As in the Beginning But Better

6 · Supports the renewal interpretation by citing other biblical passages that speak of creation being freed from bondage and groaning, the perishable becoming imperishable, and righteousness dwelling—all pointing to transformation rather than replacement

We see this not only in this, you know, hey, like, behold, I'm making— I mean, sorry, not only in the wording here where it says, then I saw and knew, but also later in these verses. But it's also an idea that we see in Scripture, right? We see it in Scripture where we read about its being freed from its bondage and how creation is groaning until such a time that the Son would appear and free it from its bondage and groaning. We read of the place where righteousness will dwell, where the perishable is made imperishable. So it's not a total buy and making something different. It's remaking what was already there, this remaking of the created order to be something that is free from the decay and corruption that sin brought with it.

7 · Exposes the meaning of 'dwell' as 'tabernacle,' connecting the new Jerusalem to Exodus's tabernacle

And then John saw a new Jerusalem coming down as a bride adorned for her husband, and then this glorious declaration of God's intended purpose with this renewal. 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.' God will dwell with man. You know, the word used there as dwell is tabernacle. For those of us who have read our Bibles and Exodus, that word rings a bell, doesn't it? It makes you think back to after God freed his people from slavery in Egypt and then he brought them to the wilderness and he said what? He said, 'Build this tent.' And it was the place where the people would go and meet with God. The tabernacle symbolized not only the meeting place, but also God dwelling with his people and caring for them, providing them with bread, with meat, with water, with his presence most especially. And he will tabernacle with us. He will pitch his tent with us in the new heavens and the new earth.

8 · Exposes how Scripture describes the new creation primarily in the negative—what will not be there—because the reality exceeds language

And, and look at how new they are. 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. You know, in trying to describe heaven, even the Holy Spirit, the perfect one, is struggling with language. It's hard to say, 'This is what it will be like.' It's more characterized in the negative. 'This is what it will not be like.' And crying and pain and death. Death and mourning are so prevalent here, aren't they? They're everywhere you look. Every day I look in the mirror, I see death coming. We're all getting older. If you don't look in the mirror and see it's coming, praise the Lord. Because it's coming. He can't get away with it. And the Lord says that stuff's not going to be there. It's gone. Gone. The former things have passed away. Crying? You're not going to do that. Mourning? You're not going to do that. Death? You're not going to do that either. Man.

9 · Explains the theological necessity of renewal: the current sin-corrupted creation cannot sustain the holiness of God's full presence

You see though why the old heavens and earth had to pass away and be remade? The sin and death and corruption-marred creation could not handle the holiness of God setting foot on it. If God is going to dwell with his people, if he came down to this world before remaking it, it would be done away with. Destroyed. It would cease to exist. Why? Because God and his consuming fire would have consumed it. It had to be remade.

10 · Connects 'It is done' with Christ's authority demonstrated at the cross ('It is finished'), establishing the certainty of the promise

He would have— it would have ended, but it had to be remade because it's now a dwelling place of God with man where God will wipe away the tears From all eyes, death and mourning and crying, there will be no more. Why? The former things have passed away. And then we see this phrase, 'It is done.' Really, it should be more like, 'They have come into being,' okay? Like they have come into being. And what has come into being? Well, the old things, right? 'Behold, I am making all things new.' What does that mean? Everything, every single thing you can think of, everything you can imagine that exists right now had to be remade. And then before he says that though, what does he say? Write this down. These words are trustworthy and true. And then he says, they have all come into being. The same one who has all authority in heaven and earth, who had authority to lay his life down and authority to take it up again, that one who hung on the cross and yelled out, 'It is finished!' That one now says these words are trustworthy. And true, they have come into being.

11 · Applies the promise to both the original suffering churches and contemporary believers

You see, to the hurting church, the Lord says one day you won't be hurting. One day it will all be over. One day you will drink living water and be refreshed. Refreshed for all time. One day the suffering will end. These words are trustworthy and true. It is done. What a day that will be. And it will be the same is true for us. We can look around and we see the discord and the chaos and the rebellion and pain that sin causes in this world, right? And one day, One day it will be remade and the Lord will give us living water with no cost. And He will wipe away the tears from our eyes as a father does his child. He will dwell with us in peace. Take heart, Jesus says. These words are trustworthy and true. Will be done and be forever changed one day. He'll remove sin, do away with death, wipe tears away, and make not only the world new, but you as well. Whew!

12 · Transitions from the renewed place section by restating the main thesis, preparing to move to the renewed people section

He's making a new place because Jesus makes all things new in order to dwell with his people forever.

13 · Addresses potential recoil at verse 8's judgment list by invoking Paul's 'as such were some of you,' opening space for hope that those who fit these categories can be remade through Christ

And you, you may have recoiled a bit at verse 8, 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. After the Apostle Paul lays out a very similar list, what does he say? As such were some of you.

14 · Issues direct evangelistic appeal to those who recoil from verse 8's judgment, urging repentance and faith in Christ's atoning death

If you recoil from that verse, You can be remade. You can be made new. You can come to Christ with faith, in faith, through repenting of your sins and looking to His death on the cross to pay for your sins and to renew you. And one day He will finally remake you, just as we've read here. Come to him today if you recoiled from that verse, because as such was I. As such were some of you. Scripture would say as such was everyone. All of us fit that— one of those categories. And if you can hear my voice here today, I am confident that the Lord is calling you to himself or he wouldn't have you here to hear the gospel. So don't recoil. Repent. Repent and become one of the renewed people of God that we are now moving to.

15 · Interprets the New Jerusalem's description as primarily symbolic of the bride (God's people) rather than merely architectural, based on the bride language and the contrast with Babylon established earlier in Revelation

This next section Verses 9 through 27 are describing the New Jerusalem. But earlier we saw it referred to as the bride, right? Adorned for her husband. And I think the descriptions of the radiance of this city are symbolic of the radiance of the people of God. Now why do I say that? Well, for one, because it said the bride coming down for her husband, and for two, earlier in the book we see Babylon described, and Babylon is the summary of all of the enemies of God, all of those who are arrayed against God, who have set themselves up against God. And so here this description is contra that description. It's saying, 'We've seen what Babylon is like. Let's look at what the bride is like.' And she is amazing.

16 · Exposes the grammatical significance of the glory description: it's not glory from God but God's own type of glory freely given to the bride

And the first thing we see of this amazing bride is the glory of God. The people of God come down with God's glory, the radiance like a most rare jewel, like a clear jasper. Now the interesting thing about the grammatical structure here is the tense used. Okay, it's not really like saying a glory from God. Like the structure used tells you the type of glory. And what type of glory is it? It's the God glory. It's not glory from God or like a glory that God maybe shines on. No, this is God's glory. It is the same type of glory that God has. The one who said, 'I will not share my glory with another.' He freely gives it to his bride. And she comes down. With the God glory. The remade bride comes with the God glory. Whew, what grace.

17 · Interprets the 12 gates (12 tribes) and 12 foundations (12 apostles) as signifying the complete people of God from all eras—Old and New Testament believers united by faith in the Messiah

And the walls have 12 gates with the names of the 12 sons of Israel on them, and the foundations of the walls have the names of the 12 apostles on them. Why is that important? This is the holy reconstituted people of God. Old Testament saints, New Testament saints. We could say BC saints, AD saints, right? Like these are all of God's people from all of history. Those who looked forward to the Messiah coming and those who saw the Messiah coming and then those who looked back from to where the Messiah came. Why? Because they were all looking to Jesus, every single one of them. This is the fulfillment of God's promise to his people from the beginning, to redeem them from sin and dwell with them.

18 · Interprets the wall and foundation as security established by God's word, law, and historical dealings with His people through apostles, prophets, kings, and Moses

The people of God may have gone through suffering and pain in the world, but in the new heavenly Jerusalem, they are secured surrounded by a high wall that is built on a secure foundation that the Lord Himself laid with the apostles and the prophets and the kings and Moses. Those are the things that secure His people, His Word, His law, the record of His dealings with mankind. Kind, one could say.

19 · Exposes the significance of the cubic dimensions matching the Holy of Holies: what was once accessible only to the high priest once a year is now fully accessible to all God's people at all times

God finally and fully renews his people and sets them in a renewed place and dwells with them. And the measurements of this city are just— like, they are monumental, okay? In proportions, they match the cubic nature of the Holy of Holies, both in the tabernacle and in the temple. Okay, now what's the Holy of Holies? That is where God's presence was said to dwell, and only one guy could go in there. Remember? The high priest. And he could only go once a year, right? And he had to take very special precautions in doing so. And tradition says that he would tie a rope around his ankle so that if he was struck dead because of his sin, the people could pull him back out. And now the whole city matches the proportions of the Holy of Holies. That means everywhere God's people are, they can access— all of the people of God can access God at any time.

20 · Claims that Christ's atoning work eliminates all preparatory requirements for accessing God's presence

In this new heavens and new earth. Then in the New Jerusalem, we come into God's presence finally and fully, and we don't have to tie a rope around our ankle anymore. Jesus has done all the preparation work for us. We don't have to go through the rites and do all of the deeds and make sure that we confessed every single sin before we go into there, or we'll be struck dead and have to be pulled out. No, Jesus has forgiven every single sin, and then he remakes us, and we are allowed unfettered access to the presence of God.

21 · Interprets the massive dimensions (1,380 miles cubed) as symbolic of the innumerable multitude of the redeemed

All the people who come into the city, that is the people of God. Will meet with God themselves. And the dimensions of the city and the heights of the walls are multiples of 12. Again, Old and New Testament coming together, God fulfilling the promises. And the dimensions expressed here are again symbolic of the sheer number of people. 12,000 stadia. That's a long way. 1,380 miles. So 1,380 by 1,380 by 1,380. This is a huge cube, okay? This Holy of Holies is massive. 1,380 miles. I don't even know how far that goes up into space, but a ways, okay? Like, and why so big? Because God is saying, 'The number of my people no one can count.' And we've seen that reflected refrain over and over and over. It is a huge number of people that the Lamb has redeemed, that have washed their robes in His blood. And no one can count them, but God can. And He knows every single one of them intimately and deeply. And He has saved each and every one of them, and He brings us all together to this new heaven and new earth and this new Jerusalem through the blood of the Lamb where we would meet with Him after having washed our robes in the blood of the Lamb to make them white.

22 · Interprets the gemstones as signifying both priestly identity (matching priestly vestments) and Edenic restoration

And look at them. Look at how dazzling they are. Look at the adornment of the city. The gemstones match the same gemstones that would have been woven into the holy vestments that the priests of Israel would have worn. This is priestly language. He is saying you will be priests. The priesthood of all believers, we are now serving the Lord in the Holy of Holies. Every single person there. And not only that, they're associated with Eden as well. So he's saying, hey, hey, not just is it going to be, like, as good as it was during, like, Solomon's golden age. No, that was pretty cool. Pretty good. I'm sure they had some very good-looking robes then. They sound amazing when you read through the Old Testament. But he's saying, no, no, no, no, no, these gemstones also line up with Eden before sin came in. That's how good it's going to be. Man, can you imagine that? Can you imagine it, church?

23 · Synthesizes the bride's adornment as symbolizing both the costliness of redemption and the completeness of the redeemed state: lacking only sin while possessing both imputed righteousness and the righteous deeds God ordained beforehand

And the bride is resplendent, adorned with costly gemstones and pearls. Everything is set off with this glittering gold that's clear. I don't know what clear gold looks like, but I can't wait to see it, showing the costliness of the people bought with the blood of the Lamb. We, the glory and image of God, we will lack nothing except the sin that made our salvation necessary. And we will also have something else added to that. We'll have the righteous deeds that Jesus Himself marked out for us to walk in. Before the foundation of the world. So we get the righteousness of Christ that He exchanged with us for our sin, and we also get the righteous deeds that He calls us to walk in.

24 · Steps outside exposition to address the congregation pastorally about the limits of language to capture reality, even inspired language

Now while this sounds marvelous as described here. We've got to remember that God condescends to his creatures in language. Okay, and the limitations of language, even language under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, even language breathed out by God has its limitations. And so just like when you take a picture of an amazing sunset and you go, Ricky, look at this picture. And Ricky goes, it looks good. It's like, no, no, it was, it was amazing. This is a picture of what will actually be. The reality is going to be far more amazing, I think. It's, it's going to be a sight.

25 · Exposes the significance of the absent temple: written to churches after the temple's destruction, the absence signals not loss but fulfillment—no temple is needed because God and the Lamb themselves are the temple, making direct meeting with God universal

And finally, John tells the churches there's no temple there. There's no temple. Now, I think Revelation was written at a time that the temple has been destroyed previously. And so John saying, hey, there is no— not that the temple is not going to be in the heavenly city either, is his way of saying, guys, we don't need it. It's gone. It will not be rebuilt. It will— we don't— it won't even be rebuilt in glory. Because we don't need it. God the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple. The temple is where we would meet with God, and God is saying, 'There's no need for that. I'm going to meet with you in the new heavens and the new earth and in the new Jerusalem.'

26 · Transitions from renewed people to renewed purpose by synthesizing the theological movement: renewed place and people enable God's dwelling, accomplished through the Lamb's blood at the cross and realized fully in the new creation

God has a renewed place and he sets his renewed people in that place so that he might dwell with them. He renews his people and makes them fully and finally clean and they bring their glory in and give it to the Lamb. The names written in blood by the pen of faith dipped into the blood of the covenant of the Lamb whose eternal mission was to save his people. See, this happened at the cross, but it's fully realized in the new heavens and the new earth. What a Savior. What a Savior. And he doesn't stop there. He gives us a renewed purpose, chapter 22:1-5.

27 · Introduces renewed purpose as worship and reign, then exposes Edenic imagery: the river of life connects to Eden's rivers and Jesus's promise of living water, now flowing from God's throne (the temple) rather than a building's threshold as in Ezekiel

And in two words, we could say our renewed purpose is worship and reign. Again, this— seen invokes images of Eden and the garden. There's the river of life, right? Eden had 3 rivers that it was set between, and water always means life. But here's the water, the river of the water of life, and, dude, what did Jesus say? He will give us water to drink that will well up into eternal life. He will give us water of life that wells up to eternal life. Water flows from the throne of God and the Lamb since they are the temple here. See, Ezekiel saw the water running from the threshold of the door of the temple, but here it runs from the throne. Why? Because there is no temple. There's no need of a temple. God and the Lamb You are the temple. And so the water flows from where they sit.

28 · Exposes the tree of life's restoration: once guarded by cherubim after the fall, now openly accessible with no guardians because the curse is removed

There's the tree of life, which the last time we were in the garden in Scripture, what happened? They were driven out lest they reach out and take hold of the fruit of the tree of life. And then there were two cherubim. Set there with a flaming sword to guard the way to the tree of life. There are no cherubim here. The tree of life is open. There's almost an invitation there, one could say. The curse of sin will be removed and nothing accursed will be there. And this tree of life, its purpose, its leaves are for the healing of the nations. It's been realized as well. The nations have been renewed, remade. We are now going to be bringing our glory into the holy city and handing it over to the Lamb.

29 · Highlights the climactic blessing of seeing God's face—what would have killed Moses now becomes the eternal privilege of glorified believers

Not only though will we worship Him for all eternity in the place that He's drawn us together. We will see God's face. We will see God's face. In Exodus, the Lord tells Moses that none may see His face and live. Yet when the work of sanctification is brought finally to glorification and the Lord is done bringing us into this full state where we are really bearing the image of God, we can see God's face and we don't die. I think as amazing as this passage is, and there's a lot of just amazing stuff there. For instance, what does clear gold look like? Like, ah, the biggest blessing for the people of God, I think, is to see God's face and not be struck dead. We will see his face forever. That's pretty amazing. It's pretty amazing. And we will see his face forever, never with a fear of death.

30 · Exposes reigning with God by connecting to the original creation mandate: being made in God's image is a kingly notion conferring authority to rule creation

And finally, there will be no need of sun or lamp since God will be our light, and by his light we will reign forever and ever. This may seem strange at first reading. Why? Because, well, God is the Almighty and the ruler and Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, so how do we reign? Well, as it was in the beginning, so it will be at the end, only better. You see, in the garden, we were made in God's image. That's a kingly notion there, okay? To be made— to come in the king's image means to come in the king's authority and to come in his rulership. We were to rule over the animals and we were to take God's creation and steward it well and expand it upon the earth. We fell into sin. And our mission was frustrated. You could say we abdicated our rule and our throne to Satan. But now God has not only remade the world and us, He has renewed our ability to rule and reign with Him in righteousness. A renewed purpose. And we will do it rightly this time because He is our light. And that light gives wisdom.

31 · Provides historical illustration of the first-century context: powerless, persecuted churches facing Rome's hostility and internal false teaching receive Revelation's promise that they—not their persecutors—will reign with Christ

You may be sitting here thinking, that sounds great, Vince, but so what? Like, how does that really matter? July 17th, 2022. Well, to get there, we first have to think of why it mattered to the churches in the first century. So they're in a hostile world, in a hostile place. See, Rome had made an exception to the Jews, right? Rome said, hey, you will worship our gods, you will bow down to our gods, you will even bow down to Caesar. And the Jews are like, you're going to have to wipe us out. We are not doing that. We have been judged for our idolatry and we will not bow to an idol. And the Romans were like, okay. Okay, all right, Jews, we will make an exception. You guys can be monotheists and just worship your God. I don't see why you wouldn't want to worship other gods, but okay, sure. And then when Christianity came upon the scene after Christ's ministry, death, and resurrection, we were called the way, right? And the Romans looked at that and said, well, that's just a sect of Judaism. And before long, the Jews were like, no, no, no, no, no, they are not part of us. They are making trouble for us and for you. Y'all need to do something about it. We're actually going to start doing something about it. You may have heard of a guy Saul of Tarsus. You remember when he started persecuting those of the way, persecuting the church, and then the Romans were like, hey, that's a good idea. We only made an exception for y'all because we didn't want to wipe y'all out, but whoever this new upstart people are, go on. Then there were also false teachers coming into the churches. Guys, the churches are being ruled and tossed about by everyone and everything. They are powerless to stop the persecution. They were maligned, ridiculed, killed with the sword, burned alive, boiled in oil. Later they will be put inside of a bronze bull and roasted alive. They are powerless. Those ruling and reigning were hostile to the church, and it was no secret. And then Jesus comes with this letter to the 7 churches and ends it with this glorious vision of the church victorious. Not only will the death and destruction end, but the church itself will one day be reigning and ruling. What? Those who are in power will be thrown into the lake of fire along with the dragon and the beast and the false prophet who empower them, and the church will reign with Christ forever and ever. That's— that is the backdrop that Christ sent this letter to.

32 · Applies the promise to contemporary believers facing hostility ranging from name-calling in America to martyrdom globally

There are some similarities with today, right? Living in America, we may think persecution— like, well, sometimes we actually go the other way and we think persecution is being called names. I guess it's on the continuum, on the spectrum of persecution. But no, there are places in the world today where being a Christian, you will be killed. You will be beheaded. You will have acid thrown on you. You may be burned alive still today. Yes, in 2022. And then we've got some kind of rumblings today, right? Even in America where we have a more hostile culture to Christianity. We're called things like bigots or homophobes. And actors say like, 'Oh, well, those people are all just going to pass away like the dinosaurs.' And they also say other things that I cannot repeat from the pulpit. But one day, one day that will change. One day Christ will throw all of his enemies into the lake of fire and his people will reign. They reign not through government interaction or power, they reign not through military conquest and might. No, they reign not through sheer intellectual superiority. No, they reign through Christ and His victory. And His victory was achieved by dying on a cross. Vanquishing sin. Vanquishing the devil. Overcoming hell. And saving His people so that one day, one day, He could renew the world. He could renew us. He could renew our purpose, and He would dwell with us, and we would reign with Him.

33 · Concludes by restating the sermon's main thesis one final time as the controlling claim of the entire message

Jesus makes all things new in order to dwell with his people forever.

34 · Closing prayer thanking God for Revelation's encouragement, asking for grace to live present hardships in light of future renewal, and interceding for the unconverted to experience regeneration, faith, and repentance through the gospel proclamation

Let's pray. Father, thank you. Thank you for this chapter. Thank you, Lord, for this book of Revelation, this, this book that tells us of the things that must soon take place. Thank you that while we are looking forward to the things that would soon take place, we can be encouraged today in the hardship. Lord, let us— I believe it was Martin Luther who said, 'Lord, let us— I live this day in light of that day.' Lord, let us live this day with all of its hardships that, that may come our way in light of that day when we will be renewed and put in a renewed place, given a renewed purpose. Lord, for those who are here today and don't know you, and they read those verses with fear and trepidation Father, I pray you are working the miracle of regeneration right now. Lord, that through the proclamation of the gospel their hearts would be made alive and faith would be stirred into existence, and the first action of that faith It would be repentance and trust. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.