Revelation 21: Jesus Makes All Things New

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The More We Dig. The More We Find.

Chapters

• 0:48 Welcome to Bible Breakdown
• 1:36 Jesus Makes All Things New
• 3:47 Understanding Revelation's Context
• 6:44 The New Heaven and Earth
• 10:20 The New Jerusalem's Design
• 12:04 Living in Anticipation
• 15:10 Closing Prayer and Farewell

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:24

Well, hello everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, pastor Brandon, today Revelation, chapter 21. Today's title is Jesus Makes All Things New. This is going to be amazing. It's going to be awesome.

Speaker 1: 0:38

You ever had one of those moments when you were wearing your favorite outfit and you get something on it and you just think, oh my goodness, it's ruined. And you don't think any amount of resolve or you know the tide pins, nothing like that, nothing is going to make it right again. You're just like devastated. This was my favorite. Now it's over. And then you just take a chance and you put the resolve on it, you put the tide pin on it and it comes out in the wash and you go, oh my goodness, it is like brand new and you're excited. It makes your whole day.

Speaker 1: 1:10

Well, that times 1 trillion will begin to get us the idea of what this chapter is all about, because Jesus makes all things new, and I want to talk about how that would have meant so much for the early church, especially the way he describes it today. So we're getting into all that in just a second. So, if you have Bibles, want to open up with me to Revelation, chapter 21. While you do that. As always, we'll take just a moment to like, share, subscribe to the YouTube channel and the podcast, make sure to leave us a five-star review on the podcast and make sure you're going to the Bible Breakdown Discussion, because they're doing an amazing job. You can look them up on Facebook and the more we dig, the more we find.

Speaker 1: 1:49

Also, I want to tell you about two things that I don't talk about all the time. Number one is if you would like these chapters to be sent to you via text message. I know that not everybody does social media. Not everybody has a particular podcast app or YouTube channel or YouTube app they follow. But if you will text RLC Bible to 94,000, we will send you links every day to the podcast link and to the YouTube link so that you can follow along with us. Also, if you would like to have it emailed to you, you can go to thebiblebreakdowncom and you can subscribe to newsletter. That will send it to you via email. So we're always trying to find new ways to connect with our community and it is a joy to be able to read through God's Word together Well, as you have been with us over the past few days.

Speaker 1: 2:33

Now we're almost at the end. We have today and tomorrow, and so for two more times we want to give the disclaimer, and that is this the book of Revelation is one of the most divisive books in the entire Bible. I would say probably the only one that would even come close to it is the book of Genesis, and we're going to get there really quickly. But this one, it is this way because it's so subjective Because of the way you look at it. Some people say it was written only for the people at the time. Some people say it was written in that poetic genre that wasn't meant to be taken literal. Some people take it as this is all literal, but it's in the future.

Speaker 1: 3:10

Well, there's wonderful arguments to be had for most of that, but the purpose of this podcast is to look at what would it have meant to the early church, because it cannot mean to us what it did not mean to them. It wasn't written to us. It was written for us, inspired of the Holy Spirit, but it was written to the early church and the main message to the early church was Jesus wins. Remember, they were experiencing all of this persecution and John is on the island of Patmos. He is right in this area and he is experiencing being a political prisoner for the sake of the gospel. And he gets a revelation that he writes to these seven churches and he tells them hey, listen, I know you're experiencing all of this persecution and all of this pressure to compromise. I want to let you know Jesus has already won the victory. We're just going to watch it unfold and, as we have seen over the past several chapters, we get to watch how he has won that victory and we get to watch how Rome falls, which is one of the biggest things the early church could have imagined. It just would have been hard for them to get their mind around it. And then in chapter 20, it's about how, finally, all of the evil is judged and they are put into their place of eternal judgment. And now something amazing happens, and in order to understand this, we've got to remember the Old Testament. Remember, 68% of Revelation is from the Old Testament. So John is assuming that the people reading this letter have two things that they know really well they know their current culture, they live in the Roman Empire, but then they also know their Old Testament, because at this point they have in the Roman Empire, but then they also know their Old Testament, because at this point, they have been around the church for a while.

Speaker 1: 4:53

Most scholars think this was written in the mid-90s AD, so therefore Christianity has been around for over 50 years at this point. So they've been reading, and there are two things that would have completely broken their heart. First of all, in 70 AD, the temple was destroyed, and while Christians no longer went to the temple to offer sacrifices because Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice still the temple represented a place where people would congregate to meet with the Lord. And so when the temple was destroyed in 70 AD, it would have been a huge, huge blow to the early church because of what it represented. Then also, they would have known the book of Ezekiel, and the book of Ezekiel, at the very end, talks about how God will one day rebuild his temple, and it was a symbol of God coming to rest and live with his people again, and so it wasn't as much about it being a physical temple, but it was about being with his people again, and so it wasn't as much about it being a physical temple, but it was about being with his people forever. And so, with both of those things in mind, jesus as he's finishing up.

Speaker 1: 5:57

This letter inspires John to write about the new Jerusalem, the new world, the new heavenly temple. And so for the people in the early church, they would have went wow, jesus is gonna make everything new. He's gonna take everything that has been tainted and destroyed by the enemy and he's gonna make all things new. So let's read about this together. Revelation 21, verse 1, says this then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared and the sea was also gone. I saw the holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

Speaker 1: 6:41

I heard a loud shout from the throne saying look, god's home is now among his people. He will live with them, they will be his people. God himself will be with them. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. That's from Isaiah. There will be no more death or sorrow, or crying or pain. All of these things are gone forever.

Speaker 1: 7:04

And the one sitting on the throne said Look, I am making everything new. And then he said to me Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true. He also said it is finished. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. All who are thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of water of life. All who are victorious will inherit all the blessings. I will be their God and they will be my children. All the blessings. I will be their God and they will be my children.

Speaker 1: 7:34

The cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idolatrous worshipers and all liars, their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur, which is the second death, and one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plays came over to me and said Come with me, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he took me in the spirit to a great high mountain. He showed me the holy city, jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, and it's shown with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone, like Jasper, as clear as crystal. And the city wall was broad and high, with 12 gates guarded by 12 angels, and the name of the 12 tribes of Israel was written on the gates. And there were three gates on each side east, north, south and west. And the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones and on them were written the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

Speaker 1: 8:32

The angel who talked with me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city and its gates and its walls, and when he measured it he found that it was square as wide as it is long. In fact, its length and width and height was 1,400 miles. That's really big. Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick, according to the human standard used by the angel. The wall was made of jasper the city of pure gold is clear as glass. And the wall of the city was built on the foundation stones inlaid with 12 precious stones. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx. The sixth carnelian. The seventh crystallite. The eighth beryl. The ninth topaz. The tenth chrysophrase. The eleventh jacnith. The twelfth was amethyst. Lots of really cool stones. Verse 21, 12 gates were made of pearls, each gate from a single pearl, and the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

Speaker 1: 9:39

And I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord, god Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. I love that. The city has no need for sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. Its gates will never be closed at the end of the day, because there is no night there, and all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty, but only those whose names are written the Lamb's book of life.

Speaker 1: 10:19

Wow, I love the idea of God saying I am going to take everything that the enemy did and I'm going to make it new, everything that he did. Because in 70 AD, when Titus came and destroyed the temple, he destroyed all of Jerusalem, scattered the people. And now God is saying I'm going to take that holy city and I'm going to make it new again. And notice how the angel said to John. He said come and I'm going to show you the temple of God or the people of God, and it's how that we are going to live with God. And so what is going to happen is is God is reinstituting the Garden of Eden, because if you remember in Genesis, chapter 3, that was the hope of God is that God created a paradise for people to be in and he wanted to have fellowship with his creation. But then, because of sin, we walked away from God and we were no longer able to be in the presence of God. And so the whole thing, from Genesis until right now in chapter 21, was to get his people back to that place in the Garden of Eden. And so finally we're there again and he makes all things new, and I love how it says that God will be with his people, that he will be there, they will be his, he will be theirs, finally, after all this time.

Speaker 1: 11:42

So what does this mean for all of us? That means to live in anticipation for what is to come, to live with anticipation for what is to come, and what I love about that is that in this life, we will have trouble. In this life, we will have trouble. In this life, bad things will happen. We're going to lose family members, we're going to lose friends. Physically, we're going to lose things as we get older, and some of us we were born without things. Just things are going to happen. But one day we're going to see him face to face and all things will be made new.

Speaker 1: 12:18

The Bible says he's going to wipe every tear from our eyes. There'll be no more death, no more sorrow, no crying, no pain. And I love how it says that we will be with him in the kingdom of God and that he will be the light. There'll be no need for the sun, there'll be no need for all those things, because he will be, and so God's presence will be all around us is what it's saying, and that he will illuminate everything. We'll be able to be in the very raw presence of God, yet not consumed, because we'll be with him.

Speaker 1: 12:52

And a really quick apologetic is this also is what speaks against the Church of Latter-day Saints, because the Church of Latter-day Saints say that only the 144,000 will be able to be a new Jerusalem and everybody else will be able to be or have to stay outside of it. But if you notice, at the very end of verse 27, it says nothing evil will be allowed to enter, but those whose names are written the Lamb's Book of Life. And if you remember, it wasn't just 144,000, but it was anybody who claimed the name of Jesus. And so that's me and that's you that we get to live in the very presence of God, and so we live with anticipation to know one day God is going to make everything new. And so that means we get disappointed in this world, but we don't get discouraged, because this world is not our home. Our home is in heaven.

Speaker 1: 13:43

It reminds me of of when you ever you ever like go on vacation and you decide when you go on vacation that you are going to just kind of do your thing, you're going to kind of, um, put everything off until later and you're going to just live in the moment, right, because one day, one day, one day, you'll deal with that when you get back, deal with that when you get back. And so we think about that, but we think about it in opposite that we deal with things today, but one day we don't have to worry about that anymore. We don't have to worry about dealing with sin, we don't have to worry about dealing with difficult to handle people, don't have to deal with the physical infirmities that we have. One day Jesus is going to come, he's going to make all things new and we're going to live in his presence forever. Let's pray together right now, god, thank you so much for today. Thank you, god, for your wisdom, your kindness, lord, for the ability to give us something that we can hold on to and that is to live with anticipation that one day you're going to make all things new. I pray that will give us encouragement today, lord, that when we think about some things that we've lost, think about some things that are no longer what they should be, and instead of living in mourning we recognize the loss but we also celebrate that one day, god, all things are new. We celebrate you today In Jesus' name. We pray Amen, amen, we'll say this with me.

Speaker 1: 15:06

Revelation 1, verse 7,. It says this look, he is coming with the clouds of heaven and everyone will see him. I love you. I'll see you tomorrow for the grand finale. Revelation, chapter 22.