And He who sits on the throne said,
“Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said,
“Write, for these words are faithful and true.” – Revelation 21:5
To wrap up the good news of the gospel, let’s get a glimpse of the future that waits for all those who “call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” and take hold of eternal life. What we see around us in this world today is not what we as Christians have to look forward to in the future for all eternity. God has promised to make “all things new.” Looking back, we have seen how God’s initial creation was without sin, suffering, disease, and death; it was “very good” (i.e., perfect). Then man (Eve and then Adam) disobeyed God, and mankind fell into sin under bondage to Satan and death. God’s creation was also “cursed” at that same time; remember that this was done out of love by God, for our own good, so we would not live forever in a state of sin and spiritual separation from God. It is that cursed creation that we see all around us today, and it is still “groaning” under the curse:
For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. – Romans 8:18-23
So, God sent His Son Jesus Christ to die on the cross to redeem mankind from bondage under sin, Satan and death – and all who choose to accept Jesus as Lord and Savior via His sacrificial death as atonement for their sins are restored to life. First, we are restored to spiritual life (“He restores my soul,” “blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection”), being “born again” (“born of the Spirit”). When Jesus rose from the dead, He ascended into heaven and was “seated at the right hand of God” the Father, ruling in reigning in His kingdom (which you are in today as a “fellow participant in the tribulation and kingdom and perseverance in Jesus”).
Before He ascended, He left us with these promises:
“Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” – John 14:1-3
CHRIST’S RETURN
Scripture tells us that Jesus will come back one final time visibly, literally, bodily, in power and glory for all to see (not in some fake “secret rapture” event as some falsely teach) to gather His elect, and to begin the Great Day of Judgment:
And just as it is destined for people to die once, and after this comes judgment, so Christ also, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time for salvation without reference to sin, to those who eagerly await Him. – Hebrews 9:27-28
And after He had said these things, He [Jesus] was lifted up while they were watching, and a cloud took Him up, out of their sight. And as they were gazing intently into the sky while He was going, then behold, two men in white clothing stood beside them, and they said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you have watched Him go into heaven.” – Acts 1:9-11 (my bold)
For after all it is only just for God to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to give relief to you who are afflicted and to us as well when the Lord Jesus will be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels in flaming fire, dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power, when He comes to be glorified in His saints on that day, and to be marveled at among all who have believed—for our testimony to you was believed. – 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10
Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen. – Revelation 1:7 (my bold)
At the end of time (“the end of the [gospel/church] age”), God has promised to “wipe away every tear,” and that “there will be no more death,” and we will be “raised to eternal life” in our new “immortal bodies” with Christ:
Now I say this, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold, I tell you a mystery; we will not all sleep, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law; but thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. – 1 Corinthians 15:50-57
Remember that to the Christian, death is not an awful event to be feared and dreaded; instead, it ushers in the hope and reality of eternal life with God and Jesus in heaven. A Christian doesn’t have the same perspective as the unsaved man or woman does when facing death. While there is sadness at the loss of a friend or loved one, death is the doorway to eternal life for the child of God. We will be given new heavenly immortal bodies, free from the issues and corruption (decay) we have today in our mortal fleshly bodies. When you are “raised up” on the last day with Christ to “meet the Lord [Jesus] in the air” (this is the actual true and correct “rapture”), your immortal spirit will be united with your new immortal body:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about those who are asleep, so that you will not grieve as indeed the rest of mankind do, who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose from the dead, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. For we say this to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who remain, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord. – 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17
How amazing that will be! We will see God and His Christ face to face as they really are – in the fullness of their awesome splendor, holiness, and glory, and God will dwell among us, and He will be our Lord and our Light (“the Lord God will illumine them [us]”). Amazing wonders await us in heaven with Jesus for all eternity.
The Bible describes this new heaven and new earth (as well as the Church) as “New Jerusalem,” wherein God and righteousness dwells. Scripture gives us this wonderful and highly symbolic description of what it will be like:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.”
And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall. The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. – Revelation 21:1-27
Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever. – Revelation 22:1-5
Again, this passage of Scripture is highly symbolic; it is using the best and noblest of materials we know of today here in this physical world (gold, jasper, sapphire, clear crystal, etc.), to convey to us the almost unimaginable beauty, grandeur, splendor, majesty, and purity of heaven, where nothing unclean (i.e., sinful) enters. Contrast the symbolism and appearance of that pure city of gleaming crystal and gold vs. the appearance of this fallen earthly world that we now inhabit.
It’s truly a sad state of affairs, and a disgrace to the mind of man, that even on this final grand and glorious culmination of God’s creation and restoration to glory, we must still yet once again fend off the false teachings of man! Some falsely teach that “New Jerusalem” will be a literal city with literal streets of gold with literal mansions we dwell in, etc.; they teach that this earth will simply be “renovated” and that it will be our home for eternity. But we must confront such discouraging nonsense. Wayne Jackson writes on this subject: [1]
What Are the New Heavens and New Earth?
“What does the phrase ‘new heavens and new earth’ (2 Pet. 3:13) mean?”
There are two views concerning the meaning of the phrase, “new heavens and new earth.” Since they represent opposing viewpoints, one of them obviously is false. The phrase means either a “renewed earth,” or it is a figurative expression for “heaven” itself.
The Premillennial View
Many religious groups advocate the doctrine of premillennialism. There are, however, different forms of premillennialism. For instance, The Watchtower Society, the Seventh-day Adventists, and many Protestant denominations, hold to some form of millennialism. Yet they have significant differences between them.
Although it is not our intent to deal with the theory of premillennialism extensively, we note that those who believe in that dogma envision the “new heavens and new earth” as a literal earth, cleansed by fire.
Consider what Peter wrote.
First, the “heavens and earth” of the present are reserved for fire against the “day of judgment” (2 Pet. 3:7).
Second, the Judgment will come unexpectedly and suddenly. The heavens and earth will pass away with a great noise, the elements will dissolve with fervent heat, and the earth and its works shall be consumed (2 Pet. 3:10,12).
Third, after the Judgment, there will be the “new heavens and new earth.”
Notice what Peter did not say. He did not say that the earth would be refurbished to be an earthly paradise. He did not say that the Lord would reign upon the earth. He did not say that anyone would inhabit earth after the Second Coming. No biblical writer affirms any of these ideas.
The “Heavenly” View
Consistent with New Testament teaching concerning “final things,” the phrase “new heavens and new earth” stands for the saved environment, following the Judgment Day; this environment is more commonly called “heaven” (Mt. 6:19-20).
John wrote, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more” (Rev. 21:1). The expression “heaven and earth” stands for a place of existence — our familiar environment, i.e., land and sky. But what John saw was not the first heaven and earth. It was gone. So, he describes, in symbolic fashion, the place of the realm of the saved, where they shall reign “for ever and ever” — not a mere 1,000 years.
This environment of the saved is simply heaven. Paul wrote that our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20). The apostle also said that we have one hope, and that our hope is in heaven (Eph. 4:4; Col. 1:5).
In every respect, heaven will be characterized by newness. It is a place never before inhabited by Christians. It is the first time the saved, in a glorified state, will be in the very presence of God — face to face (cf. 1 Jn. 3:2; Rev. 22:4). This new state, where sin and death are no more, will be the eternal abode of the saved when the Lord returns, and the living are caught up with the redeemed of all ages to be with the Lord forever (cf. 1 Thes. 4:13-18).
So, know that heaven will be glorious – imagine the glory of God beheld face to face, when we will see Him in all His glory for Who, What and how He really is, a place so pure and clean, ahh…now that’s what we have to look forward to! Creation will have been restored to righteousness, wherein God’s Law, which is the Law of Love, again rules everywhere and where sin, and all things sinful including Satan (the devil), the angels that sinned and those humans who have chosen to remain in their sins will be banished from heaven forever “away from the presence of the Lord.” Those who claimed eternal life in Jesus Christ will then dwell with Him in heaven for all eternity. Amen.
“Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. …
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. – Revelation 22:12-14, 17
FALSE TEACHING(S) YOU WILL ENCOUNTER:
- Dispensational Premillennialism
- Dispensational Postmillennialism
- Distortions of Matthew 24
- Modern/Popular eschatology (a “Third Temple“, etc.)
- This present Earth will simply be “renovated”
RELATED SCRIPTURE:
And the devil who deceived them [all those who followed him instead of Christ] was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Then I saw a great white throne [on the great Day of Judgment] and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. – Revelation 20:10-15
“But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, just as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, but the goats on the left.
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’
“Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels; for I was hungry, and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger, and you did not invite Me in; naked, and you did not clothe Me; sick, and in prison, and you did not visit Me.’ Then they themselves also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, or thirsty, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not take care of You?’ Then He will answer them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.’ These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.” – Matthew 25:31-46
Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells. – 2 Peter 3:11-13
“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’” – Matthew 25:23 (ESV)
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection. – Romans 6:4-5
“They will hunger no longer, nor thirst anymore; nor will the sun beat down on them, nor any heat; for the Lamb in the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and will guide them to springs of the water of life; and God will wipe every tear from their eyes.” – Revelation 7:16-17
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is. – 1 John 3:2
He who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. – Revelation 22:20-21
