In this episode, J. Mark Horst examines Revelation 21:1-8, where John sees a vision of God’s promise of a new heaven and a new earth. This encouraging passage shows three contrasts: old versus new, presence versus absence, and residents versus outcasts. A day is coming when God will dwell with His people and put an end to all pain and sorrow. Join us to learn about what we will experience in “A New Heaven and Earth.”
“There is nothing new under the sun!” Is that true? Solomon wrote this in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “That which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done, and there is nothing new under the sun.” Was he ignorant of the advances of science and technology? How do you respond to Solomon’s wisdom?
New is a word that appeals to us. We like new things. Even though the word is overused, it still gets our attention. “New and improved,” the headline proclaims. “Newly renovated” signs appear on apartments or hotels. Even air fresheners are marketed with the “new car smell.”
Some Bible scholars claim to have a new light on the writings of the apostle Paul; men like George Moore, James Dunn, E.P. Sanders, and N.T. Wright (who, incidentally, has referred to himself as “the new Luther”). Podcasters and YouTube influencers abound, promoting all kinds of “new” interpretations of Scripture. We do well to heed the advice of one sage: “If the interpretation is either new or novel, it is probably neither. It’s probably heresy.”
Only One can truly make new things: the triune God. The word “new” harmonizes with the name and work of our Lord Jesus. He came after the old system failed, and He began anew with us as the head of a chosen race. He is the Mediator of the new covenant, and has come to place us in a new relationship with God. He makes new creations out of old creatures.
Right now, this newness is primarily spiritual. It does change our behavior and some of our circumstances, but not the fact of our physical death. However, this newness will ultimately be fulfilled when ALL things are made new! Today, we examine Revelation 21:1-8, where John hears a voice from heaven proclaim, “Behold, I make all things new.” In scenes beyond human understanding, John records what he hears and sees.
1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
7 He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
8 But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
This text provides several vivid CONTRASTS to help us grasp the reality of the new heavens and the new earth.
The First Contrast is,
Old vs New
In the previous chapter, we witnessed the final judgment on Satan and all who followed him. They, along with death and the grave, were thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone to be tormented day and night forever and ever. The opening of our text sharply contrasts with those dismal scenes of destruction.
In this new vision, John realizes that the old physical world is gone. The first heaven and earth, tainted by sin and its effects, have passed away. This fulfills Isaiah 66:22-24, which addresses Israel as God’s people. “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. And it shall come to pass that from one New Moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, all flesh shall come to worship before Me,” says the Lord. This newness is also prophesied in Isaiah 65:17-19 and Romans 8:19-23.
The Bible reveals remarkably little about the character of the new heaven and the new earth, but they are evidently quite different from their present form, what we call the “old”. Verse 1 gives no description of either the new heaven or the new earth except the cryptic statement, “There was no more sea.” Commentators are divided on its meaning.
Is the sea literal or figurative? The Jewish NT Commentary explains it as “the Mediterranean will no longer be the western boundary of the Land.” Others say that in the ancient world, the sea is allied with darkness, so it must be eliminated. However, Genesis 1:9-10 says God created the seas and pronounced them “good.” So, it seems that there “is not more sea” in its present state. It undergoes the same rebirth and brings forth a new sea, just as the old heaven and earth bring forth a new heaven and earth. There is renewal, but no annihilation.
Many mistakenly take 2 Peter 3:10-11 to mean complete annihilation of the existing order. However, the word “dissolved” elsewhere means “loosing or setting free” (Matthew 19:28; 1 Corinthians 7:27). This does not end their existence, but terminates or dissolves their present condition, making way for a new and better one.
The writer of Hebrews explains: “You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain;
and they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But You are the same, and Your years will not fail” (Hebrews 1:10-12).
John saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, descending from heaven like a bride adorned for her husband. Notice, this is not the bride of Christ, but the place where the bride will live! This is in contrast to the earthly Jerusalem and the wicked city of Babylon, which represented the entire corrupt system of Satan and his followers. Hebrews 11:10 tells us this is the city Abraham waited for: “…which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” God has prepared this city according to Jesus’ promise in John 14:1-3.
So, the old heavens, earth, and sea are contrasted with the new, recreated ones, and the glory of the Holy City is contrasted with Babylon’s evil. These naturally lead to the second contrast.
The Next Contrast is,
Presence vs Absence
As John observes, a loud voice from heaven proclaims, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” This is the last of twenty-one times the book of Revelation mentions “a great voice” or “a loud voice.” The fact that the voice is great tells us that the subsequent revelation is important and authoritative
Adam and Eve enjoyed an intimate relationship with God until they sinned. God instructed Moses to build the Tabernacle so He could dwell among His people. There, the Shekinah glory resided in the Holy of Holies. John 1:14 goes further: Jesus was made flesh and lived among men. In our text, God is now with His people in the fullest sense. He is theirs, and they are His. Emmanuel, God with us, is now a reality as prophesied in Isaiah 7:14!
Some scholars believe the word “people” in verse 3 should be plural: “peoples.” If so, it reinforces the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 and affirms Acts 17:26: God made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, fixed the limits of their territory, and set the periods when they would flourish. It also confirms Revelation 7:9: “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.”
In that glorious future, we will have full, unhindered fellowship with Him (1 John 1:3). We will see Him as He is, in all His glory (1 John 3:2). We will worship Him in a way we could never do here on earth, and we will serve Him day and night in His temple.
Now, here is the amazing list of things absent from that city. “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there will be no more death, sorrow, or crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Notice how the list begins with the removal of ALL TEARS! This fulfills Isaiah 25:8. Tears are no longer needed because all that causes them to flow will be banished. This is beyond our ability to comprehend. Death, sorrow, crying, and pain are such a part of our earthly experience that we cannot imagine a world where they don’t exist. God uses these very things to create in our hearts a longing for Him and His presence. “We ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
God himself dries our tears. Human hands are poor at drying them. If they remove one set, others come, and they cannot wipe them away. Earthly power, however good and kind, cannot go far in the binding up of broken hearts. Only the hand that made the spirit can reach the deep sources of its sorrows, or dry up the streams that issue from them.[1]
And then, in divine confirmation of the message John heard, the voice of God sounds from the throne. “Behold, I make ALL things new.” This message, addressed to the entire world, confirms Isaiah 65:17: “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.”
Keep in mind that two Greek words are translated as “new” in our English Bibles. One is neos (nay-os), which means new in terms of time and youthfulness. The other is kainos (kay-nos), which emphasizes something that is new in essence or nature. All things are made new in the same sense that Eve was made a new creature, though formed from Adam’s rib. It often refers to something innovative or different from what has come before. This second word is the one used in our text. It signifies a drastic change.
John is so astounded by the announcement and the previous revelations that he must be reminded, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.” This voice seems different from the one from the throne, asserting the reliability of God’s pronouncement. Though the present “heaven and earth will pass away,” God’s “words will not pass away” (Luke 21:33). The universe will end, but the truth God reveals to His people will not end. It is forever settled in heaven! Whether men understand and believe that truth or not, it will come to pass.
In further confirmation, the voice from the throne adds, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” This refers to the work accomplished throughout the drama of human history before the eternal state. This statement does not mean God has no future works, but that a major work is complete and that the works now relating to the eternal state are beginning.[2]
What an amazing contrast of presence and absence, positive and negative; all confirmed by the unchanging character of Almighty God!
The Final Contrast is,
Residents vs Outcasts
This final section begins with God’s words, “I will give…” God is the bountiful giver of every good and perfect gift (James 1:5). He freely dispenses the water of life (John 7:37) to all who are thirsty. Those who will be redeemed and enter heaven are those who are dissatisfied with their hopeless, lost condition and crave God’s righteousness with every part of their being (Matthew 5:6). They will have free access to the spring of water of life without cost or limit.
In addition, God has a promised gift for those who overcome. “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.” The overcomer is the person who, in faith, drinks the water of salvation freely offered by God. John uses this distinctive term for believers in the closing promise of each letter to the seven churches.
The overcomers will “obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for [them]” (1 Peter 1:4). They will enjoy perfection of soul and body forever in the bliss of the new heaven and the new earth.
But the most amazing promise to the one who overcomes, who thirsts for righteousness, is God’s promise: I will be his God. Equally amazing is God’s promise that the one who overcomes will be My son. In this life, we have the privilege of being adopted as sons of the God of the universe (Rom. 8:14–17). But only in heaven, when believers inherit all things (1 Peter 1:4), will that adoption be fully realized (Romans 8:23). We will be home at last with “Abba, Father.”
But sadly, many will be barred from that state of eternal bliss. Instead, they will suffer, along with Satan, the Antichrist, and the false prophet, eternal torment in the lake of fire and brimstone. They are listed here as the cowardly, those who shrink from the conflict with sin, ashamed or afraid to avow and maintain their faith in God and his Christ. Unable or unwilling to overcome their fear of the Antichrist, they cast their lot with Satan and his accomplices.
The faithless are those who showed contempt for their Maker’s testimony. They scorned to trust for salvation in the merits of a crucified Savior, and will not have Christ to rule over them. The abominable or polluted are those who basely degrade themselves with their uncleanness and bestiality. The murderers, whether by outward act or inward malice, are banned from God’s presence. The sexually immoral, whether practiced in the body or the cherished lust of the soul.
The sorcerers, practitioners of the black arts, conjurers, those who consult the dead, who seek and exercise occult powers God has forbidden. The idolaters, whether in the form of pagan worship or the giving of the heart to covetousness, selfishness, money, or what is not God. And all the liars who make, love, or act on lies. None of these evil characters will ever enter the new heaven and earth.
The new heaven and the new earth await believers, and the final hell awaits resurrected unbelievers. For believers, it will be a universe of eternal happiness, where they dwell forever in God’s glorious presence. For unbelievers, it will be a terrifying place of unbearable torment and unrelieved misery away from God’s presence. “These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2 Thessalonians 1:9). The choices we make in this life determine in which realm we will live forever.
People may think we’re delusional when we insist on reading God’s word as it is written, but he has anticipated all their rationalizing and skepticism. The One on the throne says, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” Make no mistake: God knew how to say what he meant, and he knew what he meant by what he said. And to what he has said, he affixes his own infallible seal: the words are “faithful and true.” Here, then, let us rest till their fulfillment comes.
As you observe these contrasts, will you be part of the old or the new? Will you experience the glory of God’s presence and the absence of all pain/ Will you be a resident of heaven or an outcast doomed to eternal suffering? The choice is yours. Choose wisely, my friend.
[1] Seiss, Joseph, Lectures on Revelation, p. 489
[2] Walvoord, John, Revelation, p.329
