All New Things

All Things New

Revelation 21:1-6

Henry Morrison and his wife, who served for decades in Africa, then returned to New York to retire. but they had no retirement plan, and their health was poor. and so they were worried and discouraged.

They happened to be on the same ship as President Theodore Roosevelt, who was returning from one of his African hunting expeditions.

When the ship docked in new York, a band was waiting to greet the President. The mayor and other dignitaries were there. The papers were full of news of the President’s arrival.

No one was there for the missionary couple. They left the ship and found a cheap apartment on the East side hoping the next day to find jobs,

so they could make a living in the city.

That night the man said to his wife, You know, something is wrong. We’ve given our lives in service to God in Africa all these years and no one cares a thing about us.

Here this man comes back from a hunting trip and everybody makes a big fuss over him, but nobody gives two hoots about us.”

“I can’t take this, God is not treating us fairly.”

His wife replied, “Why don’t you go talk to God about it?

He went off to pray, but returned a few minutes later, and had a smile on his face.

His wife asked him what happened. He said. “I told God how bitter I was that the President

should receive this tremendous homecoming, when no one even met us at the dock.

And when I finished complaining, God said to me ‘But you aren’t home yet.’

Recently, we've examined the need to trust and praise God no matter what is happening around us.  We've been reminded that our lives (in living and in death) should be testimonies to the simple yet profound truth that Jesus is Lord.  With those thoughts in mind this morning, and still reflecting upon the recent celebration of Christ's resurrection,  we are going to examine the "Why" of it all.   Why does it often feel as if this world doesn't "give two hoots about us"?   Why are Christians always looking forward, never comfortable with now and ever hopeful for something just around the corner?

As we see in Revelation 21,  verses 1 -6, we have these promises for the future....

The Curse Gone  (v. 1)

The Blessing Realized  (vv. 2-4)   and

This Work Is Certain (vv. 5-6)

Body

The Curse Gone  (v. 1)

All the curses of disobedience and death are done away with

The Good News of Jesus

His obedience overcame the curse of disobedience

Through one man death came; through another life

Heaven and Earth Pass Away

Jesus said they would

"Heaven and earth will pass away...."  (Matt. 24:35)

According to the prophet

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;

      And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.  -- Isaiah 65:17

“ For as the new heavens and the new earth

      Which I will make shall remain before Me,” says the LORD,

      “ So shall your descendants and your name remain.  -- Isaiah 66:22

The creation is renewed in a manner analogous to mankind's death and resurrection

by fire -- 2 Peter 3:10

through fleeing from His presence -- Rev. 20:11

No More Sea

a type of destruction  (flood)

a symbol of political turmoil  (Rev. 13:1)

The Blessing Realized  (vv. 2-4)

All of the promised blessings are realized

The Holy City Descends 

 God's people inherit the earth

The earth (land) has always been a part of God’s promise/covenant 

God Dwells With His People 

 He is in their midst

Presence has always been included in God’s ultimate blessing

Their Adoption Is Complete 

 He has become our Father

All is restored to what it was/was to have been

Illustration

Joni Eareckson became a quadriplegic as a result of a diving accident many years ago so she’s experienced more than her share of pain and heartache.

She says that “Heaven has become my heart’s home, the place where I will finally belong. The place where I will get a brand new body.” And she adds

Something so glorious is going to happen that it will atone for every single tear we’ve ever cried. God is going to give us the key that will make sense out of what now seems to be such senseless suffering.

This Work Is Certain (vv. 5-6)

What is presently only partially realized on Earth is become a certainty

"Make" = continually active in this process

Illustration -- 

Some things you can't take back

the drinking glass, slipped and broken in the sink

the e-mail sent in haste

the words misspoken in anger

You ever wish you could go back in time?

to mend that relationship that was severed

to reconcile before that person died

to stop that event that so tragically altered all others that followed

I used to think I understood time travel

in the original Star Trek series, they simply used the gravitational pull of a nearby sun to accelerate them into the future or back to wherever they'd come from.

Now scientist claim that it's harder than that.

Despite all of the science fiction of print and television, it's impossible to alter the past to make it turn out for good.

And yet... this is what God declares when he proclaims, “Behold, I make all things new.”

the language there is much more than repainting your deck and calling it "new" or overhauling your truck's engine and calling that "new"

Here the word takes on the quality of "new" and "improved" 

God doesn’t just replace the heavens and the earth saying, "Well, let's try this again."

The heavens and earth are cleansed, restored, renewed and recreated to become all that they were ever intended to be from eternity past.

Something similar to what has begun - through Christ—  within you and me.

These words are true

In effect, this is as certain as if finished -- It IS done

Conclusion

Sickness and death & ways in which we might avoid them are uppermost in people’s minds today.  Our lives have been upended by the virus and it’s ramifications.  We might be prone to wonder, when will things get back to what they were?  When will things be better?

Our text today is an answer to that.  A time is coming when the curse is gone, when all of God’s blessings are realized and what we only partially experience now is a complete certainty.

At the end of his very last book, C.S. Lewis is trying to describe how the characters all go to heaven  But he doesn’t actually use the word heaven,

This is what he writes.

"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 live happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story.

"All their life in this world had only been the cover and the title page.

And 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."

John struggles in a similar way with writing this book of Revelation, especially the final chapters.  He is, in truth, writing about things so great and beautiful that words can barely express them.  Yet despite that, today's text conveys the ideas that in the future we will see...

All the curses of disobedience and death are done away with

All of the promised blessings are realized,  and

The full realization of what is now known only in part

So I close today with one simple question:  Is that what you desire?

Do you thirst for these things?

Is this the longing deep within your heart?

If so, then Jesus says, "Drink"

He said, "I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts."

Believe Him for that.

Receive life -- new life this very day