THESIS: To examine the New Heavens, New Earth and New Jerusalem promised in Rev. 21.
INTRO:
A. The words "ALL NEW!" or just simply "NEW!" are plastered on every thing from beans to Bibles, from cars to canned carrots! In fact "there is nothing NEW under the sun" according to the wisest man who ever lived. Creation is an event of the distant past. But re-novation or regeneration will "make all things NEW!" (V.5)
B. Let's examine 3 of those "ALL NEW!" things which God will make. ✨Why are they made NEW? ✨What will the differences and similarities be? ✨Who will be the recipients of all these NEW things?
TRANS: The Bible is a circle, an infinite Book. Revelation leads us right back to Genesis. In Genesis we have Paradise Lost and in Rev. Paradise Restored. In Gen.1:1 we have "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth" and in Rev. 21:1 we have "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth"...
I. THE NEW HEAVEN: v.1 A. Not Annihilation But Renovation:
1. Comparing Script. With Scripture in II Pet. 3 it appears that renovation regeneration and recreation are in view, not annihilation.
ILLUS: When a person becomes a "NEW CREATURE" his old man is not done away with, the new man is added. So with the new creation. The elements which "melt with a fervent heat" are apparently refashioned & refurbished.
2. Peter uses the first destruction by water to illustrate what will take place the next time by fire.
2 Pet. 3:6-7 6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: 7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
B. Not One Heaven But Three Heavens:
2 Peter 3:12-13 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
1. The atmospheric heaven: where the birds fly and the clouds hover. 2. The planetary heaven: where the stars, planets and galaxies are located 3. The heaven of heavens: where God dwells and the souls of the departed believers live.
NOTE: Apparently the 1st and 2nd "heavens" are in view in 2 Peter whereas in Revelation only the visible atmospheric heaven is noted. Our sin has affected even the weather of our planet. Hurricanes, cyclones, lighting, tornados, wind, rain, sleet, hail, snow, ice, et. al. are by products of God's curse on His creation due to man's sin. It will be restored to its pristine, primordial state as it originally came from the hand of God!
a. Even stars burn out today and comets collide with planets.
ILLUS: The cover story on a recent TIME magazine had to do with a giant comet colliding with the planet Jupiter with the effect of millions of hydrogen bombs exploding at once. They then asked the question: "Could it happen here (on earth)?" There answer was yes.
b. Our climactic pattern is changing and this is in line with the atmospheric disturbances prophesied just before the Lord returns.
ILLUS: Nothing needs to be changed about God's heaven! It doesn't need renewal...it is perfect and unaffected by man's sin.
II. THE NEW EARTH: v.1
A. Ruined!
Rom. 8:21-22 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
1. The vegetable world is cursed...thorns and thistles, mosquitoes and microbes. "...not willingly..." 2. Animals give birth in suffering, pain and death and then must live by teeth, claws, fangs and blood. 3. Our humanity...childhood, youth, manhood, old age...a continual process of deterioration, disease and death.
ILLUS: The new earth will no longer be cut into graves and cemeteries. No longer will the earth be watered with showers of human tears. No longer will the earth be stained with the crimson blood of animals or humans. No longer will earth's highways bear the processions of those who are bereaved and brokenhearted.
QUOTE: Criswell: "There are no stonecutters chiseling epitaphs in glory. There are no wreaths on the mansion doors in the sky. There are no graves on the hillsides of heaven. There are no obituary columns in the newspapers. There are no funeral processions over the streets of gold." v.4
ILLUS: There is no need any longer for Drs., hospitals, insane asylums, drug rehab centers, prisons, lawyers or judges! There are no more sodomites, prostitutes, drug pushers, pimps, pornographers, blasphemers, liars, ,etc. cf. v.8
TRANS: Oh how wonderful is the NEW Heaven and the NEW Earth. But there is even more. There is...
III. THE NEW JERUSALEM: v.2
A. The Holy City:
1. The Old Jerusalem was for the nation of Israel; the New Jerusalem is for the Bride of Christ, the Church.
Gal. 4:25-26 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
2. The Old Jerusalem was called the "holy city" but was unholy due to man's sin and rebellion, the New Jerusalem will be holy indeed, because the Lamb of God is there with His blood-washed disciples. v.22,23
B. The Heavenly City:
1. It comes "down from God out of heaven". 2. It is the abode of God and the Lamb. v.23 3. It is supernatural in origin and fantastic in description. v.10ff
a. First John describes it from the outside as he saw it descend. v.10-21 b. Then he describes it from the inside. v.22-27; 22:1-5
ILLUS: This fantastic place is an "I.F.O." which floats down from heaven and hovers over the new earth. It sparkles like the jeweled crown of God Himself! John gives us a 1st class tour of this unbelievable place! Beverly Hills, Tahiti, Hawaii, the Virgin Islands all rolled into one cannot compare. The most expensive mansions on the planet together do not come close. The Taj Mahal, the Pyramids and the Parthenon combined pale into insignificance. Yet it will be our home!
CONCL: God creates "ALL THINGS NEW" just for His blood-washed saints!
WARNING: The promise of these new things are for believers only!