In Revelation 21:1-2: 1Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”[a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
What John saw in this vision of Heaven was a holy place, a place without chaos or corruption. God, Himself, the Creator of all we know now, was also responsible for the new Heaven. And I love the added description about this place being prepared as a bride who is beautifully dressed for her husband. A bride’s goal is to make a WOW impression. She wants to take the groom’s breath away when he sees her.
What we see pictured here in Revelation 21 is a scene that took John’s breath away. He said that Heaven was breathtaking, and he used the most striking, beautiful image he could think of, the beauty of a bride, to describe what he had seen.
3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
Moses had been instructed by God to construct a tabernacle. It represented the dwelling place of God on earth. It became the place where God would meet with His people, but an earthly tabernacle could never truly house the presence of the Almighty God. We’re talking about a God so magnificent, so awesome, that He is larger than all that He has created. He could never really be contained in a physical temple, but it was the best the Jewish nation had.
What John saw was the reality of God’s presence without limitation. Heaven is a place of true restoration where God’s people get to enjoy Him without limit. The glory of the Garden of Eden wasn’t the lush trees and grassy picnic areas. The glory of Eden was unbroken fellowship with God, and John saw how it would all be restored in Heaven!
Verses 4 and 5: 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”
Life as we know it is over in Heaven, but that is a wonderful thing for the people who are there enjoying it. Everything old that leads to death, decay, depression, destruction, difficulty, despair and desperation is gone. John couldn’t see any of that in his vision because it wasn’t there. All is new in Heaven.
And I love how verse 4 opens. God wipes every tear from our eyes. John said God wipes EVERY tear from every kind of trial. He wipes them not just away, but He wipes them out as He does away with the experiences that cause them.
There is mention of the glory of God in Revelation 20:11 and how it had a brilliance to it that was LIKE jasper, that was as clear as crystal. John goes on to describe that the walls and gates were tall and thick. He saw the thick foundation made out of precious stones. Jasper. Sapphire. Agate. Emerald. Onyx. Ruby. Chrysolite. Beryl. Topaz. Turquoise. Jacinth. And amethyst. The gates were made out of pearl. The streets were paved with gold and were as pure as transparent glass. I’ve been to some cool places, but I’ve never seen anything like that!
How could he really capture the essence of Heaven with his words and by comparing its beauty to earthly jewels and gold? He did the best he could with the vocabulary that he had.
Verses 22-23: 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
It’s never dark in Heaven. God is the light. Jesus is the light.
Verse 27: 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
There is no sin in Heaven. No-one in this room has ever known a community that wasn’t tainted by sin. We can’t even conceive of what a place without sin would look like. Nothing impure enters Heaven. These verses are very clear, and they aren’t the only ones to point to the reality that not everyone goes to Heaven. There is a reservation book. It is called the “Lamb’s Book of Life.” It records the names of those who have made peace with God through the sacrifice of Jesus. Those who have come to Jesus, whose sins have been forgiven, who have trusted Christ’s sacrifice on their behalf, only they will dwell with God in Heaven.
It is faulty thinking to believe that everyone goes to Heaven. That everyone is in a “better place” when they die. Oh, we will all live eternally, but only those who have been redeemed will be in Heaven. For people who lived before the time of Christ, they had to live with faith in God that He would send a Redeemer. They had to look forward in faith to the cross. We who live on this side of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, we look back in faith to what happened on that Cross. What you do with the Cross of Christ is of eternal consequence.
There are only two eternal destinations. There is Heaven and there is Hell. Hell wasn’t meant for people. Hell was created for the devil and his angels. Jesus talks to His disciples in Matthew 25 about a separating of people groups. He talks about the righteous entering into their eternal inheritance in Heaven. They are referred to as sheep in his story. The second group of people, referred to as goats, will spend eternity in Hell. Verse 41 says, “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Those who reject God’s work in their lives, those who reject His salvation, share the same eternity as the devil and his angels.
Why would a loving God send someone to Hell? First, God doesn’t send people to Hell. People choose their eternal destination when they decide to follow God or reject Him. It would be unloving of God not to make the two destinations clear. It would be unloving of God not to warn us of the dangers of Hell.
The Bible has given us enough information to know that Hell is a place to avoid, but honestly, what makes Hell, Hell, in addition to the flames and darkness and torment that goes with all that goes on there, what makes Hell, Hell, is that God isn’t there. The place where God dwells in fullness with His people is Heaven. Hell is basically separation from God.
We prepare for a lot of things. We’re trying to prepare for our daughter’s wedding. We try to prepare for retirement. We try to prepare for a rainy day. We prepare for education and businesses and all kinds of things, but I’m not so sure many think about how important it is to prepare for eternity. Hebrews 9:27 tells us we will all face death. Are we prepared?
Preparing for death isn’t something we can put off because we never know when it will happen.
If you aren’t right with Christ, I could argue that in many ways you are living in hell now because hell is separation from God. You don’t have to live that way. You certainly don’t have to die that way. We weren’t made to live life separated from God. Not now. Not later. Not ever. We were made for life, to enjoy life with God, and to experience God’s love, joy, and peace and to experience Heaven with God. Do you know where you will spend eternity? Have you made your reservation?
