GAIN and again we read of the prediction of scientists that the world will come to an end; that there lies beyond the sin and sorrow, the perturbations, the abnormal conditions, of this world, a great blank void of darkness and death and oblivion. Either the world will turn into a frigid ball, which will go roaming on forever in the great void of the universe, or else it will burn up by concussion with some other heavenly body. But this is not God's plan. We have been brought through the great drama of sin and righteousness, the great controversy between these antagonistic principles, in our studies in the Revelation, until we have come to the end — God's end, so to speak, the thither side of the great gulf, or chasm, which sin has made in God's universe; the glorious outcome to which the prisoners of hope have looked with longing, eager eyes through all the ages, that hope which has cheered the mourner as he has laid his loved one in the grave, cheered the poor, toiling slave who had found freedom in Christ, cheered the martyr dying at the stake, cheered men in the common, every-day toil of life. Their hopes built in Christ Jesus will all be consummated, and our lesson of this week is the beginning of that consummation. Let us —
Question the Text
1. What new vision was given the prophet?
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. Rev. 21:1. Note 1.
2. What did he then see?
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. Verse 2. Note 2.
3. What did he then hear?
And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. Verse 3. Note 3.
4. What happy conditions would result from God's dwelling with His people?
And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, nor more: the first things are passed away. Verse 4. Note 4.
5. What marvelous change takes place?
And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true. Verse 5. Note 5.
6. What wonderful invitation is given in connection with this?
And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. Verse 6. Note 6.
7. What is said of the overcomer and the opposite class?
He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death. Verses 7, 8. Note 7.
Note and Comment
1. NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH. — This earth was once new. If it had never been blasted by sin it would have remained new forever. When it came from the hand of God it was pronounced very good. Deity could see no fault in it, as the home of man; and if sin had never entered, there would have been poured out upon it continually from the fountain of life, great streams of vitality and fertility, which would have forever kept it young. And those who dwelt upon it would have had a life paralleling that of the earth, because "in the way of righteousness is life, and in the pathway thereof there is no death." But sin came in, God's law was perverted, and the perverted law of righteousness became sin in man; and the life which from the fountain flowed through that sinful channel, itself became perverted; and as perverted righteousness is sin, so perverted life becomes death, and man became a dying being, and the earth a dying planet. Through God's goodness it has been kept alive through all the ages. Ever and again He has given us evidences that it is sick, fearfully so. All the mighty, distressing, destructive storms which sweep over its surface show that conditions are abnormal. All the mighty earthquakes which have ruptured and torn it reveal that the disease of sin has been preying upon it. The belching volcanoes reveal the inward fire of the fever of the auto-intoxication of the earth. Sometime that fever will have run its course. The earth will have demonstrated to the whole universe the exceeding sinfulness of sin. God's presence will again be manifested in its glory to the earth; the old earth shall be set on fire to its very foundations, purified and purged. For that purpose God has reserved it, so that the last of earth's abnormality perishes with the last of sin and death. "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are therein shall be burned up. . . . But, according to His promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."
We learned in our previous studies that God created not the earth "in vain, He formed it to be inhabited." Isa. 45:18. And every demonstration that God has given in the regeneration and re-creation of the sinful soul, is a pledge that the same power will change the sinful earth, and make it new. The first heaven and the first earth means the earth as it is now. The earth in its present condition will pass away.
AND THE SEA IS NO MORE. — In the study of the first chapter of Genesis, it would seem that the earth was divided between land and sea — one body of land, one body of water, evidently very much smaller than we find at the present time. Some of the high, mighty mountains did not then exist. There was more land surface and less sea surface. When sin entered the world, the existence of the sea became necessary as a sanitary measure. The great, salt sea is a blessing to the old, sinful earth; but when the earth is restored to its normal condition, the uninterrupted currents of life will do away with the necessity of the salt sea.
2. THE HOLY CITY. — The holy city is the capital of the new earth. It has been before referred to in chapter 19:7, 8; 20:9. The prophecy of Revelation 19 refers to the city in heaven. Rev. 20:9 refers to the city as it first descends upon the plain made and sanctified by Christ's feet, according to Zechariah 14. That and the subsequent judgment are passed over in the 21st chapter, when John sees the holy city again descending, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. The kingdom belongs to Christ. The earth is His by creation and purchase. Men are the children of earth; the earth is the great mother of the earth-children. The new Jerusalem, as the capital of the earth, represents the entire earth, and is therefore said to be the Lamb's bride. All those who will inhabit that new earth are begotten from above. While they are the children of the earth, they are also children of God. Isaiah, looking forward to that time, in speaking of that city, declares, "Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah; for Jehovah delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married." And the thought is carried still farther, that God's children will receive inheritances in that new earth, and so they are spoken of as marrying the land; that is, the inheritance of the kingdom comes to them likewise. See Isa. 62:1-5. And this explains why it is that Christ, the Son born, is called the "everlasting Father." Isa. 9:6. And Jerusalem which is above is said to be "the mother of us all." Gal. 4:26. The adornment of that bride is her own children, clothed in righteousness. Rev. 19:8.
3. BEHOLD! — The voice comes from the throne of God. A new thing is announced, something that earth in its sorrow has never known. The tabernacle, the dwelling-place, of God is with men. God is to dwell with His children; the High and Lofty One that inhabits eternity, dwells in the heart of the humble and the contrite. Isa. 57:15. He dwells in His church by dwelling with her children, but His throne has never been placed among men with Himself and His glory visible upon it. He has not walked among men without a dimming veil between. Sinful, mortal men could not endure the sight. But that time has now come when, cleansed from everything of sin,7man can behold the face of God, and the blessing pronounced by our Lord can be demonstrated in all its fulness: "Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God." They shall look upon His face and rejoice. "The tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God." What glorious honor is coming to this old earth! Here has been wrought out the great problem of sin for the universe. Here the Son of God lived and suffered and died, gave demonstrable proof of the mighty, hoarded love of the Creator for His sinful children. Here the mighty grace of God has been manifest in the changing of the earth, crushed by sin, into a glorious home for the redeemed. And here, also, will that redeemed host, saved from all the power of the enemy, shine forth as the stars in the kingdom of their Redeemer. Why should not also the throne of God be here? Jethro, in referring to the work of God with the Egyptians, declared that wherein the gods of Egypt "dealt proudly," the Lord, "was above them;" and it will be sung through all the universe of God, that wherein Satan and all his minions dealt proudly, the Lord was above them. His grace has abounded above the sin.
4. AND HE SHALL WIPE AWAY EVERY TEAR. — What a glad day it will be! A thousand years in heaven does not bring that. We can well believe that as the saints of God sit in judgment during that period of time, there will be tears shed over the course of those who had it within their power to turn to God, and yet who took the other course. They will see how those who were almost delivered by Christ, turned again to the enemy, and were enchained by him. Doubtless they will shed tears of sadness as they examine the records; and yet they will see in all things that God is just. And the conclusion of that judgment work will demonstrate that Infinite Love did that which was best, even for the sinner, and best for the universe. All tears shall be wiped away. Death has been destroyed in the lake of fire; it shall be no more; no sad funeral trains will wend their slow and mournful way over the highways of the new earth. There will be no silent cities of those who sleep in death. Men will build no mausoleums, nor throw those who die from pestilence by the multitudes into huge trenches. Death is forever past. There will be no mourning, no mourning garbs, no crape upon the door, no hearse, no sad fathers or mothers, wives or husbands, children or parents. Every tear is wiped away. There will be no crying nor pain any more; the first things are passed away. The Christian heart that has been touched by Jesus Christ, knows a little of what that means; he has received the earnest of it in his own experience. "Wherefore if any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new." And so the old things of earth will forever pass away. How every true heart ought to long for that time!
5. BEHOLD! — Another new thing is to be seen. We are told who it is that will work the wonderful change; it is He that sits on the throne. "I make all things new." And then, for fear that some one would yield to the suggestion of the skeptic, that all this is poetical, or visionary, He emphasizes it all by saying, "These words are faithful and true" — not that His words are not all faithful and true; but He would have men understand that despite all that unbalanced science has said,
all these things promised of God will come to pass. Science never takes into consideration the great fact of sin. Evolution does not take into consideration the fact of sin; consequently they are bound to go astray. God recognizes it as a great fact; but towering high above that fact, is the great power of His grace, and the glory of that grace makes all things new.
6. THEY ARE COME TO PASS. — It will not forever be a future thing. There will come a time, after the judgment of sin is past, when it will be a great present fact; they are come to pass. The Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, has completed the work, has solved the problem of sin; but now, before that time shall become present, He pleads with every soul upon earth who is athirst for something better than earth can give, to come and drink of the fountain of life. He gives it freely; it is open to all. No cordon of priests, or pontiffs, or councils can bar men from that free-flowing fountain. It is open for every soul. Drink and live.
7. HE THAT OVERCOMETH . . . BUT THE FEARFUL. — It is the last division between the two classes: on the one side those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ; on the other, those who have rejected His words — those who have been fearful that He could not, would not, do as He promised; those who would not believe; those who have been abominable in their deeds of wickedness; those who have taken life, and loved hatred; those who have trampled underneath every righteous law; and those who have been false to every principle of truth, — all shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. In choosing sin, they have chosen that; in rejecting God by faith, they have said that "we are gods ourselves;" but when the glory of God shall set on fire the very foundations of the earth, they shall perish in it. That is the second death. But the overcomers, those who in their insufficiency have trusted the great God, shall inherit these things — the new heavens and the new earth — heirs with God, and joint heirs with Christ; and of every one of those God declares, "I will be his God, and he shall be My son."
