The New Heaven and New Earth

[00:00:00] Speaker A: Okay, so what do you imagine when you think of Heaven? Yes. A golden city. Okay. A golden street. Nice. Nice. Oh, yeah. The Kingdom of Pilgrim's Progress. That's really great. Yeah. [00:00:35] Speaker B: Yes. [00:00:38] Speaker A: A bunch of people walking around smiling. That's what you said. Okay, great. I'm not. We're not. We're not being critical, so there aren't wrong answers to this. I mean, it may not look exactly how you think, but just want to know what you imagine. Anything else that anyone wants to share? Oh, yeah. Perfect resurrected body. What does it look like? Will you picture it? It's just, like, glowing, so you can't really see. No. That's good. Yeah. You know, I. I think those are all very, very normal things to picture. We typically do picture. I think at least this could just be me and Owen and Asher. I picture golden things. A gold mansion on a cloud, you know, sitting up in the sky. But that's not. And, you know, that's not exactly what the Bible is telling us, Though some of those descriptors are used by the Bible. We hear magnificent imagery in the Bible of gold and a room for everyone who believes in Christ. But to some extent, these might just be creative ways to describe something else. What if heaven is just the earth? What if heaven is just the earth? What if God is going to restore earth to its original intended beauty, but that beauty is so magnificent that there's no way to describe it except by such magnificent language as golden streets, a home for every person? Well, that's what we're talking about. We're talking about the new heaven and the new Earth. Let's review first. It's been a couple weeks, and this is our last lesson in this whole systematic theology deal. This is less than 50 out of 50. Can you believe that? But let's review for the 50th or I guess the 49th time. We didn't review the first time. What is theology? [00:02:46] Speaker B: Yes, it's the study of God and [00:02:48] Speaker A: how to be more like him. The study of God and how to be more like him. Great. And what doctrine are we in and are finishing? Yes, that's right. The doctrine of last things called eschatology. And what lessons have we covered before this one that kind of lead us up? Yeah, yeah. We talked about eternal punishment. I think that. Yeah, that was the most recent one. [00:03:13] Speaker C: Death in the intermediate state. [00:03:14] Speaker A: Yeah. Death in the intermediate state. Yeah. The final judgment. Yes. There are three more. Does anyone know them? Yeah. The millennium. Yes. Were you gonna say another Owen? We didn't talk about that. There Might be a couple that could be relevant. I mean, we mentioned that, but we didn't have a lesson on that. Anyone else? Asher? The resurrection. You were going to say that too, Jeremiah. Okay, all right, I'll just give us the other one. The other one was the return of Christ. Oh, that's so crucial. People disagree about the millennium. That's okay. But we got to agree that Jesus is coming back. So that's a very important one for us. I trust that you guys know that. So, yeah, we talked about death, intermediate state. What happens now when people die? Well, they die and they are held in the intermediate state. We talked about what that looks like. At some point Christ will return and when he returns. Also involved in that is Christ's reign on earth. This is called the millennium. We talked about different views for that. At some point. There's also a resurrection of the dead, so all people that have died are resurrected and then judged. We talked about the final judgment. The final judgment will send people either to eternal punishment, which we discussed two weeks ago, or to eternal life, which is the topic of this week. Now, here's the summary definition. We're focusing on all the things that what will it be like for those that do not receive the condemnation in the lake of fire and are given eternal life? So here is the definition. The new heaven and new earth is the final and eternal state of the universe resulting from the renewal of the current fallen creation for the glory of God. I'll read it again in case you missed something. The new heaven and new earth is the final and eternal state of the universe resulting from the renewal of the current fallen creation for the glory of God. To start, we're going to look at Revelation 21:1 8. We'll kind of try to keep this one in mind as we discuss the rest of the lesson. This is a really good starting point for discussing the new heaven and the new earth. Revelation 21:1 8. It shouldn't be too hard. It's almost at the very, very end, probably the last couple of pages of your Bible. Revelation 21 says so John is writing. He sees another vision. He says, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven. And the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will Be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new also. He said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, it is done. I am the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty, I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. So that's kind of an intro to this new creation. So point number one, the new heaven and new Earth is the fulfillment of all the scriptures. This is not a new thing. It is the fulfillment of all the scriptures before it. Now, let me ask a question. What does this passage from Revelation 21 remind you of? Are there any other parts of the Bible that the description of the new heaven and the new Earth kind of remind you of? Anyone? Are there any other places in the Bible where the dwelling place of God is with man? Yeah, yeah. The Garden of Eden. We could think of the temple and some other places. Moses, burning bush, the pillar of fire and the cloud by day for the Israelites. But most notably, the dwelling place of God being with man in perfect harmony is in the Garden of Eden also. In the Garden of Eden, we see that there is blessed joyfulness, there is happiness. Whereas this describes the new heaven and new Earth that God will wipe away every tear. Death will be no more. So there's no death. Was there death in the Garden of Eden before they sinned? [00:09:37] Speaker B: No. [00:09:38] Speaker A: That's why one of the punishments was. Was death. God said, you shall surely die if you eat of the tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. But death will be no more again. There won't be mourning or crying. There won't be pain. All of these former things have passed away. There is a return to this Garden of Eden. And this Garden of Eden will have expanded to the entire Earth. The entire Earth will be this blessed place. Why do you think the Bible begins and ends like this? The cricket noise is really killing me right now. Anyone? Why do you think? [00:10:32] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of like a story. [00:10:36] Speaker A: Yeah, [00:10:39] Speaker B: it's all stuff happens with the rising action, the climax and stuff. In the end, everything goes back to be perfect. [00:10:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Well, I think that's interesting, right? We, you know, humans are made in God's image and we write stories like that. And those stories are really just reflecting who we are. Our creativity comes from the God who designed the entire course of human history to be like this. He planned this out. So just because it's like a story doesn't mean it's fake. I know Levi wasn't saying that. Sometimes we might assume that no, God had this all planned out. It is like a story for him. He wrote it from beginning to end before he did any of it. God is completely in control of it all. And I'm just kind of making the point that we can see that we think that's a beautiful thing because the God who did that made us and he made us particularly like him. So, yeah, that's one reason. There's just this beautiful symmetry between the beginning and the end. Another reason I think the Bible begins and ends like this. It shows us that this was, is, and always will be God's intention with creation. What he made in the Garden of Eden was perfect. That's what he wanted. What he did for the Garden of Eden, for the original creation before sin will always be considered good, proper and glorious, because that's what he wanted the world to be like. He did not. This is not like a plan B sort of thing, or he wasn't just. This is just a placeholder, you know, it's all going to fall into sin. And then I'll do something even better. That was perfect. That was good. This is why we see in the New Testament, Christians refer to creation to even make points, because everything in the garden was perfect. So they make points about views of men, women, marriage. And we call back to creation because that was good. Whatever it was like in the Garden of Eden was and still is good. God still views that as good. And that's what he's taking us back to. But what happened? We have the beginning and end the same. What happens in the middle? Why is the middle different? Yes. Yeah. Man sinned. It's an easy question. Good job. Man sinned. There's a problem that communion with God was broken. Instead of being the recipients of his love, we're the recipients of his wrath and judgment. And when that happened, it wasn't just men and women that sinned and fell under judgment and became vulnerable to death, but creation too fell into futility and unproductivity. Creation, too, is affected by sin. Not just people. The whole world affected by that. So what's the parallel for God's plan with creation and God's plan with sinful people? He will redeem them. Just as he's going to redeem those who have faith in His Son, he's redeeming the earth, too. The world he made also matters now. Again, humans are especially created. You might remember the lesson on the image of God that He stamped each person with. But that doesn't mean the rest of the world is unloved by him, is irrelevant to Him. It is all important. He has initiated his rescue plan for sinners through faith in Christ. And when he returns, he'll renew the creation, restoring it to an everlasting and eternal version of what it originally was. I've mentioned this guy before. Greg Allison wrote the book that helped me kind of categorize this into 50 lessons. And he said, it will once again be fruitful, lush, beautiful, and in harmony with human beings. It will once again redound immaculately to the glory of God. The earth will be wonderful as it was supposed to be. How does this doctrine give us hope? How does this doctrine give us hope? Are you asking me a question? The doctrine of the new heaven and the new Earth. Maybe a camp region attender can answer this, since we had this exact discussion last week. Pressure's on, but anyone can answer. There's going to be a new heaven and a new Earth. Does this give us hope? Yes. How. Exactly? Does anybody experience pain? Yeah. Has anyone ever cried? Yeah. Has anyone suffered in any way? Yes. Yes. What if that's all going to be gone? Revelation 21 tells us that will all be gone. The former things have passed away. Anything from, you know, depression to parasitic diarrhea, it's all gone. Like, literally everything is gone. I know that's a silly example, but all of that is gone. Serious things are gone. Mental health issues, the tragic loss of family members and friends. All of that is going to be gone. There are people that spend every single day of their life suffering. And that will be no more. There won't be a millisecond of suffering for those in the new heaven and the new earth. Nothing. No discomfort, not even feeling groggy, not getting a common cold, none of those things. They're gone. There's incredible hope in that. We've talked about suffering and losing people. If you lose people they believed in the Lord, they will be there again. But even more than that, you'll be with the Lord. Yes. I'm sorry. [00:17:32] Speaker C: I think this is a little silly, but what I wanted to answer to your question is that gardening will be easy. Or maybe like, easier. [00:17:40] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:17:43] Speaker C: I'm assuming it'll be plentiful. [00:17:45] Speaker A: Yeah. You're not going to go to camp for a week and have all of your garden scorched by the 102 degree sun. This may have happened to us before. [00:17:57] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:17:59] Speaker A: We will be in harmony with creation. That's exactly right. There won't be. You won't be afraid of a bear attacking you in the woods. I know that's not really a fear. What's a more common fear? Like a rattlesnake. What were you saying? [00:18:13] Speaker C: I did think that walking around campreach. [00:18:17] Speaker A: I don't know if they have bears. Sure, they have snakes. Anyway, there is incredible hope. So the first application is to have hope in the new heaven and new earth. Think of those things. Read this passage. Imagine what it would be like. And if you want to grab hold of that hope, then turn from your sins and trust in the Lord Jesus christ. That is your only hope. Because not everyone goes to the new heaven and new earth. Remember, the judgment and eternal punishment is in store for the wicked. The lake that burns with fire and sulfur. The second death, as Revelation 21 calls it. And so as we see the new heaven and the new earth is the fulfillment of all the scriptures from the beginning to the end. This is God's plan. Point number two. The new heaven and new earth will be perfect. We hinted at this, but let's look at another passage to see how it will be perfect. Go to Romans 8. So think about specifically our topic as we read this passage. Romans 8, 1825. Romans 8, 1825. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For that the creation waits with eager longing 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 will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience. So there's some more help thinking about how we can have hope in this. Let me ask this question. From the passage, what will the creation be set free from? What does he say? [00:21:06] Speaker B: Yes, from its bondage to corruption. [00:21:10] Speaker A: Yeah, Bondage to corruption and futility. [00:21:13] Speaker B: What? [00:21:14] Speaker A: Can anyone tell us what that means? Or actually, what are some examples of the creation's bondage to corruption? It's slavery to corruption, Suffering. Suffering, yeah. But even thinking specifically about the earth, the creation, how is the world in bondage to corruption? Do we see examples of that? I can't read what your back says. [00:21:55] Speaker B: Huh? [00:21:56] Speaker A: It's in the wilderness. Okay. The wilderness. I think so, yeah. The garden and the new heaven. I don't think there's wilderness the way that we think of it. We kind of think of wilderness as deserty. But yeah, [00:22:12] Speaker B: we're kind of, like, selfish. That's how we're corrupt. We always try and get. [00:22:16] Speaker A: Yeah, for us, huh? Decay. Yeah, yeah, yes. [00:22:27] Speaker B: Sin, [00:22:30] Speaker A: sure. Yeah. Natural disasters. That's a good example. Yeah. I think all these. Because we see this bondage to corruption in us as God's creation. We see it in the world, like in hurricanes and famines, diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks, someone's little yappy dog being carried off by a hawk. You know, all of these things are examples. Seriously, animals will live in harmony. You know, the lamb will lie by the lion in the new heaven and new earth, and they will not be afraid of one another. Everything will be in harmony. So all of these are ways that we see this corruption. So why is the recreating of the earth so significant? Does it really matter? Why is God recreating the earth instead of just bringing us into some, like, spiritual throne in the clouds? Yeah, I'm sorry, what? [00:23:37] Speaker B: Because the earth is fully corrupted. [00:23:39] Speaker A: Okay, what were you going to say? Yeah, yeah, the earth is corrupted, so he's got to recreate it. But also he wants to dwell with us. But can he dwell with us in some other sphere? Can we just become spirits and dwell spiritually with him? You know, this is what happens in the intermediate state, right there. It's a spiritual presence. Why does it need to be physical? It's a good question. It's kind of hard. It's okay, because that's good, right? Paul talks about that. When we talked about the intermediate state specifically, and even the resurrection, we discussed how it's better to be just spiritually present with the Lord out of the sinful body. But what he says is that's as if you're unclothed. It's not fully perfect yet. You're not quite as you're supposed to be. Because God created you as an embodied soul. You're not just a soul, and you happen to have a body. Your body is integral to who you are. He gave you your body and he loves you, body and soul. So that means something about the physical is important to God. He wants us to dwell as he intended. And what he intended was souls in bodies. And what he intended was those physical bodies to be in a physical earth. And though while people die, they wait in an intermediate state, the intention is to return to that glorious, perfect garden. And that is why it's so important that he will recreate the earth. And it's not just we can't spiritualize it. That's actually error number one. We must not spiritualize the new heaven and new earth. We don't want to make its physicality minimal. We don't want to deny its physicality. We can't spiritualize this. If we do this, we're denying the inherent goodness of what God created. What he created was inherently good. He did not create something subpar. He created what was most good for us from the beginning. And that's why it's so important that he brings us back. And therefore we can praise God that He had it right all along. He didn't say actually, this whole physical realm thing was a bad idea. Let me just get rid of it all. No, he's going to recreate it and make it perfect again. Now, what does it mean that the earth will be perfect practically? Well, let's look at Isaiah 65 to see that. Isaiah 65, interestingly enough, the exact same verses as in Romans 8, Isaiah 65, 1825. Or actually, we'll do slightly different verses. Let's start at verse 17 as that makes more sense. As you'll see Isaiah 65 starting in verse 17. For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create. For, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people. No more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days. For the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall Be accursed. They shall build houses and inhabit them. They shall plant vineyards and eat their fruits, and they shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat. For like the days of a tree shall the days of my people be, and my chosen shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labor in vain or bear children for calamity, for they shall be the offspring of the blessed, of the Lord, and their descendants with them. Before they call, I will answer. While they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall graze together. The lion shall eat straw like the ox. The dust shall be the serpent's food. They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain, says the Lord. So look at this. What are some ways that the earth will be perfect? What are some examples God gives us in Isaiah? Yeah. Yes, that is right. Yeah, you're right on the nose. There. Any other examples? There's a lot. Yeah. Yeah. Long life. It's kind of like imagery for long life. Yeah. That's considered. Like, a hundred years is considered young. All right. That's like an Old Testament way of kind of pointing us to what we have revealed in revelation, that is eternal life. 100 years is young. Okay. What else? The lion won't eat you. It will eat straw. Anya. Yeah, yeah. Work won't be hard. Joy and gladness. [00:29:38] Speaker B: Yes, that's it. They're no more. I'll just read it. I'll try to paraphrase. No more shall be heard in. In it, the sound of weeping and crying distress. [00:29:56] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. No more. Jeremiah, did you have something? Okay, yeah. You guys can, you know, if you are trying to practice hoping in the new heaven and new earth, read Isaiah 65 and just think about that. We see that it will be perfect. Like, I tried to reference wolf and the lamb graze together. People aren't taking advantage of one another. People are not born for calamity and war, but they're born for peace. It's amazing. Now, this gets us to our third and final point. The new heaven and new earth should affect how we live now. It should affect how we live now. So, yeah, this is kind of like an application as well. Let's think about how the new heaven and new earth should affect how you live now. Let me ask a question. Why do athletes work hard? It's simple. [00:30:54] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:30:55] Speaker A: So they can be good at what they do. So they can be good at what they do. Any other reason? Yeah. To win. [00:31:04] Speaker B: Right. [00:31:04] Speaker A: Achieve their goals, win a reward, get to whatever the best result might Be for their sport. Why do students study. To get knowledge. [00:31:19] Speaker B: Yeah, it's kind of hard to put. [00:31:21] Speaker A: Yeah, okay. Sure. Yeah, okay. We're going to ignore that one, but yeah, that's probably true for some people. But let's say, you know, you guys. Sure, that might be true. But what about someone getting a PhD or master's degree? No one is forcing them to be in that education. Well, they're doing it to learn. They want to achieve the goal, they want to earn the degree. They want to know as much as they can. They want to get to the best result. Like the athlete students. I want to hear how should the reality of a future new heaven and new earth affect how you live now? How should it affect how you live now? Anything from camp? Yeah. [00:32:18] Speaker B: Have your mind on eternal things? [00:32:22] Speaker A: Yeah, Yeah. As much as we can think of eternity, don't act like it's not there. We don't want to be caught up in our daily affairs too much. We want to remember that you and every single person you interact with will exist somewhere for eternity. Anything else? Yeah, Yeah, exactly. We can have hope. That's great. Yeah. [00:33:15] Speaker B: He was saying like whoever you suffer for like a day or something like [00:33:18] Speaker C: that, [00:33:23] Speaker B: It's like it doesn't really matter because like [00:33:29] Speaker A: I can maybe help you finish. It becomes, it's like a blip. It's nothing. A day in this life, you know, in your whole life still, you know, after a while doesn't feel like a lot. I think he made the illustration. You know, like a two year old falls and hurts her knee. Well, that's like a much larger percentage of her life that day than for you because you've lived many more days than a two year old. Well, if you are living for eternity, what does a day become? It becomes nothing. The suffering is so far in the past, so far in the rear view that you are just overfilled. You're filled with joy. It becomes nothing to you. Yeah. [00:34:08] Speaker C: I think even more than like, it just won't like feel like a big percentage of our life. I think that we see in the Bible that all of our sadness and suffering be turned to joy. So even if it is, a large percentage of your life is suffering, we know in God's mysterious economy somehow that will turn all of that will turn into joy. [00:34:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it will be turned into joy. That's a good point. Our God has revealed himself to accomplish this, this, these things. We've talked about a lot of things over the last couple of years, off and on in this, you know, 50 truths of the Christian faith. You know, the doctrine of the Word teaches us that he has revealed Himself in His perfect Word. We can know him sufficiently through the Bible. The doctrine of God teaches of the one God existing in three co. Equal persons, and he is the Creator of all these things. He's the accomplisher of all these things we're talking about. The doctrine of the Son teaches us of the God man, Jesus christ, the prophet, priest and king, and the one who redeems sinners by his work. The doctrine of the Holy Spirit teaches us of the person who works in us to give us new life and to sanctify and empower us to live the Christian life. The doctrine of salvation teaches us of God's foreknowledge, election, regeneration, calling, conversion, justification, adoption, sanctification, and glorification, which is kind of what we're talking about now, the glorification of his beloved ones. The doctrine of the Church teaches us of the gathered people of God and the Church's crucial existence in the world. And the doctrine of last things gives us hope in the return of Christ, the millennial kingdom, the resurrection, the final judgment, and, and the new heaven and the new earth. But students, none of this matters. None of it actually gives you hope if you are living in your sin. Every single one of our 50 lessons will fall on deaf ears if you do not turn from your sins and trust in the Lord Jesus christ. None of it matters. None of the hope, none of the benefits will be afforded to you ever, for eternity. And that is a very serious, serious thing. But freely you can turn from your sin and trust in the Lord Jesus christ in his life, his death, his resurrection, and you will be saved if you call on his name. And then all of these benefits that we're talking about, this new heaven and new earth, there will be room for you to live in harmony with your fellow man and with God. Are there any questions about this? Okay, great. We will start something different soon. The next several weeks, we'll have some other guys coming in to kind of teach through the Sermon on the Mount as we've been doing, and then we'll start a new thing that I'll tell you guys about later. All right, let's pray. Father, thank you for your word and for the hope that you afford us looking towards a new heaven and a new earth. God, we long for such peace and harmony and joy and gladness and ease of life. Lord, we trust that you have placed us here for your particular purposes. But God, we long for you to come and to rescue us from this. To recreate the earth. Recreate us. But, Lord, in the meantime. We know that you are patient, Lord. Draw more people to yourself that they would turn from their sins and trust in you. We pray this all in Christ's name, Amen.