Whether physical or spiritual. We've got to realize that. There will be no more pain. Our bodies will not be broken so that arthritis and the other things of brokenness of this world will pain us. But there will be no more spiritual pain. The sorrows of this world will be gone. For the former things have passed away. This is the application of verse 1 going back. I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away. The brokenness of this world will be destroyed. Again, from our earthly perspective, many of these things we know about heaven is in the absence of the problems and the curses of this world. The new heavens and the new earth will be far better than even this creation was pre-fall. At the time of Adam and Eve and their innocence, it will be perfection. Then he who sat on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. He said to me, write, for these words are true and faithful. These are words which we need to be reminded of. That these are the truth. We live in a world that wonders about truth. And I don't want to get too sidetracked by that. What is truth? Is what's true for me true for you? When we get in a car accident, one of those sorrows of this world, there is someone who was right and there was someone who's wrong, right? They like to say, no, no, no, this is partial truth. No. There is real, actual truth in this world. Grass is green. And these things are faithful and true. These are the things that we can ground our life, our faith upon more firmly than this world which will fall apart, will melt with fervent heat. He said, verse 6, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. God tells us that He is the beginning, He is the end, He is the Alpha. The first letter, of course, in the Hebrew alphabet. He is the Omega. I'm sorry, that's Greek alphabet, not Hebrew. The Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. God stands at the beginning. He created all things. He stands at the end as judge. He is purpose for which it was created. He is the purpose by which it was created. And He is the purpose for which it will end. And by which it will end. This is for God's glory. I am the Alpha and the Omega. the beginning and the end. It is done. The world, the new heavens and the new earth, promised by God, is more certain than the ground underneath our feet. And in heaven, He continues, doesn't He? I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. God gives the water of life. I think in the beginning, in Genesis 1, God created the tree of life, and God created the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And if you remember, after we ate of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God casts them out of Eden. Why? So that they might not eat of the tree of life and live forever, right? Well, God gives that we might eat of the tree and drink of the water of life and live forever and ever in this perfection which God gives to us. Isaiah 55, verse 1, Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters, and you who have no money, come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. God gives to us that which is most important. And then, he further says, and we have to know the context of the book of Revelation to understand. He says, to him who overcomes, he who overcomes shall inherit all things and I will be his God and he shall be my Son. Now what does it mean to overcome? Usually we have this idea of winning some sort of victory. In the book of Revelation, the idea of overcoming does not mean somehow casting down the enemies of God and winning and standing on top of the battlefield, no. He who overcomes speaks to the idea of standing firm on the Word of God, trusting in God to the end of our lives. Of course, that's the work of the Holy Spirit within us, but it is also God's call on us. As Colossians 2 says, that we are to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to do according to His good pleasure. God working in us, most certainly, But we are called to also give ourselves to that. To trust in God, but also to, as he says very clearly, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. Do not fight, but rather commit yourself to God. He who overcomes shall inherit all things. As we look in the further verses, or the further words there, and I will be His God and He shall be my Son. That's what's involved here. The Sonship which we have toward God. That we are given, not Sonship, we are given eternal life, eternal joy. All things are given to us. And God will be our God. We will not put other things before him as it is so easy to do on this earth. Think of the rich young ruler who came to Jesus and Jesus said to him, or he said to Jesus, all these 10 commandments I've kept for my youth. And Jesus says to him, sell all that you have and you'll have treasure in heaven. And he demonstrated right there. His stuff was his God. He had trouble with the first commandment, not even going through the rest of them. God will be our God and we shall be His Son, His people, His family. That we are beloved by God and given that position eternally in heaven. And then verse 8, which are things we perhaps don't like to think about. Brothers and sisters, we need to. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Those who are unredeemed will not receive this glory. Those who do not believe and put their trust in Christ, receive an entirely different eternity. And he talks about the cowardly. The unbelieving. Those who do not believe. Those who do not stand to the end. Those who are abominable. The idea of the stench. Instead of praising God, stinking before God. Murderers. Remember that Jesus says those who hate or call their brother a fool are guilty of murder. The sexually immoral, our culture loves all different ideas in regard to this, but God sums it up in just a couple of verses. God calls for sex to be used within marriage instead of all the dirty evil that our culture calls for it. And God says, those are eternally dangerous. Sorcerers, those who try to control God and the universe instead of trusting in Him. Idolaters, those who put other things before God. And liars. Notice the company that God puts liars in. Because of course, what did Jesus say about liars? that they take from Satan and not from God, that Satan is the father of lies. And he says, they shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The first death is the physical death. The second death is far worse. And that is the judgment and the punishment which God sends those who do not believe in Him to for eternity. And brothers and sisters, remember as we think about this time of Christmas, we all deserve that. It is only by God's grace that He saves those of us who believe on Him. And so as we celebrate Christmas, we need to be reminded, where is this going? Where is this world going? We spend a lot of time, I think nowadays, worried about politics. What happens in Washington? What happens in Madison? Brothers and sisters, where is the world finally going? How do we live based on that fact? And so as we look at what God has prepared for those who believe on Him, what an awesome promise. May this be our hope, our trust, as we celebrate this Christmas season. Amen. Let us rise, let us bow our heads in prayer, and we'll close this prayer together with the Lord's Prayer. Let us pray. Almighty, gracious Heavenly Father, we remember that Christ has promised that He will return. And we thank You that His return will usher in perfection for those who believe on Christ. We praise You, Lord, we thank You that we can count ourselves a member of that number, not because we are worthy, not because we have lived up to it, but because of the grace of God, the grace that you have had toward us in Christ Jesus. We pray, Lord, as well, that as we think about those around us who fall into that last verse, we pray, Lord, for a sorrow. We pray, Lord, for a compassion, knowing that we deserve that. that it is only by your grace that we have that hope of eternal life. Help us, Lord, to all the more love those around us with the gospel. Even at this time of year in which the name of Christ, Christmas, is on so many people's lips. But sadly, it seems it doesn't mean a thing. We pray, Lord, help us, individually help us as a church to put the truth of Christ into the celebration of Christmas, to remind people of that truth. We pray this not because we are worthy, but we pray this for the glory, for the honor of our awesome Savior, our awesome God. Amen. Let us pray the Lord's Prayer together. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen.