Revelation 21:1-8, Born to Reign

Theological Proposition/Focus: King Jesus is more than our present king, he is our eternal king.

Homiletical Proposition/Application: As we celebrate Christmas we should also look forward to the end-game that King Jesus has promised.

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? As we head forward into the Christmas season I want to actually start at the end. You see Jesus was born to reign as the eternal king over creation.

Hebrews 1:8 states "But about the Son he says, 'Your throne, O God, will last for ever and ever; a scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom.'" and is a quote from Psalm 45:6. Jesus was born to be king, born to reign and so as we look forward to the Christmas I want us to look into eternity and celebrate Christ in light of the promised eternity we know is coming.

Body

Let me read to you from Revelation 21:1-7 and as I read try to picture the scene.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”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’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

6 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 water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”

We might summarize the passage with one word, "together."

Those who have a personal relationship with Jesus are destined for an incredible eternal dwelling (21:1-2).

A new heaven and a new earth are reminders that sin is defeated and the burden of sin is only temporary.

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 fallenness 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.

Listen to how Isaiah describes this New Heaven and Earth in Isaiah 65:17-19

“See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy. 19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.

It is worth taking a second to talk about what exactly happens to the Old and what the New might be. John uses the word ἀπῆλθαν, to pass away, to describe the event. This word is a bit ambiguous. It does not necessarily mean the old is destroyed but it could carry that meaning. What we know is that the old is gone. We can cross reference to 2 Peter 3:10-13,

10 But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare.

11 Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives 12 as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat. 13 But in keeping with his promise we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells.

Let me just speculate a little here. At the atomic level we have quarks that make up protons and neutrons. Within the nucleus of an atom protons stick together despite having electromagnetic forces that would otherwise drive them apart. Why do they stick together? The answer is not gravity, gravity is not strong enough to overcome the effect of electromagnetism. The answer comes from what is know as the Strong Force or Nuclear Force. At a scale of 10−15 m (1 femtometer, slightly more than the radius of a nucleon), the strong force is approximately 100 times as strong as electromagnetism. This force holds the nucleus of an atom together. Now suppose this force disappears, what would happen? We would literally have atoms falling apart. this is essentially what happens in a nuclear reaction. Now suppose the entire universe went nuclear? I don't know about you but I would describe this as the elements burning with a roar and being destroyed in a fire. I really wonder if Peter, through the Holy Spirit, is describing something he could not even fathom.

In any case, for John the emphasis is not on how the New Heavena nd New Earth come to be, the emphasis is on the newness. John's point is that God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth.

The new city Jerusalem is a reminder that God is the eternal provider.

One of the hardest theological truths that people struggle with is what is called dualism. Now most of us would not call ourselves dualists. However, we often subscribe to dualism in how we act. We talk about heaven as being our ultimate destination. We talk about leaving our earthly body. But we need to be careful. We were created as physical beings, we were created to inhabit the earth. I am convinced that our ultimate destination is the New Earth. The existing material world is fallen, but that does not mean that anything physical or material is inherently broken. No, we serve a God who redeems and he will redeem, recreate, renew the physical too. You have heard me say it before. The eternity I expect is not an eternity playing a harp on a cloud but I expect an eternity lived in a new body, with a new Earth, serving the eternal God.

Back in Isaiah 65:17-19 Isaiah wrote "See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind." When I read this I immediately cringe. What do you mean the old will not be remembered? There are lots of things I want to remember here and now. Doesn't my life now matter? Here is what strikes me. The city that God provides, the dwelling he provides, is still named Jerusalem. What this tells me is that while I do think we will be so amazed, so enamored with the New Creation, the past does matter. We might forget the past, we might not have it come to mind, but the here and now still matters.

Finally, I want to draw your attention to the phrase "as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." In Revelation 19:7 John introduced the picture of the bride -Christ's Church "Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready." Now John uses that same picture to make sure that we all realize an essential truth. The relationship of Christ to his people is an eternal relationship. The intimacy we enjoy with Christ now and will be enhanced in the future will remain in eternity. God will provide us with an eternal dwelling where we will enjoy the ultimate relationship with our Savior.