Sermon Idea: The consummation of God’s redemptive plan is a new heaven and a new earth where his people will peacefully dwell in his presence forever.
Introduction: “Further up and further in.” This is the famous refrain C.S. Lewis employs in the conclusion to The Chronicles of Narnia—a Christian allegory of the grand biblical story of creation, fall, redemption, and consummation. Across seven books, various “sons of Adam” and “daughters of Eve” from our world are called into the magical world of Narnia. In their first adventure, they discover a land under an eternal winter, freed only by the death and resurrection of a lion named Aslan, the true King of Narnia. In the final book, Lewis describes their entrance into the “real Narnia,” which is like the old, but clearer, richer, and more beautiful.
Listen to how Lewis ends the series.
“And as He spoke He no longer looked to them like a lion; but the things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories, and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in the world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read: which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”
You don’t need to have read any of the books or seen any of the films to be moved by that last line. The only world we’ve known is a fallen world, one cursed by sin and marked by death. So much of your personal stories know the curse of sin, either the sin you’ve committed or the sin committed against you. Beyond that is life in a fallen world where death still touches us, many loved ones are long gone, and natural disasters leave grief in their wake.
Could there be a future in which every chapter is better than the one before?
The end of the Bible’s story marks the beginning of new life with God, in a new place, where every chapter is truly better than the one that came before.
We began this sermon series by saying, the story of Scripture progressively reveals God’s plan of redemption through his covenants to have one, unified people in Christ Jesus.
We end this series by saying, the consummation of God’s redemptive plan is a new heaven and a new earth where his people will peacefully dwell in
His presence forever.
From the very beginning of the Bible, we learn that God intends for creation to be His dwelling place, where He can rule and reign over a people who worship and serve Him. The presence of sin disrupted this, which not only separated humanity from God’s presence but also cursed the very world God created to dwell with his people.
All that God does in his plan of redemption begins to reverse this problem that sin has brought. Through a series of covenants, God works a plan to dwell with his people again. First, there is the tabernacle, a dwelling place of God among men. Then there is the temple, a dwelling place of God among men. Then there is the true temple, Jesus Christ, the very dwelling place of God among men. Through Jesus, there is the church, the dwelling place of God, not among his people, but in his people through the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
All of this, from the garden of Eden to the presence of Christ and the indwelling of the Spirit in the church, points forward to and anticipates the glorious consummation of God’s plan described in Revelation 21:1-8. What John sees and describes is not a mere structure where God might dwell among his people, but a New Heaven and New Earth as the very dwelling place of God with his people.
This is the hope of the church and of every believer who makes up the church. This morning, I would like to highlight five realities about the culmination of God’s plan that give the church hope: the hope of a new creation, the hope of a prepared people, the hope of God’s presence, the hope of eternal peace, and the hope of eternal life.
I) The hope of a new creation (Rev. 21:1)
We have been right to highlight how God works out His plan through a series of covenants, but I lament how little time I have been able to devote to the promises of a future new creation, which is intimately connected to God’s covenant in Scripture. With the promise of the new covenant comes also a promise of a new creation. We need to hear the promises of Isaiah 65:17-18 to appreciate what Revelation 21 is teaching us fully.
17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. 18 But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. (Is 65:17–18)
In Scripture, God promises to make all things new. The way God does this is not all at once, but in two stages. First is the coming, living, dying, and rising of the Lord Jesus Christ. When Jesus is risen from the dead, the new creation begins. This is why Paul describes every believer in Jesus Christ as a new creation.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. (2 Co 5:17)
For neither circumcision counts for anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation (Ga 6:15)
What we wait for is the consummation of the new creation; all things will be made new, including the creation itself, at the second coming of Christ. This is the future that John sees!
The new heavens and new earth are similar to the old in that they are a physical reality—Heavenly, spiritual, but still physical. It is the earth that has been refined and renewed, so that all that sin’s curse has brought upon the earth passes away.
To refine and purify gold, it is set to fire. As the flame melts the gold, all of the impurities can be identified and separated from it. There is no pure gold without the heat of a refining fire. The New Testament often employs the image of fire as a refining and purifying force.
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. (1 Pe 1:5–7)
Since all these things are thus to be dissolved, what sort of people ought you to be in lives of holiness and godliness, 12 waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! 13 But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (2 Pe 3:11–13)
The New Heaven and the New Earth will be one, refined by God, in which the old creation passes away. There will be no impurity left. This helps understand the phrase, “…the sea was no more.” Throughout Revelation, the sea is associated with idolatry, wickedness, and death.
It is out of the sea that the beast comes in Revelation 13:1.
And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. (Revelation 13:1)
In Revelation, the sea represents the realms of the dead.
13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done (Revelation 20:13)
To say that “…the sea was no more” is to say that in the New Heavens and New Earth, idolatry is no more, wickedness is no more, there is no place for the dead, because death is no more.
The hope of the consummation is the hope of a new creation.
II) The hope of a prepared people (Rev. 21:2)
The point of the new creation is for God to dwell with his redeemed people, so the second reality of the consummation that gives the church hope is the hope of prepared people. Let’s look at verse 2 together.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Re 21:2)
Now you can immediately recognize a mixture of metaphors. First, there is the description of a holy city, the new Jerusalem. We can quickly identify, though, that this city is a people, the church, prepared as a bride for her husband, Jesus Christ.
What John sees is the future fulfillment of promises made in Isaiah 52:1 and Isaiah 61:10.
Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city; (Is 52:1)
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. (Is 61:10)
We all know and have seen the beauty of a bride on her wedding day. On that day, she spends more time on her appearance and dress than she has ever before that and will ever after that. There is a purity and beauty to the bride who adorns herself to meet her husband.
The image that we are given is that in the new heavens and new earth, there will be a holy, purified people who will be presented to Christ without blemish or spot. What is wonderful about the way this is phrased is that it is clear that God is the one who has prepared these people. Throughout the history of God’s redemptive plan, he is purifying and adorning the church to be his people.
How does God do this? He does so through the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ on the cross and the powerful, sanctifying washing of the Holy Spirit.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph 5:25–27)
The true hope of the church is that God is at work in us to present us as holy people, a prepared bride without spot or wrinkle.
I think John’s vision of the church in Revelation 21 provides at least two points worth reflecting on for our Christian lives today.
The first is that we are not what we once were. The second is that we are not now what will be.
Beloved, born again and baptized in the name of God, you are not who you once were. You belong to God. You are sanctified as holy and a member of the bride to whom Christ is betrothed. He is coming for his beloved, and he is working to adorn us for that day.
God is still preparing us, and so what we are now is not what we will be. I love how 1 John 3:2 makes this point.
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 Jn 3:1–2)
I hope that, if not now, soon, the prominent takeaway for members will be that Sunday after Sunday, they experience a greater awe of their salvation and a greater anticipation for the life to come.
The hope of the new creation and being a prepared people is that we will be in God’s presence.
III) The hope of God’s presence (Rev. 21:3)
If you’ve been here and paying attention, I don’t know how you could not be moved by verse 3.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God (Re 21:3)
What John sees is again the future fulfillment of promises made throughout the Old Testament. God would do something new, so that his dwelling place would be among the people forever.
11 I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. (Le 26:11–12)
26 I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. 27 My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (Eze 37:26–27)
Verse three is the fulfillment of these promises, but not in a physical tabernacle or temple. Instead, the presence of God with the people of God makes all of creation the temple of his presence. This is why John doesn’t see a temple in his vision of the new creation. Listen to Revelation 21:22.
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (Re 21:22)
This is the vision of heaven that we have to look forward to, and this vision of life should lead us to joyful worship and obedience in our present lives. This is the vision we’re preparing for when we come to church on Sundays.
To gather for worship with the local church is to enter into a microcosm of the new creation amidst this fallen world. Local churches are not just an assembly of any people, but the assembly of God’s temple in whom the Spirit dwells. Corporate worship trains and perfects our appetites to desire more and more of that which truly satisfies: the glory of God’s presence.
Do you long for the presence of God? As you think about heaven and all its glory, is God at the center of what you’re hoping for?
John Piper addresses this question directly in what I consider to be one of his more underrated and less-discussed books, God Is the Gospel.
“The critical question for our generation—and for every generation—
is this: If you could have heaven, with no sickness, and with all the
friends you ever had on earth, and all the food you ever liked, and
all the leisure activities you ever enjoyed, and all the natural beauties
you ever saw, all the physical pleasures you ever tasted, and no
human conflict or any natural disasters, could you be satisfied with
heaven, if Christ were not there? ”
Beloved, lean into that question. Allow it to reveal the deepest longings of your heart and be honest about whether you find the hope of God’s presence there.
The hope of the consummation is the hope of the new creation, the hope of being a prepared people, and the hope of God’s presence. The result of these realities is eternal peace and eternal life.
IV) The hope of eternal peace (Rev. 21:4-5)
John’s description of the New Heavens and New Earth brings texts from Isaiah together to give us one more beautiful image of the entire Bible.
4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Re 21:4)
Suffering characterized the old creation, so our life is often lived with tears in our eyes. In God’s new creation, we are freed from all past suffering. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes,and we are restored to God in such a way that we are freed from all future suffering, even death itself.
and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Simon Kistemaker beautifully says, “Like a mother who bends down and tenderly wipes away the tears from the eyes of her weeping child, so the Lord God stoops down to dry the tear-filled eyes of his children.”
Within this room, there are numerous stories of pain and grief. No doubt we have shed tears because of our own sins, the consequences they have brought on our lives and the lives of others. We’ve also shed tears because the sinful world we live in is marked by death, and every funeral reminds us that life isn’t as it should be.
I remember watching a dear family friend, a beautiful young woman, slowly become a shell of herself because of brain cancer until she died. She babysat when we were little, and then as we got older, so was the cool, pretty college friend who treated us like siblings. I was in the 6th grade when she had her first seizure in Nashville. I can remember driving home to Metropolis from Louisville during my Sophomore year in college to visit Karrie with my sister, grip her frail hand one last time, kiss her forehead, and tell her we loved her because her death was imminent.
I can remember leaving the Fall festival during seminary on a beautiful night in North Carolina. We had been there just a few months and were happy. I walked out of the bedroom in our small apartment to hear my wife hit the floor, because on the other end of the phone, someone told her Dad became unresponsive on the farm and was pronounced dead by the time the ambulance reached the hospital.
I remember being pulled from a Hebrew exam, for my professor to tell me a dear friend, the wife of the man who persuaded Kels and me to move to Southeastern, had finally succumbed to cancer and was gone.
These are painful highlights that led to the shedding of many tears. If we had the time, each of you could tell your own painful stories of life in a fallen world.
What I want to say to you, what I can’t stress enough, is that the hope of new creation, the redemption of God’s people, and life in God’s presence, which wipes away the tears in our eyes, is as true and as sure as anything you’ve ever experienced.
God is not like us; he keeps all of his promises, and this will be no exception. Listen to God in verses 5-6.
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. (Re 21:5–6)
V) The hope of eternal life (Rev. 21:6-8)
To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Re 21:6–8)
Use the allusions to John 4 & 7, along with a list of verses 8, to preach the gospel and call for a response to it.
- Pastorally note verse 8 refers to unrepentant sinners in willful rebellion against God and rejection of Christ. Having committed these sins does not bar someone from the Kingdom. All the saints in heaven will be forgiven sinners, justified through faith in Christ, and washed by the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 6:11)
- Urge all present who don’t know Christ to hear the promise that God satisfies the thirsty with the spring of the water of life.
Optional Conclusion:
“At the beginning of history God created the heavens and the earth. At the end of history we see the new heavens and new earth, which will far surpass in splendor all that we have seen before. As the center of history is the Lamb that was slain, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of kings of the earth. Some day we shall cast all our crowns before him, “…lost in wonder, love, and praise.”- Anthony Hoekema
Nathaniel R. Martin 