SECOND READING

Revelation 21:1-8    

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.  ² Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  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 they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.  ⁴ 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.”  

⁵ 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.” 

⁶ 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 fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.  ⁷ He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  ⁸ 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.”  

SPECIAL MUSIC

SERMON

Behold, I Am Making All Things New

Revelation 21:1–8 NIV

Today, for our fifth Sunday of the Easter season, we will jump nearly to the end of the Book of Revelation and begin to wrap up our Revelation series.  Last week we looked at chapter 7 to answer the question of the identity of the multitude clothed in white robes.  This section took place as an interlude during the opening of the seals that were unfolding a cataclysmic judgement upon the earth.  This interlude gave us an incredible vision of the blessing of belonging to the Lord that encourages us to take our stand in this present evil age no matter what persecution comes our way.  After this vision, the opening of seals continues along with a long stretch of apocalyptic descriptions of what we can expect from an evil empire, and the evil one himself, who knows his days are numbered.  The lectionary does not include those sections, but instead gets to the end result, or what is called, the telos or end purpose, of the whole history of creation.  Today’s reading and next week’s selection will give us two visions of that beautiful end into which the Lord is bringing us.

We will start today by looking at the first vision of a new heaven and a new earth that John illustrates in the opening of Revelation 21.  The lectionary gives us the first six verses to cover, and we will tack on two more for good measure.

So, let’s jump over to Revelation 21:1–8 with its accompanying apocalyptic language, where John attempts to express the purpose of creation consummated in Jesus Christ.

Revelation 21:1-8

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.  ² Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,  coming down  out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.  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 they shall be His people.  God Himself will be with them and be their God.  ⁴ 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.”

⁵ 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.”

⁶ 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 fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.  ⁷ He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.  ⁸ But the cowardly, ^[e]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.”

This section brings into view the ultimate end purpose of creation.  The eight verses that begin chapter 21 of Revelation serve as a condensed picture of God’s purposes to us as a completed reality in Jesus, who is the telos for all creation.

Gordon Fee captures the culminating effect this paragraph has for the Book of Revelation and its final chapters:

“The opening paragraph (21:1–8) appears to serve the twofold purpose of bringing closure to much that has preceded, and especially of functioning as a kind of catch-all introduction to the whole.”^[1]

This “twofold purpose” includes the two themes of removing evil and establishing the blessings of eternal life.  We can see both themes fulfilled in Jesus in his death and resurrection.  Here is a sweeping quote from T.F. Torrance in his book, The Apocalypse Today, to help us launch into the final chapters of Revelation:

It has been said that the great purpose of God, which begins with creation, narrows down in a fallen world first to the people of Israel and then to the suffering Servant, Jesus Christ, but in Jesus Christ it widens out through the Church, the Israel of God, and at last breaks into a new heaven and a new earth … At its centre is the Lamb of God, He who is, who was, and who is to come, gathering up in Himself the purpose of the original creation and fulfilling it by redemption in the new creation. (p. 175–176)

Seeing Jesus at the center of this twofold purpose in Revelation reveals his redemptive work, in death and resurrection, as the establishment of a “new” reality that runs through all history, culminating at his return.  Through images, John shares with us what this reality looks like.

As we begin, I encourage you to let these images and metaphors that John employs open your imagination to see a little deeper into the reality of the soon coming kingdom the Lord is establishing.  What God has in mind for us is so amazing and beautiful that it is impossible to describe due to the limitations of language.  So, John is having to write beyond the rules and bounds of language to engage our imaginations and get us to transcend how we typically think about our world today.  And no matter how wonderful a picture you can come up with, you can rest assured that it will still fall woefully short of the real thing. So, imagine with all you got.

Let’s see how John begins showing us what lies at the end of history:

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. Revelation 21:1 NIV

The first image is of the sea that “was no longer.”  Linking this image to the statements of the first heaven and earth that “had passed away” we get introduced to the establishment of God’s new kingdom by way of the old one being removed.  For the original readers of John’s letter, the image of the sea represented evil and would carry the full weight of evil and the demonic realm as well as the intense rebellion of the nations against God (Psalm 65:7).  This image goes beyond a mere calming of the sea, where the evil waves and wind subside from raging.  Since John was exiled on the island of Patmos, he also viewed the sea as a barrier that separated him and the brethren he loved.  The sea is gone altogether, never again to blow into a frenzied and disruptive chaos.  Clearly, this is meant to be read figuratively.  It is a picture of a world that no longer has the pull of evil working against God’s good creation and his people.  Thankfully, it does not mean that there will no longer be trips to the beach.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Revelation 21:2 NIV

On the heels of this image, we have the image of “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem.”  God gives John a vision of his grand purpose for humanity using the picture of a new and improved city of Jerusalem.  He does not do so by using the image of persons being taken up to heaven.  Rather this “city bride” has been built and prepared by God to dwell with him here on a renewed earth.  There is no need for a plan of getting to heaven on our own efforts.  In our discouragement with ourselves, we can find hope as we cast our eyes upwards to the One who is not done preparing us for glory.  By specifying the city as Jerusalem, John is able to bring in all the promises and purposes God has given us in the Old Testament as well as the New Testament.  John establishes a link between what God has been doing throughout all history and the fulfillment of that work reached in Jesus Christ, which culminates at his return.  These images are painted on the canvas of a heaven-earth reality.  In the Incarnation of the Son, the coming together of God and his creation holds.  John’s visions don’t include any everlasting destruction of God’s creation.  God’s promises are kept.  

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. ‘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.” Revelation 21:3–4 NIV

These images are interrupted by “a loud voice from the throne …”  The voice that spoke in the garden of Eden is now heard in the city.  The voice that spoke to Israel is the same voice we hear in the new Jerusalem.  The Word of God spoken to us in Jesus Christ is now heard as the ruling voice speaking from the throne.  That voice delivers three statements of togetherness that communicate God’s desire to be with his people.  The full Trinity, Father, Son, and Spirit, “will be with them and be their God.”  This is the overarching purpose God had from the beginning and why he created us in the first place — to be with us.  This is what makes “all things new” — relationship.

In John’s vision, it is after God dwells with his people that all tears are wiped away.  Our deepest wounds in life are from our relationships that have been broken by death, sorrow, and pain.  It will be our deepest relationship with the Father that ultimately heals all these wounds, wiping away all tears, including the ones we caused in others.  Life becomes what it was always meant to be, right relationship.  Death, sorrow, and pain are of the “old order of things” and so will not have a share in the new thing God has done.

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.” 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. Revelation 21:5–6 NIV

The passage continues with the “trustworthy and true” statement, “It is done.”  This new thing issues out of the One who lives as the “Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.”  Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, which are being used here as a symbol of the beginning and end of all things.  The full scope of creation and its history from start to finish is under Jesus’ rule and sovereignty.  The cosmos has no intrinsic meaning or purpose detached from the one who gave it existence and sees it through to its end.

With the Incarnation, the Son of God, who stands transcendent over creation and history as its originator, sustainer and end, steps into history to give it a new beginning and a new end.  The original beginning fell into decay with the fall of Adam.  The trajectory of this fall would ultimately lead back to nonexistence, as humanity has now turned away from the “trustworthy and true” voice of its Creator, choosing instead to listen to a lie.  The natural cataclysmic consequence of creation’s ultimate destruction from this point on is now just a matter of time.

But Jesus steps into time and becomes this “end” for his creation.  In Revelation 22, we see the Greek word eschatos added as one of the titles for Jesus; it is translated as “last” or “conclusion.”  “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last [eschatos], the beginning and the end [telos]” (Revelation 22:13).  Jesus is creation’s eschatos.  If we must have our doomsday destruction of earth and humanity (as often depicted in many “end time” scenarios), we need look no further than the cross.  Jesus wraps up all creation’s disorder, destruction, and death due to sin, and brings it to its decisive and deserved end, giving it a proper burial.  We don’t have to rely on time to provide this in some future finale. It is done in Jesus.

The resurrection of Jesus lets us know that he is also our new beginning.  With this new beginning, we now have a new “end” which is expressed in our present passage.  As we alluded to earlier, the Greek word for “end” is the word telos.  This essentially means the end goal or purpose.  This “I Am” statement of identification tells us that it is in Jesus himself that we come to the ultimate purpose for all creation.  Jesus has assumed God’s creation at the depth of its sinfulness, to destroy all evil and bring it to its full purpose of blessing life.

When we look at Jesus raised and ascended, we are seeing what it looks like to be fully human, filled up, and whole as God intended.  This fullness or end goal, accomplished in Jesus, is a kingdom to be received as an inheritance, not earned as a payment.  It is to the “thirsty” that Jesus gives “water without cost.”  Jesus is the water of life, who freely gives his life to us.  Being thirsty indicates the Beatitude position of one who receives what the Lord gives (Matthew 5:6).  “Water without cost” is the life poured out to us by grace.  We don’t earn or pay for it in any way.  It is to be received as a gift.

In contrast to this, we have a list of characteristics that are distortions of right relationships in the concluding two verses that we will tack onto our lectionary reading.  They highlight the sinful orientation to life that has no future.  These distortions, in contrast to being thirsty, take up a posture of attempting to gain our own life and blessings through the old order of things that “have passed away.”  This way of living is the surest way to death.  The old order has passed away and has no future in God’s kingdom.

Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars — they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Revelation 21:7–8 NIV

The language of a burning lake of fire and a second death is strong imagery, aimed to warn against clinging to that which will ultimately let us down.  We do not have to wait to receive this newness in some distant time in the future.  This also falls under the “it is done” statement by Jesus.  So, there is no need to hold onto those things that are passing away.  Sin, death, and darkness have no future.  Our future is to share in the divine relationship of grace.  This is a future of new things, a new life, without cost, that God gives us today in Jesus Christ.  As we center our hope on Jesus, the telos of all creation, the Last One, we can participate in his kingdom, knowing that Jesus lives, bringing his future world into our world today.

Next week we will conclude our journey of John’s vision by visiting the new Jerusalem that has been introduced in today’s passage.  This will round out more fully what God has in store for us.  But before we conclude, I would like to encourage you to not assume that these wonderful images are reserved only for some future time.  That is true in the fullest sense, but that does not mean we can’t participate in partial ways today.  The reality has already been established in Jesus Christ.  We may not be able to see it fully this side of the kingdom, but that does not mean it’s not real.

So, take John’s vision as an invitation of hope.  In hope, we are invited to begin living in the kingdom today in what choices we make, how we treat one another, and by growing in our faith in the One who is the Alpha and Omega.  We can participate in this way, knowing that it will live into the future.  Everything else outside of the grace of God will come to nothing.  So, why waste your time on such pursuits?

Living into the kingdom as it approaches will certainly attract some opposition in a world bent on resisting Jesus’ rule.  But you are guaranteed Jesus’ victory in the end. That’s John’s encouragement in his letter to his seven churches, and it’s a letter the Holy Spirit preserved for you as well.  As John writes in the beginning of Revelation, we will be blessed if we “hear it and take to heart what is written in it.”  Amen!

CLOSING SONG

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