Materials
A New Heaven And A New Earth
Revelation 21
by R. Todd Bouldin
We live in a time of stark contrasts between optimism and cynicism,
progress and tragedy. Never before in history have we enjoyed so many
comforts and luxuries brought to us through human progress, scientific
discoveries, and a technology revolution. Yet, with all of that progress
and relative pleasure surrounding us, we cannot tame the seas or still
the ground beneath us. This past year has seen more devastation and
catastrophe from natural causes around the globe than any year in
recent memory. First, there was the tsunami in Southeast Asia which
killed over 100,000 people instantly. Then we watched Category 4 and
5 hurricanes devastate our own country in the Gulf Coast region and
the state of Texas. We sat in shock as people begged for food and
water on our own streets, and as some lay dying in the streets or
in their flooded homes. As we watch all of these natural disasters,
we can’t help but grieve over the catastrophe which no human
can control, and we wonder what God has to do with all of this. As
Jon Stewart recently asked on his comedy show The Daily Show,
“Whatever happened to God bless America?”
Prayer
Is there a way to make sense of all of these tragedies and what at
least seems like a growing trend of horrific storms, earthquakes,
tsunamis and fires? Is God absent in all of this tragedy? Is there
any hope for a better day? I believe that there is, and it is to be
found in the text that we considered last week, where John has a vision
of the future of the universe. He writes in Revelation 21:1-5:
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, the 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,
“See, the home of God is among mortals.
He will dwell with them as their God;
They will be His peoples,
And God Himself will be with them.
He will wipe every tear from their eyes.
Death will be no more;
Mourning and crying and pain will be no more,
For the first things have passed away.”
And the one who was seated on the throne said, “See, I am
making all things new.”
God says, “I am making all things new.” What does
that mean? I think we have to return to the beginning to understand
what John has in mind. When God began making the heavens and the earth,
he looked upon his creation and declared that it was “very good.”
(Genesis 1:31). No matter what happens after this, that tells me that
creation is fundamentally good. Platonic Gnostic Christians often
have seen the world as fundamentally evil and fallen, but that is
not the teaching of the Old or the New Testaments. In fact, the earliest
church deemed that heresy. The teaching of Scripture from cover
to cover is that this world is infused with the beauty and goodness
of God and it is meant to be enjoyed. This life is not something
to be merely tolerated or a mere stepping stone to the “great
beyond.” The teaching of Scripture is that the cosmos matters
to God, that the creatures and creation of this world matter, and
that most all, human beings matter because they bear the image of
God.
The fact that God will someday forge a new heaven and a new earth
does not in any way impugn this one. Forgive me if I read this text
wrongly, and yes, I do realize it speaks in metaphorical language,
but listen to the text again. First, it not only promises a new heaven.
That’s how I’ve always thought about this passage. But
it also promises a “new earth.” Then it says
that the heavenly city from God is not going up but coming down.
It doesn’t end there. Where will the presence of God be found?
Not up in heaven. But among the creation He has made, among mortals.
Now’s that a perfect bookend to what God did in creation. God
promises to renew the creation He made in the very beginning and make
it like it was in the beginning.
Now that is a very different vision from the version of heaven that
we’ve often taught and believed. If heaven is another world
away, then this earth and this universe have no meaning at all. It
just serves as a temporary holding place for us until we go to be
with God. By the way, that means we can devastate it and use it as
we want if it is passing away. But what if God actually intends to
create something new out of this cosmos? What if the earth we are
living on and the creation around us really do have some eternal value?
It’s a great vision, and I understand it to be the biblical
vision of creation.
But how can we believe in that vision when we see the devastation
all around us? When we are enjoying the beauty of nature at the beach
or in Yosemite, it’s easy to celebrate the goodness of creation.
Sitting in a resort in Hawaii for a week is proof enough that creation
is good. But just a few months ago, some tourists were enjoying a
similar paradise in Thailand and all of a sudden they were washed
away in a torrent of water. Heaven became hell. Is that creation good?
Thousands of families in New Orleans and the surrounding area, struggling
though many of them were, suddenly found themselves without a home,
and in some cases, without family members, when Hurricane Katrina
blew onto the Gulf shore. Just this week, we’ve seen fires in
our own area disrupt our lives and leave families homeless and without
their possessions. As I drove home from Malibu on Thursday night,
the smell of smoke and ash hung over the whole Valley, and I was reminded
again of just how vulnerable this beautiful creation really is. If
creation is really good, how did all of these things happen?
To some extent, this remains a mystery. We will never be able to understand
this question definitively. There is so much about God’s sovereignty
that we can’t know. But what we can know is that this world
was created by God to be good, and for some reason it isn’t
working like it’s supposed to work. Genesis 3 tells us that
the root cause of the world’s brokenness came when the man and
woman rebelled against God. As a consequence, the earth and its creatures
that were meant to be their friend became both friend and enemy. The
man could still harvest the fields, but in the midst of thorns and
thistles. The woman could still give birth, but only with the pain
of labor. But it is not just human beings that suffer pain and hardship
as a result of the fall. Listen to Romans 8:
I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth
comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us. For the creation
waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;
for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but
by the will of the One who subjected it, in hope that the creation
itself will be free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the
freedom of the glory of the children of God. We know that the whole
creation has been groaning in labor pains until now and not only the
creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit,
groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
(Romans 8:18-23)
Paul says in this text that the creation and human beings are bound
together in a common struggle for freedom from our bondage and decay.
If you have ever sat by the bedside of someone struggling for life,
or watched as your own parent or child writhes in pain from injury
or disease, you understand this passage. You know what it is to long
for the redemption of our bodies. But Paul says that experience is
not limited to just our human experience. The whole creation is groaning
is in labor pain. We read this week how the Arctic is melting at unprecedented
levels. Hurricanes have rarely been so strong or devastating. Fires
and earthquakes ravage our paradise. Tsunamis destroy whole civilizations.
The decay is all around us, and we come to one conclusion: Creation
itself is broken.
Not to be callous about it, but I think that means that Christians
should be the last ones to be surprised by suffering. Instead of being
surprised by it, we should seek to enter the world’s suffering
as we long and pray for its freedom from bondage and decay. That is
how I understand what God did in Jesus Christ. John and Paul both
remind us that this act of God in becoming flesh was not just to redeem
human beings from devastation and judgment but to claim back and restore
the whole creation to God.
So as Christians we embrace the hope of a new creation. Even as we
expect and embrace the pain of creation, we do not settle for it or
turn to despair as we look into its ugly face. Our hope is that one
day Christ will return and that heaven and earth will once again embrace.
Our hope is that God’s heaven will somehow transform our earthly
reality and that God will make His home with us. In short, we long
and pray for the Garden again. The one who made all things in the
first place will remake them again. All things now caught up in brokenness
will be made whole. They will be as good as new, or better. That is
great hope for some of you struggling with illness and disease, and
it is a great hope for a creation now showing the signs of chaos and
exhaustion.
When God makes all things new, then the earth will be just as God
intended it to be. Listen to the vision of Isaiah in Isaiah 11.
The wolf shall lie with the lamb,
The leopard shall lie down with the kid,
The calf and the lion and the fatling together,
And a little child shall lead them. . . .
They will not hurt or destroy
On all My holy mountain;
For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
As the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:6-9)
So this is our hope, a hope that will not disappoint us. God will
forge a new creation. In that day, we, and all things, will be made
new. This Christian hope is a reasonable anticipation of things to
come based, not on some Pollyannaish “everything will be ok”,
but on the faithfulness of God who promises to do it.
But though the renewal of all things lies in the future, we begin
to experience that eschatological reality right now. Paul says in
II Corinthians 5, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new
creation: everything old has passed away; everything has become new!
All this is from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ.”
(II Corinthians 5:17-18). The Greek is even bolder here: literally,
“Creation is new.” The old already has become new.
What that means is this: There is so much more to your salvation than
your salvation. When Stevie was baptized this morning and
became a Christian, not only did he experience personal renewal, he
began to live in the new creation, in the present hope of the future.
But isn’t Paul just living in la-la land? No, we live “between
the times”, between the now of struggle and pain and the “not
yet” which is becoming more and more of a reality. So we Christians
live with one foot embracing the current travail of this present world
and with one foot placed on the ground of our future hope.
Bob Pierce, the founder of World Vision, frequently prayed, “May
my heart be broken by the things that break the heart of God.”
I believe the brokenness of all creation breaks the heart of God.
Not just the sin of humanity but the effect of sin upon all creation
breaks his heart. And what the world needs are Christians who are
not waiting around for the age to come but fully embracing and engaged
with the suffering of the age now present. It is our vision of our
hope then that motivates our service now. Knowing that God will reconcile
all things to Himself then, we become peacemakers and reconcilers
now. Knowing that God will wipe away every tear then, we become a
people of compassion and healing now. Knowing that God will take away
all pain then, seek to live out that vision by alleviating pain now.
I am honored to be part of a church and a tradition that responded
so eagerly and generously to the hurricane relief effort. As the church
provided funds, a home and shelter, food and water, an embrace and
a listening ear, the church was embracing both this world and the
one to come. And that is how we live our whole lives – with
patience and endurance and engagement, and with unwavering hope.
So next time you turn on the television and you see the groaning of
creation, or you see your family member or a member of our church
experiencing the decay of this present body, don’t despair.
Instead, enter into that suffering, become a healer and reconciler,
and then turn your hope to God who is making a new heaven and a new
earth. If anyone is in Christ, there is new creation! All things already
are becoming new.
Amen.
October 2, 2005
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