“Behold, I am making all things new.” (Revelation 21:1-8, NASB)

I love new things. I love the smell of it. I love how clean it looks. I love how you don’t have to worry about it breaking down. We live in a broken world today—broken people, broken nature, broken governments, broken economy, broken morals and values, broken faith, broken marriages, and broken families. However, we can take comfort in knowing that God will one day give us a new heaven, a new earth, a new Jerusalem, a new world, a new home, a new family, and new bodies. I can’t wait to live in this new world. It says in today’s reading,

“And 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 shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them, and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there shall no longer be any death; there shall 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.’ And 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 shall 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.’”

God declared in today’s passage, “I am making all things new.” I take comfort in knowing that what I see in the world today is not permanent. I can’t wait to see the new world that God will bring us after the final judgment.

So, what are some “new” things that God will bring? First, there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and our present world will be gone. I mean, puff, burned up, destroyed by fire, gone (2 Pet.3:10). Now, there are some amazing drawings and paintings of the new world out there, but they are nowhere near what the new world is going to be like. It’s because we have no frame of reference for what is coming. For example, it says that there is “no longer any sea.” Can you imagine a world without water? It leads us to some interesting questions: Is the new world a physical world or a spiritual world? How are we going to move about in the new heaven and earth if we are given new resurrected spiritual bodies? Will God populate the new world with a new creation? The new world will be nothing like the present world, as it will be “a new heaven and a new earth,” and the first heaven and earth “passed away.”

Second, there will be a new holy city, the new Jerusalem, where God will dwell among His people on the new earth. It says that John saw this new “holy city” coming down out of heaven, made ready as “a bride adorned for her husband.” This is a reference to the idea of the marriage of Christ and the church, as Paul wrote in his letters. Ephesians 5:31-32 says, “For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and the two shall become one flesh. This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” Revelation 21:10-11 says that this holy city came down from heaven having the “glory of God,” and her “brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.” Its walls were covered with various precious stones (Rev.21:18). Since Jesus said that he would build a new “temple” (tabernacle) with his body, that is, the redeemed people of God, so the beauty of this new Jerusalem must somehow be connected with their righteous deeds. Believers who build their lives upon the foundation of Christ with “gold, silver, and precious stones” will receive a reward (1 Cor.3:11-13),  they will return with Christ wearing “fine linen, bright and clean, for fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints” (Rev.19:8). This is a “mystery” indeed, like Paul wrote, and it will be our new home!

Third, God promises that He will “wipe away every tear” from our eyes, and there will be no longer any “mourning, or crying, or pain.” In other words, the new world will have no place for anything that will cause us sadness or pain.

Lastly, it says that anyone “who overcomes shall inherit these things,” implying that only the redeemed people of God will enter there, and there will be no more sinners, the wicked, or evil people. For the “cowardly and unbelieving and abominable,” their place will be the “lake of fire that burns with fire and brimstone.” Our world today is broken, but a day is coming when God will bring us a new world that cannot be broken. I can’t wait to live in the new world!

• What does it mean when it says, “the first heaven and the first earth passed away?”
• What do you imagine the new heaven and new earth will look like?
• What will you miss from the old world, and what are you eager to experience in the new one?