All Things New (Rev. 21)
The book of Revelation is written originally by Jesus through John to 7 churches located in Asia Minor. In this message, we do a flyover of chapters 2 and 3 and discover what Jesus tells them then and us today about Satan's tactics in opposition to the church.
Transcript
I’ve been waiting to preach this sermon for the last three months. And if you’ve been following our Revelation series, somewhere inside you, you have too. Why? Because we’re finally talking about heaven.
Deep down, we all want heaven. We long for something better than this world.
This is beautifully captured by author Randy Alcorn in his excellent book, simply titled Heaven. In it, he writes:
“Nothing is more often misdiagnosed than our homesickness for Heaven. We think that what we want is sex, drugs, alcohol, a new job, a raise, a doctorate, a spouse, a large-screen television, a new car, a cabin in the woods, a condo in Hawaii. What we really want is the person we were made for, Jesus, and the place we were made for, Heaven. Nothing less can satisfy us…. We may imagine we want a thousand different things, but God is the one we really long for. His presence brings satisfaction; his absence brings thirst and longing. Our longing for Heaven is a longing for God.”
So today, lean into that longing with me.
What do you imagine heaven will be like?
Clouds
Angel wings & harps
Streets of gold
Pearly gates
Seeing loved ones who have died
Asking Jesus all the questions you’ve ever wanted to ask him
Now, many of these are mentioned in some way in the Bible, so I’m not going to discount any of them. But this is not how the Bible talks about heaven.
So, how does the Bible actually describe heaven? What will it be like? What will we do? What does God really want you to understand about our eternal home?
Today, we’re going to look at the last two chapters of Revelation, chapters 21 and 22. They represent the climax of the book of Revelation, the New Testament, the entire Bible, the story of humanity, and the entire story of God. This is the culmination of everything.
So, how does the Bible talk about eternity with God? In these chapters, there are three primary metaphors or word pictures that God uses for heaven.
New Heaven and Earth (21:1-8)
New City of Jerusalem (21:9-27)
New Garden of Eden (22:1-5)
I recognize that these metaphors probably don’t mean much to you, but they are arguably the three most important word pictures to first-century Christians. Before we dive in, there are two important things you need to understand about these there metaphors.
Like the rest of Revelation, nearly all the imagery is taken directly from the Old Testament. This section is packed with the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy.
As a result, each image would be familiar to a first-century listener but also different in significant ways. Familiar, but completely different.
So, let’s look at them.
New Heaven and Earth
The idea of a new heaven and new earth comes up in the very first line. Verse 1 begins:
1 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.”
We often think of going up to heaven, but actually, heaven came down. God’s space and human space come together as one. The boundary between heaven and earth—God’s reality and ours—is permanently removed. This is the ultimate answer to the last line we pray: “Let your kingdom come, let your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
The vision of a “new earth” does not mean that our current earth will be destroyed or replaced, but it will be transformed and fully redeemed.
We are also introduced to some of the things that will not be in the new heaven-earth. This will be a place where God’s will always happens. Everything will align with God’s perfect will, plan, and desire. So, anything that is against God’s will, against human flourishing, against true healing and life is gone. There will be nothing and no one that is anti-God.
There will be no death. There will be no pain, mourning, or crying. There’s also an unexpected one on this “no” list: “There will be no sea.” As a guy who grew up on the beach and still loves ocean sunsets, that makes me very sad. But I have to understand that they didn’t look at the sea like I do. The sea was seen as a place of chaos and death, so of course, it had to go. But don’t worry, fishermen, there will be rivers.
So, eternity for God’s followers will be both heaven and earth. It’ll be familiar, like earth, but also completely different, like heaven.
New City of Jerusalem
In this passage, we’re also introduced to the Holy City called New Jerusalem. This is the second metaphor for what heaven will be like. Starting in verse 9:
“9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”
Jerusalem is described as the bride of the Lamb, Jesus. Now, you might be thinking, “Wait! Isn’t the Church the bride of Christ?” Yes, it is. But so is the city. Just like the new creation is both heaven and earth, the bride of Christ is both a people and a place.
We also see attempts to describe heaven’s indescribable size, beauty, and wholeness. Like most of Revelation, these are not literal descriptions. Instead, they are meant to stir appreciation for God’s grandeur and faithfulness.
The city shines in brilliance with precious jewels everywhere.
The streets are made of gold, in part because of its beauty but also in part because in God’s kingdom, wealth is so meaningless, they use it to pave the streets.
The city has 12 gates for the 12 tribes of Israel
These gates are made of rare pearl. BTW, this is where we get the phrase “pearly gates.”
There are 12 foundations for the 12 apostles
All of this symbolism is meant to elicit a sense of awe and wonder.
This passage also describes the symbolic dimensions of this city—a perfect cube of 12,000 stadia (about 1,400 miles—long, wide, and high). Heaven will not be a literal cube. Instead, it’s described as a cube because the Holy of Holies in the Temple, where God lived, was also a cube. And heaven is God’s new residence.
This leads to probably the most shocking statement here (verse 22), “22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”
I cannot overstate how shocking this statement is. To every listener of this book, the Temple was God’s presence, and Jerusalem was the Temple. To not have a Temple in the restored Jerusalem was impossible. But not to God. Let’s read that again and continue:
“22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
In heaven, God will no longer live “out there” or even “in here.” His glorious presence will fill the new creation, turning all of it into a temple. This is the ultimate and permanent incarnation. God’s presence and glory will be so universal that we won’t even need the sun.
New Garden of Eden
There’s one more metaphor—heaven as a new, restored Garden of Eden. The Garden of Eden was God’s original creation, unmarred by human sin. God walked among people and gave them purpose and tasks.
This might be my favorite paragraph in Revelation because we see the life-giving river of God, where we get our name RiverLife.
“1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.”
In this redeemed paradise of the New Jerusalem, God’s people will experience his perfect presence, worship him, and reign with him forever. In this garden, like it was in the beginning, there will be no more death or disease, only life.
Heaven will not be clouds and harps and angels. It will be a majestic, eternal, perfect garden-temple city where God’s complete personal presence is everywhere, all at once, all the time.
Don’t you want to spend your eternity there? Toward the end of the chapter, at the end of the book, at the end of the Bible, God offers this invitation to every one of you: “17 The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.”
God is inviting you to come to Jesus. If you are thirsty, come to Jesus. He has a free gift of the water of life. All you have to do is take it. Allow him to write his name on your forehead. Say that you belong to him. Ask him to write your name in the Book of Life. Come to Jesus.
I want to give you some time to respond to this invitation. It might look different for each one of you. That’s why you need to listen to God.
I’ve got a lyric video here from one of my favorite artists, Chris Rice, and it’s simply called “Come to Jesus.”
