A New Heaven and a New Earth

Transcript

GR 2056
11/04/2018
A New Heaven and a New Earth
Revelation 21:1-2
Gil Rugh

Great music with a great message and it prepares us for where we are as we come to Revelation chapter 21 in your bibles. Revelation chapter 21, and once you get Revelation 21 leave a marker there and I want you to come back to Matthew, chapter 7. Jesus gives in a very concise way what is unfolded for us in these closing chapters of Revelation, particularly the sections we’ve just looked at and the one we’re going to look at together today. Matthew chapter 7, this is part of what we know as the Sermon on the Mount, and sometimes people talk about the Sermon on the Mount and how important it is to them. Sometimes people that don’t know very much about the bible even will talk about the Sermon on the Mount, but important that we understand what is at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount, and Jesus put it in a very succinct way, the eternal destiny that lies before every single person.

Matthew chapter 7 verse 13, “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.” “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.” Two gates, two roads, two destinies. It could not be any simpler. A broad gate with a wide broad road and a terrible ending, and that’s the gate through which the majority of people go. That’s the road that the majority of people are traveling through life, and that is the ultimate end for everyone who goes through that gate and travels that road.

There is a narrow gate and a narrow road. Sadly, there are few who travel it. It’s the road to life. What a contrast. The way to destruction, the way to life, those are the only two alternatives in life. It’s just that simple. How sad it is so few people give serious consideration to it. The broad gate and the broad road that ends in destruction is the road that everyone travels who has not come to hear and believe the truth of salvation by faith in Jesus Christ alone, that He by His death on the cross would pay in full the entirety of the penalty that we have incurred as sinners…two gates, two roads, two destinies.

Come back to Revelation chapter 21. The last part of chapter 20 and remember as this was originally written there were no chapter divisions, there were no verses. Now we appreciate this simpler way to find our way around the Scriptures, but these were not part of the Book of Revelation, for example, as John wrote it. There were no chapter divisions, there we no verse divisions. It was written like a letter that we might write, an extensive letter. At the end of chapter 20 verses 11 to 15, you have a description of those who enter the broad gate, travel the broad road, and now they have come to the final, end destruction, eternity in hell. You can believe it you can choose not to believe it. You cannot change it.

The eternal, sovereign God has said this is the way. It is the way it will be. The broad gate is the gate, and you can conclude everything there, all kind of religion, all kinds of men’s thinking. It’s all the same gate traveling the same road. I did it my way, I lived my life. I make my choices. That’s the broad road. That’s why the books were here, the book of the works. They reveal, remember, the condition of the heart that has never been changed by God’s grace. A person never been made new. They’re just going on through life trying to get everything they can and enjoy it as much as they can, but they can’t change the end of that road, its destruction, that’s what we had in verses 11 to 15.

That would have been a sad way for the Book of Revelation to end, but we have chapters 21 and 22 as we have in our bibles. Note the contrast that chapter 21 begins. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” It’s not over with the end of chapter 20, and the destruction of the wicked, because “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, in order that whosoever believes in Him might not perish,” go to destruction, “but have” life, “eternal life.” The Spirit of God directs John now to turn from writing about that awful end of every single unbeliever and it is overwhelming when you think the vast majority of the world, lives in rejection of the God of the Bible, in rejection of the revelation He’s given of Himself, and they are on the road to destruction.

The narrow gate: “Jesus said, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but by Me.’” In another illustration, he identifies Himself as the door. He is the One through whom you enter into life. When you place your faith in Christ as your Savior, you enter through that narrow gate. Very narrow. There’s only one way. Jesus said, “I am the way” that’s what puts you on the way, the road to life. Faith in Him. The evidence of it is your life is changed. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature and a new creation; the old things pass away, new things have come. This is not putting on a veneer of righteousness or looking good. This is a transformation that comes from the very innermost part of your being.

We are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, but it manifests itself in our conduct, so verses 1 to 8 of chapter 21 present the alternative destiny. Life, eternal life in the glory of the presence of the God who created us, who redeemed us with the sacrifice of His Son. What a contrast. Great passages to have fixed in our mind. Chapter 20 of Revelation verses 11 down through chapter 21 verse 8 and then he’s not done. After verse eight and the summary of the contrast that he’ll draw in verse 9 of chapter 21 down through verse five of chapter 22, he’ll give us more of the details of the glory that awaits us. God summarizes rather briefly the pain the horrors the suffering, of an eternal hell but he unfolds in more detail, something of the splendor and glory that He has provided for all that are redeemed through faith in Christ.

We begin chapter 21 with a statement, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” Why? Well because the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and then a characteristic of this new earth will be, it will have no sea, so there is a connection because he connects it to this earth, and then notes a major difference…..no sea in the coming new earth. Why we need a new heaven and a new earth? The first earth passed away. He mentioned this in chapter 20, verse 11. “Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and there was no place found for them.” We’ll talk a little bit more about this today and then as we move through the chapter of whether this means the present earth and the heavens around it are gone, and there is a totally new creation or if it is what we might refer to as an extensive renovation of the present earth. Either way we look at it there is going to be a dramatic change and transformation of things as we know it. The first heaven and the first earth passed away.

Now the Old Testament prophets mentioned this even though they didn’t go into great detail on it. They did tell us about the kingdom over which the Messiah would rule and it would be an eternal kingdom, but the breakdown that we have here of a thousand year phase at the beginning of that kingdom as we had in chapter 20, and then the phase moving out into eternity, the prophets never sorted out. God didn’t reveal it. In fact, He didn’t reveal it while Christ was walking on the earth. Nor did He reveal it in any of the writings of the bible down until John wrote in chapter 20 of the Book of Revelation, so we’re getting some clarification. No changes, remember later revelation does not change prior revelation. It can clarify it or add to it. It gives us a fuller understanding of how what God prophesied could really come about.

Let’s look at the Old Testament passages. They’re few, and then a couple of New Testament passages. We’ll start in the Psalms, Psalms 102, right about the middle of your bible. The Book of Psalms chapter 102 and we’ll pick up with verse 23. “He has weakened my strength in the way, shortened my days. I say, ‘O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days. Your years are throughout all generations.’” The Psalmist is writing, I am, as the song says, but for a moment. Our lives are so brief, and we’re gone, but God endures generation after generation after generation, because He’s the eternal God. Verse 25 and note this, “Of old you founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.” Now note this, “Even they will perish, but You endure; and all of them will wear out like a garment; like clothing you will change them they will be changed. But You are the same, Your years will not come to an end,” so even this earth, the heavens around it, have a timeline. They are going to be replaced. Now again, what that replacement will involve we’ll talk a little bit about here shortly, but the fact of it is, it’s clear. These heavens, the earth, they’ll perish. They’ll wear out like our clothes. They will be replaced but God is the unchanging God.

Now let me just note something as an aside because some misunderstand and end up misusing Scripture. When we read a verse like in Hebrews, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday today and forever.” Some people take a passage like that and say that means when Jesus Christ was on the earth He healed people. He cured illnesses and so on, so therefore He’s the same today, He will be doing that today. It doesn’t say He does the same thing every day. Obviously, God created the world through Christ a long time ago. He’s not creating the world today. The fact that He is the same, yesterday today and forever doesn’t mean He’s always doing the same thing every time. He created the world in six days. He’s not creating the world in six days today, but He’s the same God. in His character, in His nature, in His sovereign power, in His eternality, He is God. Someday He is going to establish a kingdom on the earth over which His Son will rule. He’s not doing that today, so be careful we don’t get led into traps where people say, “Oh well isn’t He the same yesterday and today and forever? Then He doesn’t want you to be sick, He cured the sickness. No, we’re talking about the character of God, His sovereignty His rule. He’s the unchanging God, as He rules His creation, but the earth will be changed. This becomes important for our conduct, as we’ll see.

Come over to the Book of Isaiah, chapter 65, and we pick up with verse 17. “For behold,” (God speaking through Isaiah) “I create new heavens and a new earth and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.” Now we won’t be delving too much into that but an interesting theological issue but I’m going to create a new heavens and a new earth. The transformation will be so great, people experiencing this the things of this life will totally be gone. They’re out of sight out of mind so to speak. “But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold I create Jerusalem for rejoicing her people for gladness. I will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people.”

There will no longer be heard in her the voice of weeping and the sound of crying. “No longer will there be an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not live out his days. For the youth will die at the age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be accursed. They’ll build houses and inhabit them, plant vineyards, eat their fruit. They won’t build and another inhabit it, plant another eat for the lifetime of a tree, so will be the days of My people. My chosen ones will wear out the work of their hands. They will not labor in vain, or bear children for calamity. They are the offspring of those blessed by the LORD, their descendants with them. It will come about that before they call, I will answer and while they are still speaking I will hear. The wolf and the lamb will graze together the lion will eat straw like the ox. Then dust will be the serpent’s food. They will do no evil or harm in all My holy mountain,” says the LORD. That’s what’s promised in the future.

Now you need to note something here. The prophets did not sort out the sequence of events in their prophecies. Almost everyone who writes on prophecy makes note of this. We usually use the example of the first coming and second coming of Christ. We don’t have time this morning but if you go back to Isaiah 2, Isaiah 9, Isaiah 11 and on through to other passages in Isaiah, he’ll talk about the coming of the Messiah and His kingdom. Sometimes he talks about the Messiah ruling and reigning in glory, and then sometimes he talks about Him suffering like Isaiah 53, dying and being martyred. Now we say, well that’s not so difficult. The bible says Christ came at His first coming and suffered and died. He’ll come again, but the Old Testament prophets didn’t know that. That’s why Peter writes in his letters that they couldn’t understand how the Messiah could suffer and die, and also rule and reign in glory, and you know if we had lived before the first coming of Christ, we’d be speculating on that as well and we could come up with some great thoughts of rationality.

You know it’s not possible that the Creator of life, the Author of life as Peter terms Him in the Book of Acts, could be killed by His own creation. I mean the Messiah comes to rule and reign in glory, suppress and destroy His enemies, so we know for sure He’s not going to suffer and die. There must be another way to take that. Now wait a minute, we know that prophecy will be fulfilled literally, exactly as it’s given, but we don’t always have it worked out in the order for example. Isaiah didn’t know that the Messiah would come and suffer and die on the cross and it would be over 2,000 years before He would come to earth again to establish a kingdom. Well I thought it all was going to happen about the same time, so we want to be careful. You just can’t tell.

I say that here because He says I create a new heavens and a new earth and then He says some things that we know will happen in the first 1,000 years of the kingdom, but Isaiah’s not writing about the order of events, he’s writing about the fact of the events. There will come a kingdom over which the Son of God will rule and reign forever. It will involve a new heavens and a new earth. It will involve sin that will bring the cursed judgment of God on that person. That’s what it says; the “one who does not reach the age of 100 will be accursed.” We’ve included the word thought there by our translators, but there will be a curse. The reason they die is they’re cursed of God. That’s going on.

How do we sort this out? You know it’s not until later but let’s look at another passage first. Isaiah 66 then we’ll break in here for time. Verse 18, “I know their works their thoughts; the time is coming to gather all nations and tongues. And they shall come and see My glory.” Come down to verse 22, “’For just as the new heavens and the new earth which I make will endure before Me,’ declares the LORD, “so your offspring and your name will endure.’” Indication of something going on, and the new heavens and the new earth are to endure for eternity, and your offspring and your name will endure. Something for Israel. “It shall be from new moon to new moon from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,’ says the LORD. ‘Then they will go forth and look on the corpses of the men who have transgressed against Me. For their worm will not die their fire will not be quenched. They will be an abhorrence to all mankind,’” and that’s the end of the Book of Isaiah.

We go to Jeremiah, say wow; I don’t know that if I were writing it, I would have ended on that note. I mean maybe, I would have put verse 24 up where verse 22 is, and verse 22 down where verse 24 is. Well the prophets aren’t sorting it out. They’re talking about future events, and as we talk about, they often use the prophetic past where they talk about future events in the past tense because they’re talking about the certainty of what they are saying. Its just as good as if it happened yesterday because what God says will happen will happen period, so all they’re writing about is as the Spirit of God directs is what is going to take place in these future times, whether it’s the coming of Christ to rule and reign and suffer and die. The sorting out of that will take later revelation. The establishing of the kingdom on earth coming of that, the timing of that will take future revelation, so the facts are there’s going to be a “new heavens and a new earth,” verse 22. How do we begin chapter 21 of Revelation? “I saw a new heavens and a new earth.” Exactly what he said but so also will the other things be exact. Even the terrible verse of verse 24 that ends “and the fire is not quenched,” and the reality of that we saw established at the end of the great white throne of chapter 20.

Come to Matthew chapter 24, Matthew chapter 24 in this great prophetic chapter we’ve been to a number of times, but verse 35 of Matthew 24 and you’ll see very similar to what we read in Psalms 102. Even though it’s not cross-referenced in my bible to Psalms 102, a similar kind of statement. “Heaven and earth will pass away,” there we are, heaven and earth will pass away. We read that in Psalm 102. They’ll wear out like a garment, be replaced, but “My words will not pass away,” so contrasting that as we saw in the Old Testament, the eternal God and the perishing creation. What Christ says will remain true. It will be fulfilled. They won’t pass away. It just won’t go away. They just don’t come to an end. Well wait isn’t there more, no; God’s word will be fulfilled. My words won’t pass away. They won’t go out of date; this world will go out of date just like your old clothes as Psalm 102 said, the heavens around it. God’s word won’t go out of date. It will be fulfilled.

On more passage, 2 Peter chapter 3, 2 Peter chapter 3 and we’re going to look at, well look at verse 10. He talks about “the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a roar, the elements will be destroyed with fervent, intense heat, the earth and its works will be burned up.” Now again there’s a lot of discussion by good men on both sides of the issue. Will the earth be totally destroyed and removed, wiped off the face of the map so to speak, and a totally new heavens and earth be created, or will it be this earth renovated? Either way the point that Peter wants to make is the same. Look at verse 11. “Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning. The elements will melt with intense heat but according to His promise, we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. Therefore, beloved, since you look for these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace, spotless and blameless, and regard the patience of our God as salvation.” He talked about that in verse 9.

The first part of this chapter is about those who mock the idea that Jesus Christ is coming, and certainly we have every generation of people who call themselves Christians saying, “The Lord is coming” and that generation dies and the Lord hasn’t come, and life just goes on. When are they going to get the point, He isn’t coming back, but Peter says put it in perspective. God is just being patient giving people the chance to hear the truth of salvation in Christ and believing in Him. That was verse 9. Judgment is coming. The road will end, but God is giving an opportunity for salvation and verse 17 therefore beloved knowing this beforehand be on your guard. Don’t be carried away with error that’s taught by unprincipled men, so you see in this context he’s talking about the future. A coming kingdom, new heavens, new earth. This earth is destined for destruction.

Now whether you’re going to say this earth is replaced by a new heavens and a new earth, we’ll talk a little bit about the pros and cons of these or it’s a renovated earth. If it’s renovated it’s going to be a major renovation. I was watching one of those house programs where they renovate it and they were talking about this house. We just took it down to the studs. Then they are redoing everything. Well that would be what’s going on and if this is a renovation of the present earth, it’s taking it down to the studs because verse 10 says “the heavens will pass away with a roar the elements will be destroyed.” I take it he’s talking about the destruction, the earth that’s burned up. The elements, the stoicheia. It’s a word that’s used for the basic foundational things of what you’re talking about, like we talk about the ABC’s. Say, well, if you’re not going to learn to read a book until you learn your ABC’s, the elementary principles of the alphabet that together you can make words with and the words can make sentences. We’ve got to go back to the foundational things. You learn your ABC’s. This is a stoicheia. Paul used it in Galatians of the Mosaic Law. That’s just the childhood principles. The maturity is the fullness of revelation in Christ, so here the elements are going to be destroyed, these foundational things, whether it is a totally new creation or it’s that you’re taking it down, if I can use this analogy, to the studs. It’s going to be new.

Whatever view you hold, we’ll leave it at that for a moment. What you do realize as a believer is everything I’m looking at, everything I own, all the possessions I’ve acquired are going. Hold them lightly. They’re not permanent, but you know the same idea, different focus, but we came naked into the world, naked we go out, and when we have the new heavens and the new earth, we’re back to that point. It won’t matter whether I lived in a $10 million mansion or a $10 thousand shack. It seems strange to talk about a $10 thousand shack but that’s where we are today, I guess, but that’s the idea. It doesn’t matter. Why would you spend your whole life pouring all your energy, your thoughts, your time into that which will be destroyed? The wood, hay and stubble of 1 Corinthians chapter 3 that all get burned up. I spent my life, poured my life into being “successful as the world” measured it, but the world’s not permanent. All this is going to be burned up. I don’t want to lose sight.

People say, “Well prophecy is not practical” though the Spirit of God directed Peter to write and say it’s very practical. Verse 10 you read and then you read chapter 3, verse 11. “Since all these things are being destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,” and we’re looking for, the focus is this coming time-period with “the new heavens and the new earth.” Peter doesn’t even focus it primarily on the rapture, which the believer is looking for, because he is just talking about the ultimate end of all things, and it’s going to be 25 years, approximately after Peter dies a martyr’s death before the Spirit of God now reveals the sequences of events, for all this prophetic material that has preceded. Peter died without ever knowing that there was going to be a 1,000-year phase at the beginning of the eternal kingdom. He didn’t even understand with clarity all that was involved for the church and everything.

Paul received the revelation on that. Paul said this stuff in Ephesians chapter 3 regarding the church wasn’t made clear until God revealed it to me, so nobody could have known about it or understood. Then Peter remarks in verse 15, “regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as our beloved Paul according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you, as in all his letters speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand.” I mean I really have to think when I read Paul’s letters, Peter’s saying. You know I have to study them because some of the things he’s writing about because this is not revealed to Peter. Peter didn’t know. Remember in Acts chapter 1 the disciples were asking Christ, “Will you at this time restore the kingdom?” Christ had to explain to them from the Old Testament Scriptures how the Messiah must come and suffer and die, and be raised from the dead and then come again in glory to establish His kingdom, so the disciples thinking is, well now okay you’ve come and died, you were raised from the dead. Now here we are talking to you at the Mount of Olives. Now we’re going to have the kingdom. Nope, you don’t need to know when.

Chapter 2 the church begins, chapter 3 Peter addresses the religious leaders of Israel. What does he tell them? He tells them about the suffering and death of the Messiah and He is the Savior of Israel. They must turn from their sin and believe in Him, and you must turn to Him and believe in Him so He can bring the times of restoration. He can come and establish the kingdom. Well Peter was telling the truth. The Spirit of God was directing Him. What’s necessary? Well the salvation of the nation Israel. He knew that from the Old Testament, but Israel wasn’t going to believe, and they didn’t believe, but what He said was true. If you, as a nation, would turn as a nation to the Messiah, then He would come and establish the kingdom. That’s what the prophet said; the problem was it wasn’t God’s plan. Peter was dealing with what he knew, he wasn’t telling a lie, put the pressure on the nation but the facts are, it’s not until we come to Revelation. That’s why the devil has worked and been so successful in clouding the minds of believers to the most important prophetic writing in all our bible, the Book of Revelation. It puts it all together.

It lays it out in order and here we come, so come back to chapter 21. “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away.” We know it passed away, we were told that back in chapter 20 verse 11. Again, to remind you, “I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away. There was no place found for them,” so they’re removed. Where they’re removed to, whether they just evaporate or whether they are moved out of the way as a place of dwelling and habitation for a time to be renovated, we’ll talk a little bit more about the pros and cons but that’s a fact that they’re not there.

What about the people who are in physical bodies who were believers in the 1,000 years and so come through the end now of the 1,000 years? You have all these believers who have been saved, Jews and Gentiles alike, and now the earth they’re living on is gone, what happens to them? I don’t know either. Maybe God just has them step out to watch what goes on. You know the Apostle Paul at the end of his letter to the Corinthians said, “I know a man,” oh, it’s been a while ago, I’m paraphrasing. “Such a man was caught up to the third heaven. I don’t know whether he was in his body or out of his body, the Lord knows” but there you see the Apostle Paul who says I could have been caught up to heaven in this very physical body if God wanted me to. He doesn’t say I think I could have been in my physical body but I know that wouldn’t be theologically possible. It would have been if God wanted to. He doesn’t answer the question, but it does—so if God wants these people just to be brought up, they’re going to have to be put someplace because the earth is going to be renovated and brought down to the studs, the stoicheia are melting, even if it’s just a renovation, so don’t have the answer. We’ll see how it works out when we get there.

The fact is, it’s going to happen and there are going to be people come through that and are going to be dwelling in the new heavens and the new earth. They’ll have a part. People going in, in physical bodies, not only in the Millennium but also into the new heavens and the new earth. When this happens, I take it we are in the sequence of the Book of Revelation. I can’t see any other reason. There’s an expression, that’s used 11 times in the Book of Revelation. It’s the Greek preposition meta, after these things or after this on one occasion. It’s a preposition that can be used in a variety of ways. Don’t need to know the details but when it’s used in this construction, it means after. Sometimes it means with, beside or together but with the accusative here, it means after. After these things and it’s used 11 times in the Book of Revelation to move things along to move us to another phase. It’s a major step if you will. Then in each of those, “after these things,” you can have a series of sequential events, like maybe the seven bowls will come in, or something like that. There can be sequence there, but this “after these things” moves us along, and we know we have moved to the next period, of time and then the sequence of events that flow out of that.

Back in chapter 20 the end of verse 3 “after these things” What things, after what? Well verse two, the first three verses the devil has been bound and cast into the abyss. The end of verse two says he’s “bound for a 1,000 years, and he won’t be able to get out of the abyss until he’s released after the 1,000 years are completed.” Until the 1,000 years were completed, then after these things. After what things? After the 1,000 years, he “will be released for a short time,” so that brings us to verse seven. “When the 1,000 years are completed, Satan will be released” so we’ve had that time marker that has moved us along. We are now after the 1,000 years. Now remember when the bible was written there were no chapter divisions there were no verses. It was written like we write a letter, so we have then the sequence of events that happen after the 1,000 years.

When the 1,000 years are completed Satan “will be released, and will come out to deceive the nations.” Well you have this conjunction and, and it’s used I don’t know how many times. It’s like our conjunction and, it can have a variety of variations in meaning. So, can, this conjunction can, it can mean and, it can mean then, it can mean even, depending on the context and will come out to deceive the nations. Well, obviously, that happens after he’s released. He comes out, he can’t deceive the nations until he comes out, so “and he will come out to deceive the nations and they will come out on the broad plain of the earth.” As a result of his deception, they’ll come up to attack Jerusalem where Christ has His capital. Verse 10 “and the devil is overthrown, cast into the lake of fire” so that’s obviously happened after what preceded. This is after the 1,000 years events that happened in sequence.

Verse 11 it’s again, and or then as a valid translation, “and I saw a great white throne.” Well that’s obviously after the events that have taken place through moving, so you can see we have moved to after the 1,000 years. Now we have the sequence of events that happen after the 1,000 years. The great white throne judgment and every verse here begins with and from verse eight on through the rest of the chapter and then chapter 21 opens with “and.” “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,” so I take it that’s following. When sin has been finally, fully dealt with, all sinful beings, angels and humans alike are “cast into the lake of fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels” as their ultimate end and destruction.

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first earth and the first heaven passed away” so we are told it passed away in verse 11 of chapter 20. Now we’re talking about its replacement. Now if it’s a replacement of a totally new heaven and a new earth or a renovated heaven and earth, the point being made is the same, except in this new earth “there is no sea,” so here’s the connection. If you were going to ask me which view I favored, and there are really good men on both sides of the issue. I tend toward the renovation view myself because of the connections made, but I also appreciate God could make the new earth connected to the old earth. But because of these connections—if it’s totally new but He does say there’s no longer sea, which seemed to indicate there is a connection, so if I were going to say on which side would you lean, I’d say toward the renovated earth. It’s this earth redone but the redoing of it is so major.

Think about it like this, our glorified body. I was going to do a study, I’ve done with you here in Revelations, but I’ve didn’t get around to it. I figure we don’t want to spread it out but what’s our glorified body going to be like, and we look at the body of Christ, and we can see what His glorified body was like after the resurrection. Certain characteristics of it and all but you know we just get a glimpse. You know what the Spirit of God reveals through Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 that great chapter on the revelation. He says there’s an earthly body and a glory associated with it. There’s a heavenly body and a glory associated with this.

Our earthly body is like that seed you put in the ground. That’s the glory associated with this earthly body. The glory of our glorified heavenly body is like that splendid magnificent flower that comes out of that seed, and you say, “well man that’s hardly a comparison. You look at that shriveled seed there and that’s what this is like?” What’s our glorified body going to be like and Paul can lose patience spiritually. You fool! You ought to know better than to even ask such a dumb question. The glory of my body is hard to compare to this body, but it is this body. But it is a body that has a glory that if all you could see was this seed, it’s just hard to grasp.

You know here in the fall we have some plants and Marilyn and I were talking. I’m not into horticulture but look at these flowers they’re just so beautiful. I mean look at the colors. It’s amazing! You put the seed that went in the ground and the flower that you now have, you say, “It’s hard to believe it came out of that,” so that’s the way, I don’t know, we’re talking about the new heavens and the new earth. I have no problem thinking of it as this earth but what’s done to it; it’s going to be beyond and the new Jerusalem, as we’ll see the description as we move through here. It is like that, it’s something; you know this is something we ought to be intensely interested in. Do you know why? This is the only full description of where you and I are going to spend eternity in all the bible. We talk about heaven. Heaven is a wonderful place full of glory and grace, but this is the heaven in which we will dwell in eternity. The new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven in verse 2, to reside on the new earth and the new earth has to be a place fit, for God to place His throne that is now in the heavens of heaven or as Paul called it the third heaven, because God will dwell here. Amazing! Awesome!

No wonder the devil wants to close the door to the people, even believers, in their study of the Book of Revelation and their understanding of it. No, that’s just figurative, that’s just language. It’s God telling us how it is. Now that doesn’t mean with my finite mind I can comprehend. How could I comprehend the fullness of God’s glory? I mean I will never envelop it with my understanding but when I see Him face to face, I’ll have a fullness of understanding and wonder that I can’t have now. I take it that’s what we’re talking about, a new heavens and a new earth, no sea. I don’t have any explanation why there’s no sea. There are a variety of explanations but they’re all just best guesses. The turmoil of the sea, it cuts us off, it separates us, it’s a picture of turmoil, the wicked are like the churning sea, and that from Isaiah 57 but we don’t know for sure. God’s purpose, there’s no sea in the new earth, so I see a connection. I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven.

Now here we have things we’ve look for, here it’s the holy city, new Jerusalem but the old city Jerusalem is called a holy city but here the new Jerusalem is holy with a completeness and a finality that the old Jerusalem wasn’t. We sing the song, “The Holy City.” It is a city of that kind; it is set apart by God for Himself, the holy city, the new Jerusalem, it’s coming down out of heaven. We won’t turn there now, time is moving on. Isaiah 52:1, Matthew chapter 4 verse 5, chapter 27 verse 53 called the old Jerusalem the holy city. It was the city God had set apart for Himself, just like Israel was a holy nation because God had set apart that nation for Himself, so the city of Jerusalem, but now the holy city with all it was intended to be, all it was to be in the plan of God is now unfolded. Because, remember, there was no Jerusalem until long after the fall had occurred. It wasn’t in Eden. The city of Jerusalem had to be after David conquered the area and so on and set it up as a capital. That goes on, we have indications of it with Melchizedek, the king and priest of Jerusalem in the Book of Genesis, but from what we know of it as a specific set apart city, its future.

The new Jerusalem, it’s coming down out of heaven from God, “made ready as a bride adorned for her husband,” so it’s coming down out of heaven. It’s not referred to as a creation that—it doesn’t say we have a new earth and on it, God created a new Jerusalem. We have the new earth, but we have the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven to reside on the new earth. The earth that God has now brought into existence or has renovated the old earth. Where has it been? Well in effect the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. It comes down out of heaven where God has dwelt but it ends up being the dwelling place of God coming to earth. Whether the new Jerusalem can be equated with God’s dwelling place and so heaven is being removed now. When God brought it into existence, “Jesus said, ‘I go to prepare a place for you,” in John 14 but that would seem to indicate the language there that the place He’s going to prepare is within a place already existing, so we just have to wait and see on some of this. But the new Jerusalem is going to be the dwelling place of God, we’ll see that as we come down to verse 22 of chapter 21. Just jump ahead, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” This holy city, this whole city is a holy city. This is where God the Father manifests His presence on His throne among His creation and God the Son, so in effect what we’ve seen in the Book of Revelation and the heavenly scenes will be removed to earth, so how that relates to the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, we’re just not told. It comes and resides on the earth. These things make you think perhaps, we’re talking about a renovation rather than a recreation of the earth because there are connections made to it.

Look down in chapter 22. You have the tree of life verse two. “In the middle of its street” and this is in the new Jerusalem, “on either side of the river was the tree of life, and its bearing 12 kinds of fruit every month.” We’re in eternity here, no more time markers like the 1,000 years, and we have months and we have different kinds of fruit, and they’re for the nations, not just the nation Israel but for the nations, the Gentiles also, so you have a connection to what we have in the earth as we know it by description. We don’t have a new city with a totally new name; we have the new Jerusalem, the holy city. Now like the old Jerusalem was the holy city, you have coming down on the earth that has no sea. Well the connection we understand about the sea because it’s connection to this earth but the new one won’t have sea. What else won’t it—well that particular thing He chooses not to mention. These connections tilt me to thinking, we’ll probably have some kind of renovation, but I don’t want to minimize the renovation. The elements are melting; the very foundational principles and things that make up this present state are undergoing a change.

We have to stop here. I have my notes for the first eight verses and even verse nine in case we got that far. I knew the last hour because that first hour class could get me off track but I don’t want to go too fast because I’d just as soon spend the rest of our time on heaven. Then when we get to chapter 22 verse 5 we can have the rapture, and go and get it all ironed out. This is where we’re going to dwell. What better chapter to memorize than chapters 21 and 22 of Revelation. I want to fix in my mind, you know people are going to build a new house and they want to know about every detail and where’s the light socket going to be and where am I going to do this and what’s going and you know we are almost casual and indifferent. This is my permanent home for the forever of forever. You want to know where I’m going to be living; you’re going to be living as a believer in endless years. Right here, described, the gates that are described you’ll be going in and out of, the streets described you’ll be walking. The God that you will worship and serve and see. This is where you’ll be. It is important now.

I always have to say don’t forget the contrast with the end of chapter 20. Not everybody is going here. There are two gates, two roads, two destinies. The broad gate with the majority on it are going to destruction that’s described at the end of chapter 20. If we’re on the shorter corridor, we act like were being, I read, I’m the age I read the obituaries I’ve told you that because Marilyn reads them to me and people always have these glowing things. Oh, now he’s with the angels, now and then you read their service will be held at a church that does not believe the truth of salvation, in Christ. We just make up these fantasies to sooth us because we don’t want to believe the truth. If you’re going to reject Christ, you live in a fantasy world. You might as well make up whatever you want. You can be whatever you want to be. Pretend all you want. You can’t change the end of the road. You can’t, you can pretend you’re on a different road. It’s like a person driving a road that ends with a cliff. He can pretend he’s on the road to California, he’s on the road to the beach but all he’s doing is pretending. He’s on the road to destruction and that’s why we bring the gospel.

Why is God giving us these days? Because He’s not willing that any should perish but all should come to the knowledge of the truth. They can’t come to the knowledge of the truth unless we tell them the truth and then when you hear the truth and believe it. Isn’t it sad you can be on the road to destruction and have heard the truth, be hearing the truth, even talk about the truth but never believed it for yourself? Amazing, you can be on that road to go over the cliff, and people can be talking about the road that goes to the beach and how beautiful it is when you come over the hill and see the beach and it’s just a glorious setting. You know, and you’re on the road that’s going over the cliff. It’s not enough to hear about it. You have to get off and get on the right by going through the right gate. Get on the right road. Life is found in Christ and Him alone.

Let’s pray together: Thank You Lord for the riches of Your Word. Lord we’re in awe. You are the awesome God. The Creator the Sovereign, You have created us and Lord even in our rebellion You’ve not turned away but You have provided Your Son to be the Savior. You’ve unfolded for us a glorious destiny. How sad it is that in sin and rebellion, we would choose to go through the wide gates stay on the wide road and You in mercy and grace have revealed the end. Lord I pray for any who are here who hear the message and have yet to believe it. This might be a day of salvation for them and Lord we who have believed it, may we take the exhortation, to consider these matters carefully, and knowing that all these things that seem so precious and important to the world will someday be destroyed by fire. What sort of people ought we to be? Being godly and holy living our lives completely devoted to you with a commitment to honor You in all we do wherever we are. Bless the day and the week before us we pray in Christ’s name. Amen.
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