All Things Will Be Made New Rev. 21:1-5

St. John’s - East Moline 05/07/07

Intro.: One of the downsides of being in a congregation for awhile is that pretty soon everyone has heard all your stories, so for those who have heard this childhood story before please bear with me.

When I was a child, one of my favorite toys was GI Joe. My neighbor and I could spend the whole day playing with our action figures. [We called them that, because little boys do not like to admit that they really play with dolls.] I was perfectly contented with my GI Joes until my neighbor got a new one; it was the first GI Joe with life-like hair. All of a sudden my old dolls with the painted on hair just weren’t good enough. I wanted the new and better ones. So I began to do what any normal child would do when they feel that they cannot live without the latest and greatest toy: I begged, and whined, and threw fits to get one, but none of that worked. My parents told me that I had enough GI Joes already. They just couldn’t understand that none of that mattered when the whole life-like hair thing was added in.

I knew that I needed a new strategy, and that is when I discovered the most amazing opportunity which I confess I abused. It seems that GI Joes were built so tuff that Mattel offered a free replacement for any broken doll returned to them. So you know what I started doing, don’t you? Before long, all of my old GI Joes were transformed into new, perfect, exciting, GI Joes with life-like hair.

In the same way through today’s epistle, St. John gives us a glimpse of the new heaven and new earth which will be our inheritance in Christ. By the working of the Holy Spirit we are invited to exchange the old, tired, and broken down things of this world for the glorious things received in Christ. Jesus says to us this morning: “I AM MAKING EVERYTHING NEW!”

I. This World Is Passing Away.

A. Repeatedly in this portion of St. John’s revelation the Lord reminds us that this creation and the old order of things are passing away.

Up to this point John has spent the majority of his letter describing the sinful rebellion of this world, its rulers, and its people. All we have to do is look around us, read the news, and watch the filth that is broadcast over the airways to see the truth of John’s prophetic word. Our world is steeped in sin, and lives in open rebellion against the revealed will of God. Each of us here this morning/evening, have contributed to this decay by adding on our own sin. We have been active participants in bringing this world to an end.

In His revelation to St. John God describes for us, in graphic detail, the judgment and destruction that will come upon this world because of sin. God has revealed from Genesis all the way up to Revelation that this world has been subjected to death and decay because of the sins of humanity. Even the pagan scientist will tell you that this world is dying and that it is dying because of the acts of men. One of these days, at the Lord’s return in judgment, all of this will pass away.

Right now we are also in the process of passing away - even more quickly than the world. As the Psalmist writes: “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath.” (Ps. 39:4-5) Think about that, whether the Lord allows you 20 years or 100 years, your life is but a breath. Today you are here and tomorrow you are gone. If all we have is this fleeting life, we are truly to be pitied more than any of God’s creatures. But there is something more, isn’t there!?

B. These warnings of St. John are not given to drive us to despair, nor are they given so that we will live in a panic, frantically trying to get all we can out of life while the clock ticks. Instead, these warnings are intended to remind us not to cling to the things of this world, because they will all pass away and none of it can be taken with us. St. Paul writes: “What I mean brothers is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as if they had none; those who mourn as if they did not; those who are happy as if they were not; those who buy something as if it were not theirs to keep; those who use the things of this world, as if not engrossed in them. For this world in its present form is passing away.” (I Cor. 7:29-32) Our Lord Jesus also reminds us, “Remember Lot’s wife! Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.” (Lk. 17:32-33)

When God decided to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah he sent two angels to take Abraham’s nephew, Lot, and his family out of the city. The angels sent them away, telling them not even to look back at the corrupt world they were leaving behind, for God would destroy those cities. Lot’s wife could not help herself, she turned around to look. Her attachment to what was passing away was too strong to resist. Consequently, she also fell under God’s judgment and was turned into a pillar of salt. She made the mistake of looking back, when the Lord had given her something for which to look forward - a new life, in a new home under His blessing and protection.

Today:

II. The Lord Promises Us That All Things Will Be Made New.

A. Through the messengers He has sent us the Lord has taken us by the hand to lead us out of our own Sodoms and Gomorrahs. He has sought us out, called us by name to leave behind the empty ways of this dying world, and live with Him. We now know that this is not our home. Rather, we look forward to a new heaven and new earth which is our glorious inheritance in Christ. In this new heaven and new earth there will be no more sin, nor the devastation it has wrought. There will no longer be any pain or suffering, sorrow or death. And all our tears will be wiped away by the tender touch of God’s loving hand.

Unlike this world which passes away, the new heaven and the new earth that are ours as God’s gift, through the forgiveness of sins in Christ, are the permanent and lasting home of all the faithful. There we will live together as the Church glorified, “prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed (in the righteousness Christ has given us for His glory)” There we will live in perfect peace with our bridegroom, the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ.

In the new heaven and the new earth we will live in the closest possible communion with God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, forever and ever. As the voice from the throne of God announces: “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes.”

B. God tells us that these promises are faithful and true. In verse 5 he says: “I am making everything new!...write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (v.5) You and I cannot know what this world’s tomorrow will bring. What we have today may quickly pass away but God, who does not lie, promises us that He will make everything new for us and that this will be our eternal inheritance with Jesus and the saints. God sees our future as clearly as he sees us here today and all that He promises is as good as done. He says in the verses following our epistle: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” It is done the Lord says.

C. This process of recreation is taking place right now. It began when He called us to faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, and washed us in the waters of Holy Baptism as St. Paul says: “We were therefore baptized with (Christ) through baptism into death in order that, just as He was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father we too may live a new life. If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.” (Rom. 6:4-5) By God’s gracious work the old has already gone and the new has come to us. We have died and are dying to sin and are even now being made alive to God in Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit working through the Gospel.

This process of recreation is painful because it involves repentance, dying, mourning. It is like Lot and his family walking away from everything that was familiar to them, leaving behind home, possessions, friends, and all that had previously made up their life. But the Lord assures us that it is worth it, because the new life and the new home of righteousness that awaits us is so much better. He promises us that all who who endure to the end will receive a glorious inheritance. It would be far easier in this life to deny our sins, call God a liar, attach ourselves to this world and its passing pleasures and wicked ways, but then we would suffer its destruction.

Concl.: This world and all its glory are passing away. Let them go! There is nothing here for you, nothing that will last. This is not your home, you have already died to this world and have been raised with Christ. Rather fix your eyes on the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, the kingdom of glory which Christ has prepared for you, and press on toward the new and better world where we will dwell God forever. Amen.