Former Things Have Passed Away (Rev. 21:1-5)
The Death and Resurrection of the Whole World
Rev 21:1 – 5
Connection/Tension
Happy Easter, church! He has risen!
Easter is a highpoint on the Christian calendar and a day of celebration, feasting, and getting together with loved ones and family. We come looking good, and feeling expectant.
And yet, this high and holy day doesn’t happen in isolation. It happens in the context of a tragic world where our lives are often tragic. This very week where we are celebrating Easter and cooking and serving lamb later today, we are simultaneously in the process of setting up a meeting later this week to work through reconciliation with a family member where there is a broken relationship.
Easter is not a day where we enjoy and celebrate as Christians and try to tune out the hard or the bad or pretend it’s not real. Rather, it’s a day where we celebrate that all evil and pain has an end date. Because of the resurrection of Jesus, not only we who follow Jesus will have a resurrection, but the whole world will as well when Jesus comes back. Easter is this moment in time where one tiny, almost unnoticed at-the-time resurrection of a Jewish rabbi results in the transformation of everything- even of the whole cosmos.
Visitors and not-yet followers of Jesus, we are so happy you are here. My hope is that you leave here with a bigger vision of what it means that Jesus rose from the dead. I think you can hear a statement like, “Jesus rose again from the dead. So what?” This sermon is an attempt to answer the, “so what”- the enormous and unbelievable difference his resurrection makes becomes clearest at the end when he returns.
Context
This morning, we are jumping forward to Revelation, the last book of the Bible, and the end of the story of the world. Lately, we have been preaching each week through the book of Genesis- the first book of the Bible- one passage at a time. Yet today, we are going to pause from that rhythm and spend some time at the end of the Bible. Why? Because it’s resurrection Sunday and it is good to meditate of all that Jesus accomplished in his death and resurrection- it’s more than anyone can know. So, all we can do is grow in our understanding one part at a time.
Revelation
Revelation is a book that John, one of Jesus’s disciples wrote when John was an old man. It’s a vision that God showed him of what is real- real in the spiritual realm and real about this world and its future.
This vision takes place at the end of Revelation, at the end of the Bible, and concerns what will happen when Jesus comes again (you could even sum up the story of history as “Christ has come; Christ will come again).
In this part of the vision we are in (as is the case in prophetic visions all over the Bible), John both “sees” and then “hears” something. These are two different sensory words indicating to us that John is sensing reality- God is showing him something about what is true.
We are going to start out with what John “saw,”
What John Sees
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
John sees the most breathtaking thing; what all of us are longing for at some level- for the world to be made all over again, created completely anew. At the end of all things, we find ourselves back at the beginning, for the Bible begins, “in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
Now, the one who alone had the power to make everything at first exercises his power to make the world again. One amazing reality we will see is that as great and wonderful are the descriptions of the first world God made (God “saw that it was good” seven times over), this one will be greater still. We will finally see the wisdom of God’s plan at the end when the world that he births out of this painful and broken one will surpass the beauty and wonder and goodness of the world at the start.
Then with the word, “for,” he further describes what will happen, “the first heaven and first earth had passed away.” For a new world to come, better than the original God made in the beginning, this present world must go away. In one sense, this world must die to be reborn. Like us who trust in Jesus, it follows the pattern of death and resurrection.
What will then be new or different about this greater world that displaces the first? John writes that, “the sea will be no more.” Is anyone bummed to hear that? Is anyone sad that there will not be beaches in God’s new world?
I have good news for you- I don’t think that’s what this verse means. Rather, this is a symbol showing us something wonderful. Just a quick word on symbols. In the Bible, there can be prediction prophecy or “picture prophecy.”[1] Prediction prophecy uses words to tell us what will be while picture prophecy uses pictures to show us what will be or what is real. Is this prediction or picture prophecy? It’s picture.
So, why is the sea no more? In the Scripture, the sea is a realm associated with chaos and rebellion against God. It’s the opposite and opposing realm to the good land God provides for his people to dwell in. The sea is not a good home for humans. It’s also a place of danger when they travel through it. It’s unpredictable storms and waves would snatch away the lives of sailors. Earlier in this book in chapter 13, the beast- the opponent of God- emerges from the sea (v. 1). The sea symbolizes death, disorder, and moral evil.[2]
For the sea to be no more is to say that these things are no more! God will exercise his power- the very power with which he made all things- to remake them and remove everything evil and painful.
The first world that God made- this one, was good yet it had the possibility of evil (cf. Gen 1:24). This new world won’t only be good- but God will remove even the possibility of evil so that the pain of this world will never enter it. This doesn’t mean no more beaches; it means no more death.
Now, just so you know, what I’m saying is unique to our faith. This occurred to me last year when I was having a conversation with one of Charlotte’s sisters about God. Just so you know, if you want to grow in understanding what it is you believe, try having long conversations with people who don’t believe it yet.
In my own experience, what I am sharing with you is unique to believing in Jesus. I have not academically studied other religions, just had conversations with lots of people. Whether I talk with an atheist, a Muslim, a Hindu, or whomever, I have not gathered from them that there is a hope that the world will be remade all over one day.
Rather, there tends to be a hope in self and societal improvement in this life, with the after life being non-existent, or purely spiritual, or a continuation of this one without fundamental transformation.
This came up in a conversation with a family member about Jesus. I mentioned this point that not only God’s people, but the whole world needs resurrection,
This point was the most persuasive thing I said to her. Though she does not yet believe in Jesus, she admitted that this world is so far gone that the entire thing needs a death and resurrection. Some good news I have for you: this creation in its present state with all of its disappointment and death will pass away.
Let us now move on and look at what else John “saw,”
2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
Here we have more picture prophecy. We are seeing symbols of what’s true and what will happen. I want to point out four things from this imagery:
(1) In the Bible, the city is a complicated symbol. It comes from the beginning of the Bible as well (just like the creation of the earth). However, whereas God calls the earth “very good” before sin against God, the city comes after sin. The first one is founded by a violent, rageful man names Cain. Then, there soon comes a great city called “Babel” that’s opposed to God. Even Jerusalem, which is the city God’s people founded, becomes corrupt and a place that treats people poorly. And is it not true that earthly cities today are a mix of good and evil at best- and each has corruption and harms humans in various ways?
Yet this city is not a “corrupt” city, it’s a “holy” city; it’s not “failed” Jerusalem, it’s “new” Jerusalem; it’s origin is not earthly, it’s from heaven.
Finally, one day the incorruptible city we are longing for will arrive. Finally, there will be a place that is safe at every level and in every way- finally we will have a secure refuge where nothing and no one will hurt us again. No evil will ever enter nor go forth from this place.
Many of us have experienced harm as we’ve lived in the city- stolen items; broken into homes; physical harm; emotional abuse. Some of it has happened in our neighborhood- some in our own home. This city will be a refuge through and through.
(2) The city of Jerusalem being a part of God’s new creation shows us something else: God loves to rescue corrupt things and make them new. The story of what God does for the city is the story of what he does for us.
Do you feel dirty or tainted by your past or even a decision you have currently been making? Have you ever thought that the God of the Bible is not for you because in your impurity, you are too far gone? That story about you is only true, if you don’t come to Jesus. If he walked out of the grave- he can remake you. You cannot tarnish yourself more than Jesus can restore you. What God works with is not our own purity, but our surrender and trust in him.
(3) When God restores something or someone, what he recreates is even more wonderful than what he created at first. When God created the heavens and the earth, he created a beautiful garden for his people to live in. Now, at the end, when he has restored all, what we see is not just a garden, but a garden-city. We see the city now in this verse and next chapter, John will show us that the city is a blossoming garden (22:1 – 5). The world is more beautiful and wonderful that it has ever been, even in the beginning.
So also, when God restores us, he not only just returns us to what we ought to have been, but begins making us into something greater than we even could have been. Somehow, because we have suffered and hurt in this life, we will know and love God more than we ever could have. Perhaps in this age your parents divorced, and yet in the coming age, you will find the faithfulness of God sweeter still.
(4) And lastly, God is going to marry the city- it’s adorned as a bride. Okay, that’s a little strange.
There’s this theme throughout the Bible that the Lord is going to marry his people. He will be their husband, and they will be his bride. It’s unexpected, but the idea is that there will be a commitment of faithfulness and intimacy between God and his people. In Rev 19, there is a reference to God marrying his people.
And in this verse, we need to conclude that one of the things this city symbolizes is God’s people. Those who trust in Jesus get to enjoy now and forever, a relationship of commitment and intimacy with Jesus.
If anyone is confused by that, that’s okay, the following verses are going to unpack these ideas for us:
What John Hears
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.
So far, we have walked with John through what he saw. Now, we get insight into what he heard. These are two different senses giving us two different depictions of the same reality. We get to see and hear what God’s new creation will be like. First we saw, and now we get to hear.
John hears a loud voice- that is, a powerful voice- speaking from a throne with royal authority. Which, this also connects us to the story of Genesis because in the beginning, God speaks and “it was so.” God will speak again as he did at the beginning and use his same royal authority to create a new world.
Indeed, John hears, “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?” What word captures what God is saying here? What is the main idea these words are getting across? Intimacy. Nearness. Access. If death is separation from God, then life, its opposite, is the binding together with God forever. The closest metaphor we have for this relationship is marriage. We possess God; he possesses us.
I promise you- this is what your heart desires most of all this morning (whether you realize it or not)- to hold and be held by the one who made you. The new world God will create where be one where he is immediately with us, just as he was at the start, but better, for now he will share in having a body like us.
One word that captures our times is, “lonely.” People report experiencing that emotion more than ever in our fractured, post-modern, technified world. If you follow Jesus, one day, you won’t even know what loneliness is anymore.
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.”
This verse continues to tell us what it will be like to be in God’s place with God’s presence. One is that he will completely comfort all our sorrow and sadness from this life- he will “wipe away every tear…” I don’t think this means he makes us forget or be ignorant of what happened- that would shortchange our suffering. Rather, that he knows what we need to feel whole again and is able and willing to give that to us. He is capable of comforting sadness like no one else (Matt 5:4). The hands that dab away our tears will be nail-scarred ones, and when you experience that, you will finally know that everything will be finally and forever alright.
Also, since God is an endless source of life- death cannot exist in his presence. His return will drive out and banish death from this world. It won’t have any place here any longer. And as Jesus’s presence will banish death, so also will all the evidences of death’s presence vanish. These include mourning, crying, and pain.
I want you to consider this morning, What sad part of this world and your life are you glad will forever be over with? What hard thing are you yearning for God himself to comfort you over more than anything- to wipe your very tears away? I look forward to no more misunderstanding, conflict, and resentment.
I also am so glad that there are people here who have not yet started to follow Jesus because we want you to hear about him and follow him. If you follow Jesus, all you have to look forward to forever is everything I’ve described in this sermon and more. If you don’t follow him, none of these things will come true- only the opposite. So, please come and follow him with us; come and pray up front; or grab someone in your pew to learn more.
Finally, verse 5 says,
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.”
I would believe none of these things if you told them to me on your own authority. I believe all of them because God, the one who made this world, has told us them on his authority.
I want to answer a few final questions,
(1) How can I believe that the resurrection of Jesus happened and that all this stuff will happen as a result? There are solid, rational reasons to believe all these things are true. Here’s a short book I purchased. I have five copies I want to give away to anyone who comes up after the gathering and wants to consider this topic more. I have a copy and could even meet up and discuss if you like- or you can just take and read it.
(2) How does this truth about the next world change my life day to day in this one- especially when it doesn’t seem to affect my present suffering?
If God is as faithful and good as this text says he is, then he’s going to help us make it safely home to himself. This book was written to Christians facing execution to keep them trusting God until the very end. We don’t just trust him for what he will do in the future, but today, and all the ways he will mightily help us. He’s not just committed to wiping our tears away one day; he’s just as committed to comforting, helping, even rescuing us now.
Let’s pray
[1] I got this term from Andy Naselli.
[2] G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle, Cumbria: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press, 1999), 1042.
