[This is a transcript of a sermon on Revelation 21:1-6 preached by Rod Benson at Lithgow, Australia, in May 2018]
When the Apostle John recorded the fantastic visions we encounter in the Book of Revelation, I believe he fully intended the words and images to be understood by ordinary readers in his own time.
There are words of hope here, and words of challenge. There are words of celebration, and words of consolation. There are words reminding us of salvation history, and of the promises yet to be fulfilled in God’s great cosmic plan of redemption. You and I are players in the story.
But I also believe John would turn in his grave if he knew what many well-meaning Christians – and some spiritual mischief-makers too – make of his beautiful, terrible, awesome, apocalyptic literary work.
Some of us tend to avoid the Book of Revelation. For those of us who resolve to enter its strange world of imagery and symbol, we may find it difficult to let the text itself speak to us amid the distractions of cultural allusion, historical interpretation, and plain silliness that often attend and adapt the story:
- the rendering of themes and images in films such as Apocalypse Now, Pale Rider, The Matrix;
- the practice of identifying contemporary political leaders as the embodiment of this or that diabolical character in the story;
- the urge to estimate or calculate the precise date of the return of Christ through fake prophecy or doom calculators like the Rapture Index;
- and even the harnessing of apocalyptic imagery in the Book of Revelation to justify militarism and identify it with holy war.
But come with me to Revelation chapter 21, the penultimate chapter in the entire Bible, and take a look at the other side of this magnificent and mysterious apocalyptic coin. All of world history is gathered up in the great story that unfolds from Genesis 1:1 to Revelation 20:15. All of it.
I want you to notice three things John “sees” in verse 1. The first is this: “Then, I saw a new heaven and a new earth” (v. 1a). We all like new things: a new car, house, job, friend, child – persons and things to care about, and cherish. But it doesn’t get bigger than this: heaven and earth are archived, and the universe is rebooted.
It’s important to emphasise here that the new heaven and new earth are renewed rather than replaced. This is so important. Matter is of very great significance to God. You and I are profoundly physical as well as psychological and spiritual persons.
The time will come for the world to be renewed, and for divine justice to sort out the flaws and failures of human nature. The time will soon come for the world to be transformed, history and culture responding to the will of God in ways we find unimaginable or impossible today. The time will soon come for the world’s people to be sorted into groups, sheep on this side and goats on the other, good and evil, light and darkness, obedient and reprobate.
Notice something else: this new heaven and earth, this ultimate renewal of the cosmos, is not two zones or spheres but one. Following the return of Christ (ch. 19), and the ultimate judgment (ch. 20), we discover that heaven and earth are not mere states of mind; nor are they two separate places, separated by a vast gulf, with different access codes. No, the new heaven and the new earth, real places, are “joined completely and forever.”[1]
Paul had an inkling of this coming reality when he wrote to the church at Ephesus of “the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us … he made known the mystery of his will … to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfilment – to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ” (Eph 1:7-10).
Second, says John, “there was no longer any sea” (v. 1b). What on earth does this mean? It is a symbol of the removal of all that is evil (cf Ps 74:12-14; Rev 13:1).
Today, we look around us, and within, and see defilement and degradation. The future that God is drawing us into is one of holiness, godliness, purity, virtue and tranquillity. All that the old order represented in terms of active and passive rebellion against God, all assertions of human pride, all sorrow and sadness and sickness and pain and death – all of it has passed away. The material universe, and its conscious, sentient, moral actors, are renewed by the wisdom and power of God (v. 4). This is grace in action.
Third, says John, “the first heaven and the first earth had passed away” (v. 1c; cf v. 4). Last week we observed, in chapter 19, the arrival of the long-awaited King Jesus, the victorious Lamb of God, and the final defeat of all the enemies of God. Now, we see a universe transformed by love and grace, justice and mercy. We see our planet renewed in keeping with God’s cosmic plan, not only a real heaven on earth but an ultimate city filled with redeemed people. This is God’s desire for our future (cf 3:12).
The next verse (19:2) imagines Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, reminding us of the words of Isaiah 52:1, “Awake, Zion, clothe yourself with strength. Put on your garments of splendour, Jerusalem, the holy city” (see also Isa 62:2-5). Biblical scholar, Richard D. Phillips discerns a parallel between creation and redemption in this verse (Rev 19:2), suggesting that
Jerusalem was the earthly centre of God’s redeeming acts in history, especially in the atoning death of his Son. Therefore, just as creation is glorified in the new heaven and new earth, redemption comes to glorious consummation in the coming of the new Jerusalem.[2]
Another biblical scholar, John Webster, focuses on Christian ethics, arguing that “The hallmark of this glorious city is not escapism but engagement. Our earthly sojourn is inspired by our citizenship in heaven.”[3] See also Philippians 3:20f.
We learn five truths about this glorious city here. First, it is the “holy city”; it is God’s dwelling place. There is no temple, because the entire city serves the functions of a temple. It is the “new Jerusalem,” linking it with the history of redemption – Mount Moriah, Mount Zion, and Mount Calvary – and with the covenant of redemption: God’s pledge to love and renew God’s people in mercy, grace and unimaginable generosity.
Verse 3 reminds us that the new city is defined by those who occupy it: the holy people of God. It is also defined by divine love, a holy relationship that is reciprocated by God’s people, adoring their glorious King. This is the church, the collective people of God, “prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband” (v. 2b).
On 7 January 2017, when I stood in a gorgeous garden at Killara and saw my bride Emma coming down the white carpet to meet and marry me, that was “very heaven” to me. That was the expression and outcome of a deep and growing love. The way we respond to God’s love, and celebrate God’s love, and grow into God’s love, is something like that – but it is more.
At this very moment in earth-time, King Jesus reigns in heaven. He is not idle, resting, passive. He is at work on your behalf, loving you, enabling the fruit of redemption to burst forth and flourish in you, making you holy, cleansing you, renewing your singular life, so that he may present all of us “to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless” (Eph 5:27).
Then we reach verse 3. We aren’t told whose voice speaks here, whether God or an angel, but the message is “loud” and it is unforgettable, describing the culmination of God’s plan for the redemption of sinful humankind.
Long ago, God solemnly promised to Abraham that all nations on earth would be blessed through the blessing of his descendants (Gen 12:1-3; 17:2-8; 26:24; cf Gal 3:16). Here, in Revelation 21:3-4, we have the ultimate fulfilment of that promise. Jewish and non-Jewish people together, a new community, united in Messiah Jesus, serving together as holy priests in the presence of Almighty God!
The speech in verses 5-6 is definitely that of God, addressing John for the first time since the opening statement in Revelation 1:8. All of God’s people, and no one else, are to be welcomed into a new creation. Nothing old remains. Everything is new, defined by the holiness and goodness of God, all for the glory of God.
This same God addresses you and me here today, with these same words: “I make everything new … 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” (v. 6).
Are you thirsty for God today? Do you thirst for ultimate reality, for real life, for the kind of existence that only God can deliver? Are you searching for the source of this abundant life?
You will find the source of this life in King Jesus. Come and drink deeply, drink freely, from the spring of the water of life. Ask God to save you, redeem you, renew you, transform you, and one day soon to bring you safe into his presence along with all of God’s people.
I hope to see you there on that glorious Day.
Sermon 763 copyright © 2018 Rod Benson. Preached at Lithgow Baptist Church, Australia, on Sunday 20 May 2018. Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, New International Version (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2011).
References
[1] Tom Wright, Revelation for Everyone (London: SPCK, 2011), 188.
[2] Richard D. Phillips, Revelation (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2017), 612.
[3] Douglas D. Webster, Follow the Lamb: A Pastoral Approach to the Revelation (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2014), 283.
Image source: StockCake
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