Revelation 21:1-8, Born to Reign

Theological Proposition/Focus:

Homiletical Proposition/Application:

Introduction:

Image: Cindy's confidence, one way or another we will see you again.

Cindy was a 20 year old young lady from China. Cindy had come to the United States to attend college in Iowa, was visiting Colorado for Christmas, and stayed at my parents house for the two week Christmas break. Just that fall, Cindy had come to know Jesus as her Savior and she was excited in her faith. We went on a number of trips, the zoo, the mountains, sledding, and of course church services. Over the course of that time Cindy and my mom grew close. When the time came for Cindy to return to school in Iowa and hugs were going around I overheard as Cindy was hugging my mom and as the tears flowed down her state. Whether hear on earth or in heaven, I will see you again.

Setting the Stage:

The revelation given to John and recorded in the book of Revelation is notoriously hard to interpret. However, not everything about the book is difficult. In fact, there are some aspects of Revelation that are really fairly simple to interpret. Today, we are going to take some low hanging fruit. Please turn in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21. We are going to look at verses 1-4.

Revelation chapter 20 concluded with judgement. judgement passed on Satan, and judgement on those who were spiritually dead. In both cases, the destiny is simple. The lake of fire. Satan and those who are spiritually dead are cast into the lake of fire where they are tormented for ever.

The question that remains is really important. What about those who are not spiritually dead? What about those who by grace, through faith, have come to know Jesus as their personal Savior. What fate awaits such an individual?

Body

The answer comes in Revelation 21:1-4

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” m for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ u or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

We might summarize the answer with one word "together."

Those who have a personal relationship with Jesus are destined for the reunion together.

Do you want to know "what is the biggest impediment to relationships in your life?" The answer is pretty easy, sin. Sin get's in the way. Sin destroyed your relationship with God. "Once you were alienated from God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior. (Col. 1:21)" And sin gets in the way of your relationship with others. Just think about it, when was the last time that anything other than sin caused a problem in one of your relationships.

In Revelation 21:1 we see a radical solution to a radical problem, a New heaven and New Earth. We live in a fallen world and sin is all around us. I personally cannot go very long without sinning and even less time without being tempted to sin. The world we live in is broken and it doesn't take long to realize that no mere human is going to be able to solve the brokenness in our world. The idea here of a new heaven is not necessarily a reference to the dwelling place of God, it is a reference to the atmosphere and planetary space. That is, everywhere that the curse is found. We must realize that we are rapidly approaching a time when the falseness of the world as we know it is no more. Personally, I cannot fathom what this will be like. We are told in the passage that there will be no more sea. The idea here of there being no more sea is probably the idea that there is no longer the need for any punishment for sin. Often the sea, in Revelation, seems to bear the image of evil. Moreover, there will not even be the potential for a flood to destroy sin on this new earth. Why? Because the potential for sin is eliminated.