Sermon Tone Analysis

| *The New Heaven and the New Earth \\ (Revelation 21:1–8)* |

*/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.”/**

*(21:1–8)

 

*Intro*.

: Throughout the history of the church, God’s people rightly have been preoccupied with heaven.

They have longed for its joys because they have been only loosely tied to this earth.

·         They have seen themselves as “/strangers and exiles on the earth” who “desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one/” (Heb.

11:13, 16).

·         With the psalmist they have said to God, “/Whom have I in heaven but You?

And besides You, I desire nothing on earth.

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever”/ (Ps.

73:25–26);

·         and “/As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for You, O God.

My soul thirsts for God, for the living God; when shall I come and appear before God?”/ (Ps.

42:1–2).

·         Through the centuries, that desire to see God (Matt.

5:8) and to be in His presence and enjoy Him forever (Ps.

16:11), that intense longing that nothing on this earth can satisfy (Heb.

11:13–16), has marked believers.

·         Sadly, that is no longer true for many in today’s church.

Caught up in our society’s mad rush for instant gratification, material comfort, and narcissistic indulgence, the church has become worldly.

·         Nothing more graphically demonstrates that worldliness than the current lack of interest in heaven.

The church doesn’t sing or preach much about heaven, believers seldom discuss it, songs are no longer written about it, and books about heaven are few and far between.

·         Believers who do not have heaven on their minds trivialize their lives, hinder the power of the church, and become absorbed with the fading things of this world.

·         The Bible makes it clear that believers are to focus on heaven.

·         In Philippians 3:20 Paul notes that “/our citizenship is in heaven/.”

·         To the Colossians he wrote, “/Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.

Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth/” (Col.

3:1–2).

·         James rebukes worldliness in no uncertain terms: “/You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God/” (James 4:4).

·         The apostle John adds: /“Do not love the world nor the things in the world.

If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life, is not from the Father, but is from the world.

The world is passing away, and also its lusts; but the one who does the will of God lives forever”/ (1 John 2:15–17).

A heavenly perspective is vital, since everything connected to believers’ spiritual life and destiny is there.

Their Father is there, as are their Savior and their Comforter.

The myriads of their fellow believers who have successfully run their earthly races are there (Heb.

12:23).

Believers’ names are recorded in heaven (3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27; Phil.

4:3), they are citizens of heaven (Phil.

3:20), their inheritance is there (1 Pet.

1:4), and their reward (Matt.

5:12) and treasure (Matt.

19:21) are there.

In short, everything of lasting importance to believers is in heaven; it is their home, and they are strangers, exiles, and pilgrims on earth (1 Chron.

29:15; Ps. 119:19; Heb.

11:13–16; 1 Pet.

2:11).

Even death, the final enemy (1 Cor.

15:26), merely ushers believers into the presence of God.

The words of the Preacher in Ecclesiastes 7:1, though cynical and pessimistic, are nevertheless true for the believer: “The day of one’s death is better than the day of one’s birth.”

His intense longing for heaven led Paul to write, “For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain.…

[I have] the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better” (Phil.

1:21, 23).

Desiring heaven exerts a powerful influence on believers’ lives here on earth.

In his first epistle the apostle John described one of the main reasons Christians desire heaven: “We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is” (1 John 3:2; cf.

Phil.

3:21).

Believers will receive glorified bodies, similar to Christ’s resurrected body, in which they will “see Him just as He is” (cf. 1 Cor.

13:12).

Then John gave the practical effect such knowledge should have on believers’ lives: “Everyone who has this hope fixed on Him purifies himself, just as He is pure” (1 John 3:3; cf. 2 Pet.

3:14).

A genuine and strong longing for heaven has many important implications and benefits for the Christian.

Such a longing is one of the surest indicators of genuine salvation, “for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Luke 12:34).

A genuine and strong longing for heaven also produces the highest and noblest Christian character.

Those who spend much time meditating on heavenly things cannot help but have their lives transformed.

A genuine and strong longing for heaven also brings joy and comfort in trials.

Those who focus on heaven’s glories can endure anything in this life and not lose their joy.

When they suffer, they can say with Paul, “For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison” (2 Cor.

4:17).

A genuine and strong longing for heaven is also a preservative against sin.

Those who set their minds on things above are less likely to become ensnared by earthly temptations.

“For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.

For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace” (Rom.

8:5–6).

A genuine and strong longing for heaven will also maintain the vigor of believers’ spiritual service.

Those who are negligent in the Lord’s work and make only a token, minimal effort to serve Him, demonstrate little regard for eternal things.

They foolishly think that the reward for pursuing earthly things is greater than that for pursuing heavenly things.

Finally, a genuine and strong longing for heaven honors God above everything else.

Those who focus on heaven focus on the Supreme One in heaven.

By setting their hearts on Him, they honor the One whose heart is set on them.

Scripture refers to heaven more than five hundred times.

Revelation alone mentions heaven about fifty times.

The Bible delineates three heavens (2 Cor.

12:2).

The first heaven is the earth’s atmosphere (Gen.

1:20; Job 12:7; Ezek.

38:20); the second heaven is interplanetary and interstellar space (Gen.

15:5; 22:17; Deut.

1:10; 4:19; Ps. 8:3; Isa.

13:10); the third heaven is the dwelling place of God (Deut.

4:39; 1 Kings 8:30; Job 22:12; Ps. 14:2; Dan.

2:28; Matt.

5:34; Acts 7:55; Heb.

9:24; 1 Pet.

3:22).

Heaven is an actual place, not a state of spiritual consciousness.

That is evident because some have gone there in glorified bodies, such as Enoch (Gen.

5:24), Elijah (2 Kings 2:11), and the Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:9).

That Christ is presently preparing a place for believers and will one day return to take them to heaven (John 14:2–3; 1 Thess.

4:16–17) offers further proof that heaven is a place.

The Bible does not give a location for heaven, but views it from the perspective of the earth as up (4:1; 2 Cor.

12:2).

Though heaven is far beyond the created world in another dimension, when believers die they will be there immediately (Luke 23:43; 2 Cor.

5:8).

Those believers alive at the Rapture will also be transported to heaven immediately (1 Thess.

4:13–18; 1 Cor.

15:51–55).

This text unfolds six features of the final and eternal heaven, called the new heaven and the new earth: the appearance of the new heaven and the new earth, the capital of the new heaven and the new earth, the supreme reality of the new heaven and the new earth, the changes in the new heaven and the new earth, the residents of the new heaven and the new earth, and the outcasts from the new heaven and the new earth.